Day 143 Komodo National Park Cruise

We Woke to the sound of the crew getting up on the roof above us and starting the two 230/330cc single cylinder engines. We motored to the next bay round where we did a guided walk on Komodo Island. There were lots of Cockatoos, wild boar and deer. The dragons can be hard to find we saw only one dragon on the walk and that one stays in the same spot always, then there were a couple at the camp kitchen area where they wait for food. There are a few thousand between both Rinca & Komodo Islands but they prefer not to be seen. We heard a couple of stories of attacks - a child was eaten and didn't survive a rescue and a ranger who was bitten last year died last week. The amount of bacteria in their mouths kills their prey slowly & they will wait and stalk their prey for weeks till it dies.
We left the island for Manta point where we did a drift snorkel. The current was strong, choppy water and a decent breeze blowing so Rachel like people on all the other boats decided against getting in. Jano & I got in I saw a few fish but nothing like Pink beach yesterday but I did see two sharks and the show piece a Manta ray although it was not a huge one.
Back on board we had lunch then started motoring to Bidadari Island about 3 hours away. We had a temporary engine issue but that was soon fixed. We passed one island with the tide was ripping around it and as we hit the line of current the boat spun 90degrees, I looked back at the captain & he laughed hard threw up one hand while keeping the other on the wheel at full lock.
At Bidadari Island we saw plenty of nice colourful fish and the coral line was on the edge of a steep drop to the deep blue depths. As we were about to get out here we saw a huge bump-head parrot fish maybe 1mtr long and also a black tip reef shark!
As we entered the harbour area I saw a turtle dive away from the boat and that capped off an amazing trip for us - lovely food, crystal clear waters & stunning wildlife.