Wednesday 28th August

We are in a most beautiful anchorage. Totally splendid.

We have a pink beach, ranging from very pale to dark dusky pink as the tide goes out and the different levels of sand are revealed. 

The beach is fringed with a bit of green jungle and steep bare hills, very rugged and stark against the blue sky. 

The sea is exquisite – crystal clear, turquoise blue. I have been swimming like a mad thing, in and out of the water, this way and that, to look at coral outcrops with LOTS of fish, all going about their busy fishy lives. Some of them have seemed quite alarmed at my presence overhead. They stop what they are doing and gaze upwards until I have gone a safe distance, then they dart about again.

Glorious but…no dragons, no deer, no monkeys. One lone sea eagle and a mass of shrieky little birds, hidden in the bushes. Ingvar says the deer have all been eaten by hungry islanders, and the dragons have nothing to eat so they too have died out. As far as we can tell there are no islanders now; most of these islands here are totally empty of habitation. 

This morning we are going across to a small village on the actual island of Komodo, Not far away. Maybe we can buy some veggies …or so we hope…