Labuan Bajo 3Day Komodo Sailing Cruise and Overland Tour 12 Stops

Your first look at what everyone comes here for. A short, steep climb puts a turquoise bay and a chain of green islands at your feet. Not a climber? The beach below is yours — warm, shallow, and completely swimmable.

The reef starts a few metres from the boat. Snorkelling gear — mask, snorkel, fins and life vest — is handed to you on board, so bring nothing. Your guide gets in the water with you, not just watches from the deck, and brings the GoPro down with him. Never snorkelled before? This is where you learn, and you'll have the footage of your first time in the water.

Kalong Island As the light drops, thousands of flying foxes lift off the mangroves and pour across the sky. You watch from the deck with a drink in hand. It goes on for twenty minutes. Nobody talks much.

Padar Island, at sunrise The view you've already seen a hundred times online — three bays curving away below a knife-edge ridge. Seeing it yourself at 5am, with the light coming up, is a different thing entirely. Several viewpoints along the trail, so you can stop wherever your legs say stop and still get the shot.

Sand genuinely tinted rose by crushed coral. Swim, snorkel straight off the shore with the gear provided, or just walk it. Easy, shallow, gorgeous — and the drone is up.

Ranger-guided trekking through dragon territory. Wild Komodos, deer, wild boar, sea eagles overhead. Short, medium, or long route — you choose how deep you go.

Manta Point Floating above a manta ray with a four-metre wingspan is not something you forget — and you won't have to describe it to anyone, because your guide films it. He swims with you, reads the current so you don't have to, and shoots the whole pass on GoPro. Mantas are wild animals, so we can't promise them, but this is where they come to feed.

Taka Makassar A curved sandbar in the middle of open sea, there at low tide and gone at high. Warm, clear, shallow water all around it. Best drone stop of the trip.

A quiet, gentle way to end the water portion. The boat docks at noon.

Rangko Cave A limestone chamber with a saltwater pool inside. Around midday, light drops through the ceiling and turns the water electric blue. Swim in it or just stand there and look.

Waecicu Beach White sand, no crowd. Time to slow down before the last stop

Sylvia Hill The whole harbour and its islands laid out below you as the sun sets. Then we drive you to your hotel. Trip over — properly finished, not just dropped at a pier.