Komodo trekking and snorkelling by boat: the effort, stop by stop, on King Cirox 2

Measure the effort in minutes. Kelor, on day one, is 15 to 30 minutes up a short, steep, dry path to a viewpoint over the bay. Padar, on day two, puts the main viewpoint over three bays 25 to 45 minutes above the landing, longer if you push on to the upper ridge; parts of the path are loose. The Komodo walk is 45 to 120 minutes on easier ground with little shade, and nobody walks it without a park ranger.

The open-trip booklet prints two pairs on day two, Padar or Gili Lawa and Komodo village or Rinca, and you pick one of each at booking. If Padar's daily quota is full, the boat goes to Gili Lawa and you climb there instead; if Komodo's is, the dragon walk moves to Rinca. Neither swap shortens the day.

Sturdy shoes matter more than fitness. A guest who walks an hour at home handles both climbs; the problem is grip on loose ground and the heat in the middle of the day. Pack closed shoes, a hat and a litre of water for each walk, then read the day-by-day route below.

Five snorkel stops in three days, one of them hard. Manjarite on day one is a snorkel off a long wooden pier. Pink Beach on day two has reef close to the shore at 1 to 8 metres. Manta Point is the hard one: a drift along the reef in a strong current, 3 to 15 metres deep, for confident swimmers. Taka Makassar follows, a crescent sandbar with reef at 1 to 5 metres, visible at low tide. Day three ends with a beach and a snorkel at Seture.

Between stops there is the paddle board, printed in the open-trip booklet, and a canoe, printed in both. Strawberry Rock on day one, with its pinkish-red rocks, is conditional and depends on the sea that afternoon.

Masks and snorkels come with the boat; fins do not, and in the Manta Point current that gap is felt in the legs, so pack a pair or hire them in town before pickup. Check the included list below for what else you do not need to pack.

The open trip runs only as 3D2N. For more ground you charter the whole boat. For one to five people a 4D3N is IDR 58,500,000 (≈ USD 3,589) and a 5D4N IDR 65,500,000 (≈ USD 4,018); larger groups move into the six-to-ten and eleven-to-fifteen bands.

The 4D3N follows the route in the boat's booklet: Kelor, Manjarite and Kalong on day one; Padar, Komodo and Pink Beach on day two; a Gili Lawa trek, Manta Point, Taka Makassar and Siaba on day three; Kanawa and Seture on day four before Labuan Bajo. That is three climbs, two of them on consecutive mornings, and six snorkel stops.

The 5D4N keeps the first three days and replaces the last with two more: Senator, Kanawa and Sabolon on day four, then Rangko Cave and Seture on day five. On a charter of any length the guide is not included and is quoted separately. Pick your length from the per-person table below.

Our packing list has five lines: sandals or shoes for trekking, a backpack, emergency cash, personal medicines and sunblock. Add four of ours for an active trip.

• Closed shoes with grip for Padar and the ranger walk.
• Fins, because the kit on board has none.
• Reef-safe sunscreen and a hat: Taka Makassar has almost no shade.
• A small dry bag for the tender rides.

The route notes ask for a soft bag at pickup, not a hard suitcase. Pickup itself is between 10:00 and 11:00 on day one, from any Labuan Bajo hotel or LBJ, at no charge.

A limit, stated plainly. This is a trekking-and-snorkelling boat. Diving is not on the menu: no compressor and no tanks are listed. If your idea of adventure needs a tank on your back, the fit list below says so, and the diving page explains how to combine both.