Kalong Island at dusk: flying foxes over the mangroves, watched from King Cirox 2's deck

Kalong is not a landing stop, and all four overnight routes include it. The boat stops off the mangroves and you watch from the deck, which is the only way to see it. Thousands of flying foxes, large fruit bats, roost in the trees by day.

The show starts after the sun goes. About 15 minutes after sunset the first bats lift out of the mangroves, and over roughly 30 minutes the rest follow in a long, loose stream across the sky. Arrive late and you miss the start, so the plan is to be in place before the sun goes.

That makes Kalong the easiest stop of the trip. No shoes, no snorkel, no climb. A charged camera and, if you have one, a long lens are the whole kit list. The table below gives the best window, the crowd months and the rest of the site facts, so you know what you are looking at before the first wing crosses the light.

Sunset at Kalong moves by close to forty minutes through the year, earliest in May and latest in January. A few points on the calendar:

• January: about 18:27.
• April: about 17:58.
• July: about 17:57.
• October: about 17:55.

Add 15 minutes for the first bats and half an hour for the stream, and you have the window for your month. The table below lists every month, with the time the bats leave.

Weather is the variable. On a cloudy evening the bats still fly, but the sky behind them is grey, and the photographs flatten. The calmest, clearest evenings fall in the dry months, April to November. In the wet season, December to March, showers can cross the island at dusk. Nobody can promise a clear sky. Note the time for your departure month and be on deck with your camera ten minutes before it.

Every overnight route on King Cirox 2 ends its first day at Kalong. On the 2D1N, 4D3N and 5D4N it follows Manjarite. The 3D2N open trip reaches it after Strawberry Rock when that conditional stop goes ahead, 30 to 60 minutes away.

Where you watch from is your choice. The roof gives the highest view on the boat, from a bean bag on green turf. The bow nets put you low over the water, closer to the mangroves. Madiun and Malang have their own balconies, if you booked one of the two keys with a balcony.

Dinner follows the bats, at the dining table. Then the boat spends the night at anchor or under way, depending on the weather and the captain's decision that day. The leg table below follows day one from the pickup to this stop.