Flores

Saturday Sept 23

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We disembarked Aqua Blu at 9am - a zodiac to shore at a local hotel dock where we left by car and driver and one of our guides (Rifley) who accompanied us to make sure we made it safely !!??. As all the guests (and 2 guides) went their separate ways, there was much hugging etc and saying fond farewells.


We arrived at our resort Ayana, about 20 minutes drive from the town of Labuan Bajo (capital city of Flores). The harbour in the town had literally 100’s of tourist (and other boats) at anchor - Rifley told us that many of the boats had already relocated to another area as the “season” here was over - I think the rainy season starts - but so far we had not seen a drop of rain and hardly a cloud. It was also the last cruise for the season for Aqua Blu on this route  - they now move onto the Spice Islands.

As we could not check-in right away we had a welcome drink (a non-alcoholic concoction with loads of ginger) in the roof top cafe/bar - taking photos of the amazing view. By 10:30am our room was ready so we spent time unpacking in the most wonderful 80 sq m ocean front room. 

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After checking out the hotel facilities we had a light lunch at the “all day dining” restaurant -  overlooking the pool and ocean. Food was reasonably priced but drinks were expensive ($15 for a G&T and $20+ for a glass of wine) - but much cheaper than the Maldives. Almost all activities at the hotel are extra - even snorkelling equipment ($15) and kayaking ($30 for 30 minutes for a double kayak) - tours vary from reasonable to exxy. 

As we were both pretty tired so we had an afternoon siesta before going for a swim followed by showers and happy hour at the bar at the end of the hotel’s long jetty - great sunset photos.

We had a simple dinner at the all day dining restaurant - OK but certainly not amazing.

Sunday Sept 24

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We had a good sleep followed by a Nespresso (some sort of alternate brand) on one of our 2 terraces then breakfast overlooking the pool and ocean - lovely. The fresh fruit consisted of pawpaw, watermelon, and rockmelon - kind of disappointing - Dieter asked for pineapple and they brought a large plate to our table.

After relaxing in the morning and some lunch we took the boat transfer to their private island just 5 - 10 minutes away - it was low tide so swimming was very difficult. The island had loungers and umbrellas as well as an attendant who served (for a price) beer and soft drinks. The beach was rough sand and rocky (due to low tide) - 2 hours was plenty. 

Back at the “ranch” we showered and then went to the Naga Bar (at the end of the pier) to sign for the beer Dieter had on the island (they sort of chased us down) then went to the roof top bar for happy hour which isn’t so happy as there is no discount. 

We decided to have dinner at the Japanese restaurant but left without ordering as it was totally empty and for some reason the beverages were at least 10% more expensive than other venues and they did not honor our hotel loyalty program discount of 10%. We went back to the all day dining restaurant and had a nice meal - lamb shank (a la Indonesian) for Dieter and lobster pasta for me.

Sunday Sept 24 - Wednesday Sept 27

Over the next 2 days - we had our usual start to the day - Nespresso on our balcony then breakfast overlooking the pool and ocean. We decided to just snorkel off the jetty. This was followed by lunch in the lobby bar, an afternoon rest, a swim in the pool, more showers then happy hour and dinner. These days are all combined together as we did the same thing or a variation there of every day.

One evening we had dinner at the seafood BBQ on the beach - wonderful setting - but the menu is limited to seafood you select (raw) sold by the gram - without much else. 

Thursday Sept 28

So now it was off to Bali for an overnighter then an 11pm (Friday) flight home. We flew back to Bali on Batik Air in business class which was fine except teh flight was 1.5 hours late so we only arrived at the Hilton arround 5pm - just in time for happy hour.

We stayed overnight at the Hilton in Nusa Dua which was 100% occupied with mainly Australian families as it was the school holidays back home.

After showers we went to the Club Lounge - other than free cocktails (limited list) and some pretty dodgy looking food which we did not try, it was hardly a Hilton highlight. We then had an OK dinner at the main restaurant - a buffet - nothing much to report here.

Friday Sept 29

Due to the high occupancy at the Hilton we had to check-out at 2pm so we had a late lunch at one of the beach bars then dagged about until about 7:30pm when we left for the airport and our 11:40pm Garuda Air flight home. Garuda was fine - the only airline with flatbeds on the non-stop flights to OZ - they even served French Champagne. We finally walked in the door at home around 9:30am with very tired and a ton of dirty laundry.


© Pat Schafer 2023