DIY Adventure: Up Close with Whale Sharks and Komodo Dragons!

I just returned from my motorbike trip to the islands of Flores and Sumbawa and I’m ready to share all the details about what, how much, how, and where to go.

The plan: combine swimming with whale sharks and visiting Komodo National Park in one trip while avoiding paying exorbitant fees to tour companies.

What you’ll need: your own bike (or a rental, but in that case, make sure to get the original documents for the bike from the owner). An Indonesian bank card, a driver’s license, stress tolerance, and at least basic knowledge of Indonesian will be a huge plus, though you can manage without it—just be prepared for things to be more difficult and costly.

Step one – Head to Padang Bai port and take the five-hour ferry to Lombok. If you buy tickets online through the Ferizy app, the price for the bike is 170k IDR, regardless if you’re solo or with a passenger. If you’re riding alone, you might want to pick up a fellow traveler and split the ticket cost; I’ve done this before. You can buy tickets on-site, but it’ll cost more, and they might ask for your license and bike documents. If you’re missing something, be ready to pay bribes. Ferries run 24/7, about every 2 hours, slightly less frequently at night.

The ferries vary in condition, and I’ve only come across a decent one once out of four times. Most ferries have a VIP room, or you can rent a mattress for 50k IDR. Usually, about an hour after departure, you can sneak into the VIP room for free.

When you arrive at Lembar port, you’ve got a 100 km road ahead of you to Kayangan port. I recently went to Lombok specifically and was impressed with the roads. However, if you take the central route, the roads aren’t as good, and the traffic is heavy—it’ll take you about 2.5 hours to get there.

At Kayangan port, take the ferry to Sumbawa (Poto Tano port). The ticket for a bike is 77k IDR, and the ride lasts about 2 hours. Ferries run 24/7, every 1-2 hours.

Once on Sumbawa, you’ll need to drive for another 3.5 hours to a place called AIAPAYA. I strongly advise against traveling at night. Though the road is in good condition, the lighting is awful, and there are plenty of animals—cows, sheep, snakes, dogs. It also gets cold and windy at night. Seriously, even with more traffic during the day, this section is quicker to drive in daylight than at night.

If you’re exhausted, you can catch a bus and leave your bike at the port’s parking lot. Buses run fairly frequently, all heading toward Bima. The normal price is 70-80k IDR, but they’ll probably try to charge you more.

At your destination, you’ll wait until 4 a.m. to set off. We paid 650k IDR per person, which seems to be the best deal. If you want contact info, feel free to reach out privately.

By sunrise, the boat reaches the spot, and the crew tosses something into the water, attracting the sharks. I won’t describe all the emotions here, but I’ll just say it’s SUPER COOL!

Another perk of doing the trip on your own: if the sharks don’t show up (though according to the guides, they appear 19 out of 20 times), you can stay another day and go out again the next morning without any extra charge. Or, you’ll get 70% of your tour fee refunded (but not the flight cost, which is currently about 2.5 million IDR round-trip per person).

They’ll film you with a GoPro, so don’t worry about that. There’s even a light breakfast consisting of watermelon and a Nutella sandwich, plus tea/water.

By the way, they can also recommend accommodation, though it’s slightly overpriced. Finding a place to stay in Sumbawa is tough. I’ve searched in person a few times by just typing “hotel” into Google Maps and going to check them out. The cheapest places are those not listed on Booking.com or Agoda, as they cater to locals. The quality matches the price, but it’s good enough to sleep. Prices range from 150k-300k IDR per night.

After swimming with the sharks, I headed to Sape, where the ferry to Labuan Bajo departs. The ferry doesn’t run every day—it goes two days, then skips one. Check the schedule on Instagram, they regularly post it at “asdp.sape”.

The ferry departs at 10:30 a.m. and takes about 7 hours. There are sleeping spots, but if you’re traveling with a vehicle, by the time you get on the ferry, they’ll all be taken by pedestrians. In hindsight, I regretted bringing my bike, as there’s not much to see on Flores aside from a waterfall, a cave, and yet another traditional village in the interior. The town itself is small and walkable, or you can call a Gojek. The bike ticket costs 250k IDR, and for pedestrians, it's 95k IDR.

On Flores, I took a one-day trip to the usual spots—Padar Island, Pink Beach (don’t believe the photos), Komodo, and swimming with manta rays (though it’s not manta season, so there were only jellyfish). I paid 700k IDR for the tour plus 400k IDR for the national park entrance fee. If you have a KITAS, the fee is 200k IDR, the same as locals.

I was quite satisfied with this. There are far more expensive options with one or two nights at sea and visits to other islands, but I wasn’t that interested. A day for the tour and another day to explore Labuan Bajo itself was enough for me.

The total distance for the trip, round-trip, was 1,200 kilometers plus 28 hours on ferries. If you have any questions, feel free to ask. Flores is beautiful, and it’s worth driving across the island. The main road during daylight is about 400 kilometers and takes about 8 hours.