Labuanbajo (Tuesday, August 29 to Thursday, August 22)

Labuanbajo is the dive center for the Komodo Island group – lots of tourists.  It is also a typical Indonesian port city, pretty dirty with lots of rubbish in the water; unlike the smaller, cleaner villages that we have visited.  Generally when we get into a larger port town (Kupang, Maumere and Labunabajo), we can’t wait to get out!  Also, this is a port town that you need to check in at the port office despite being told in Kupang that this was not necessary.  We were boarded by friendly custom/immigration/quarantine officials and had to go into the port office to do the paperwork.  While at the office, someone attempted to steal our dinghy motor but we got there before the scoundrels were able to take off with it.

We did an overnight to Labuanbajo to get Dennis to a doctor and to provision.  Dennis’ sciatica is still causing him a lot of pain and numbing in his foot.  The first day in Labuanbajo, Bitang Flores Hotel arrange for a driver to take Dennis to and from the doctor at no charge!  They suggested going to the clinic run by Catholic nuns as opposed to the hospital.  The clinic was very modest but it was staffed by very friendly, caring nuns and five nurses.  We were immediately seen by a young Indonesian Chinese doctor who happened to speak a little English.  She was very helpful and lived full time at the hospital as she was the only doctor at the clinic.  Dennis was not charged for his doctor’s visit.

The second day, we provisioned.  According to the cruising guide, Labuanbajo is a great place to stock up – this was definitely true for the farmers market loaded with lovely fresh fruits and vegetables along with plenty of fish and chicken (kind of smelly as the fish and chicken were not on ice!).  Be sure to get there early in the day – it’s located near the wharf and port office.  There is fairly good grocery store and smaller markets in town with can and dry items – however, I think the dive operators deplete the shelves pretty quickly – I got the last three cartons of long life milk after searching three stores plus, I could not find any paper towels.

We anchored close to Bitang Flores Hotel – if you have to spend a few days in Labuanbajo, this is a great place to hang out.  We had lunch at the hotel and for 50,000 rupiah, you can use the pool and showers.