bertram31.com

I also posted this on the 25 site, but thought some of you might like to see the pictures as well.

We just returned from short but wonderful vacation. http://ombakputih.seatrekbali.com/

It was a fantastic trip. My oldest son Berkeley had wanted to go to Komodo Island ever since we told him we were moving to Indonesia. He had his chance...

We flew to the island of Flores and embarked on a 4 day sail. I kept telling my wife that I would have been amazing to have our little Bahia Mar here on the trip. So many little islands and beaches to explore.



My wife is the photog in the family and has all of the good pictures, but here are a few.

Dragons:





Flying back, we landed in Bali and heard that there was just an earthquake with Tsunami warning. Never felt a thing and no big waves...

I'll get some more pictures downloaded.

Ian.

Now that's a serious adventure......thanks for sharing the photos of those little lizards!

Ian - how you cook them things?

UV

These are not 'gators!!

The dragon is practically worshipped by the people, they are not hunted, poached, etc.

The Komodo Dragons' only natural ememy is itself. They are cannibels that eat each other and their young. The mother dragon will visciously gaurd her nest of eggs until they hatch and then try and eat all of the hatchlings.

I guess if one of the little one's escape, they can survive just about anything.

It was pretty neat being so close to these animals. Some say these are the closest thing to a dinosaur that is still around today.

All the best.

Ian.

UV,

If you turned a couple of coonasses loose on that island, there would be dragon gumbo and dragon sauce picante in short order. They would have that island cleared of dragon in a week.

Ian, just a running joke we coonasses have about our ability to catch, cook and eat just about anything. Those are beautiful creatures that I would love to see in person, preferably from a distance with a large gun in my hand.

JR

They probably do taste like alligator!

These are interesting creatures.

You apparantly do not see dead ones, because the others eat the dead bodies.

One of the rangers told a story that a few weeks back, there were to dragons fighting. A portion of tail was ripped of of one. The fight subsided and the dragon that lost his tail was happily eating the chunk that was torn off of him.

Ian.

If I remember right from one of the Animal Planet shows -- and I might have had a beverage of the adult nature or 3 in me --- there are cunning hunters and have an incredible sense of smell. The part I remember most - was that their slavia will kill you and quickly -- some kind of enzyme that quickly renders you into lunch.

I remember seeing one of the animal planet photographers stuck literally clinging for life on a tree limb, while a komodo waited patiently below -- the guy had gotten cut on a bramble and the komodo smelled the blood. Steve Irwin eventually distracted the komodo until the guy got recued.

Cool critters, not to be messed with!

And their bite is toxic and make flesh rot. I saw a show on them and they trailed a bitten buffalo for three days as it slowly died.

UV: I thought you said it always began with "First, you make a roux . . ."

Ian,
Living the life huh...good for you...makes being away from home a bit easier I bet...
The only reason I knew about Komodo Dragons and the Island was the movie "The Freshman" with Marlon Brando and Mathew Broderick filmed in NYC.. LMAO...
Great pictures though....are they that big or was your wife really close.. ?? The one in the movie was small compared to that monster..

Ray

Ray - There are alot of things in Jakarta that really make me feel grateful for the choices we have in the North America. So yes, getting out to a small vacation makes the traffic and some other items that can get on your nerves.

These dragons were about 2 meters long, so yes pretty big.

The dragons are poisonous with about 50 different types of bacteria that will basically rot your flesh.

Ian.