Whaleshark May 25

Please make sure you are in Bali by at least today or preferably a few days before - because we fly out to Labuan Bajo, Flores,  early tomorrow morning.

Feel free to stay at your favourite resort or villa - our recommendation for those who have not been to Bali before is to stay in and around the Seminyak area as it is good for restaurants, cafes, spas and shopping etc.

Accomodation tonight is at your expense.

So let's talk about the meetup.

MEET UP:

Today we meet up at the Samaya Hotel Seminyak for drinks at 6pm and a chance to go over the plan and get to know each other. We will cover a round of drinks or two and snacks.

After the meet-up head off to one of Seminyak's great restaurants or return to your villa and we will meet tomorrow at the airport for our flight to Ambon.

Includes:

• Drinks and snacks at meet-up

Not Included:

• Accomodation
• Transport
• Dinner

We fly to Labuan Bajo early this morning and board the Prana - the most luxurious Phinisi on the planet. The Prana will be our home for the next 6 days.

While we receive our cruise briefing we sail through small jewel like islands in the Komodo chain towards Gilli Lawa Darat for our first and most spectacular snorkel.

The coral here is spectacular and during the changing tide the water shoots through the two small islands at a dive site called "shotguns" - you start at one end and the tidal current pushes you across some great coral - it's like you are flying over the reef below - and into a big bay where you can sometimes spot Manta rays as well as lush soft corals.

Don't worry, it's quite safe as we have two tenders with us who monitor you as you go.

For those who know how to dive this is also a great place to have your first dive as the site is world famous.

Lunch on board.

Relax on deck in the afternoon where you have another chance to snorkel a different reef plus a walk up a hill to a spectacular sunset vista on Darat island itself.

Very cool.

During the early morning we up anchor and set sail to our next destination - Banta Island.

Early in the morning we raise anchor and sail to Banta Island.

The coral here is absolutely spectacular and features a beautiful white sand beach. So the plan would be to have breakfast on board then head to shore for some try-dives, snorkel and swim.

The best part is we are out of Komodo Marine Park and our adventure begins as very few boats come this way.

After lunch we arrive at the base of Sangeang Volcano - an active volcano rising up from the Banda Sea.

Back in the water for some more snorkelling across "bubble reef" - here gas bubbles from the volcano rise up from the sea floor and through the coral. Very cool experience.

Dinner on board and then captain sets a course for our longest crossing to Satonda and Moyo island during the night.

A huge sail last night finds us at the sunken volcano of Satonda.

Looming over us will be one of the most destructive volcanos we've seen in this holocene - Tambora.

Still active today, In 1815 Tambora was 14,000 feet high and when it erupted the output of gas and debris caused a mini ice-age in Europe resulting in famines and "the year of no summer". The tsunamis and firestorms decimated much of the local population. After the explosion, the volcano had roughly halved in height to around 9,000 feet. 

Satonda is a sunken volcano and the caldera is filled with water. A short hike will take us to a great vantage point. There are also stunning reefs in the area and another good place for a dive or snorkel.

A short sail to the south is Mojo Island. It has a famous resort that is so far off the beaten track it is a haunt of celebrities wanting to get away from it all. Princess Diana stayed on the island and fell in love with one of the prettiest waterfalls on earth - Mata Jitu.

Getting here is half the fun with local motorbike taxis taking us to the park followed by a nice walk through the forest.

The perfect place for a swim and relax before heading back to the boat for dinner and an early night in preparation for our whale shark adventure in the morning.

Around 10pm last night we made contact with the whale shark scientists and sail down through the night to meet up with the fishermen who have located the whale sharks for us.

There are about 70 whale sharks who live in this bay so the chance of a sighting and swim with these amazing creatures is very high. The whale sharks here don't migrate and instead raid the fishermen's nets. In the past the fishermen would kill the whale sharks but one of our friends has been working with NGOs in the area to create a tourist industry and help protect this species. 

The problem is tourist infrastructure is non-existent but thankfully we have the Prana as our floating luxury hotel.

Once the whale sharks have departed we will sail back out of the bay towards Satonda.

Anchored off Satonda we can enjoy some watersports before dinner on board with a spectacular sunset.

During the night we have sailed back to Sangeang volcano where we arrive in the morning to visit a traditional village where they make Phinisi's just like Prana.

The shore is dominated by the hull of these spectacular boats and we get a chance to chat with the boat builders.

This is a great opportunity to explore a remote village and the local women are fantastic weavers, creating "ikat" fabrics with designs unique to this region. A great place to buy some fabric and support a very remote village at teh same time.

Around lunchtime we set sail to Banta island again for our beach BBQ.

We should arrive at Banta around 2pm and the crew will set up on the beach for our BBQ.

The good news is the beach is pure sand and you can easily swim from shore to the reef just a few meters out.

This is a great way to finish off the day and the long sail from Sumbawa.

We arrive back in Komodo Park for a great snorkel again at "Shotguns" . . .  a dynamic coral channel where water funnels through at mid tide and shoots you into a soft coral bay like a shotgun.

Lunch aboard as we head to Manta Alley to swim with Manta rays - but these are wild animals so we will do our best to find them - but you can tell by the name that if we're going to find Manta Rays anywhere it will be at Manta Alley.

After lunch we head to another stunning reef and snorkel along pristine coral where Turtles hang out. This place is just sensational and has been a hit every time we visit.

Drinks on the top deck tonight as we witness thousands of bats fly from their island roost to the mainland .

Breakfast on Prana as we sail to a very cool Pearl Farm. Here you can see the production of pearls as well as a great opportunity to by from the source.

After lunch we say farewell to Prana and return to Bali.

Our flight leaves around 2pm and we should arrive in Bali around 4pm.

That's it for this tour. You can stay on in Bali or perhaps take a trip to Yogjakarta and visit the spectacular Buddhist wonder of the world - Borobudur.

Surrounded by luxury, this is the world's largest Phinisi - a Traditional Indonesian Boat. Featuring 9 luxury cabins with ensuites, aircon and mod cons. Plus a day spa, dive shop - and 1,000 sq m of deck space - we are doing this trip in style

Here are the specs for this incredible Boat: