Komodo 3 days 2 nights on King Cirox 2: the open-trip route, stop by stop

Day one starts in a hotel lobby, between 10:00 and 11:00, when the pickup collects you. Your guide sends the exact time the evening before. Pack in a soft bag, not a hard case: it stows more easily on board.

From the harbour the boat runs to Kelor. The hill is short and steep and ends at a 360-degree view over the bay. It is the first climb of the trip and the shortest. Next comes Manjarite and its long wooden pier, the first snorkel of the trip. Lunch follows on board.

In the afternoon the booklet lists Strawberry Rock, an outcrop of pinkish-red stone, and marks it conditional. When the sea or the schedule does not allow it, the boat goes straight on.

The last stop is Kalong. You do not land. The fruit bats leave their mangrove roost in a long stream shortly after sunset, and you watch from the deck with a coffee or a soft drink. Dinner follows on board, and the night is spent at anchor or under way, depending on the weather and the captain's decision that day.

Day three is short: breakfast, a beach and a snorkel at Seture, and back in Labuan Bajo between 10:00 and 11:00. Book your flight out for 14:00 or later. The booklets spell the island Seture or Strue.

A private charter of the same length follows a slightly different card. Its days one and two run Kelor, Manjarite and Kalong, then Padar, Komodo Island, Pink Beach, Manta Point and Taka Makassar, without the either-or pairs printed. Its day three replaces Seture with two stops, Sebayur and Kanawa, both beach-and-reef islands, before the return. On a charter you can also agree changes to the order with the crew, because nobody else is on board.

The legs table below gives the range in minutes for each passage on this route; where a time is an estimate the table says so, since the booklets give no cruising speed. The map shows where each stop lies.

If a single stop decides your trip, tell us which one before you book. We check it against the route you are buying.

On the open trip, three days cost IDR 3,350,000 (≈ USD 206) for a Gresik bunk, IDR 4,300,000 (≈ USD 264) per person in Surabaya, Kediri or Jember, IDR 5,150,000 (≈ USD 316) in Malang and IDR 5,400,000 (≈ USD 331) in Madiun. Each private cabin is sold to a minimum of two paying guests. The fare includes pickup, meals, snacks, water, tea and coffee, a local guide, photo and video documentation, the paddle board and the canoe.

For the whole boat, a 3D2N charter costs IDR 47,500,000 (≈ USD 2,914) with up to five aboard, IDR 51,000,000 (≈ USD 3,129) for six to ten and IDR 57,000,000 (≈ USD 3,497) for eleven to fifteen on the current card, with IDR 2,250,000 (≈ USD 138) per guest above that. The 2027 booklet prints IDR 50,000,000 (≈ USD 3,067) for the smallest band, January to July. On a charter the guide and the photographer are extra, on request.

Neither fare includes the park: IDR 250,000 for each foreign visitor, every day, plus rangers and levies. A 3D2N can count as three park days, so multiply before you budget.

The kit is a mask and a snorkel. Manta Point is where people regret leaving their fins at home. Better read here than on the pier.