Anda Galffy and her husband sailed from Lombok to Labuan Bajo on Al Fatran 3 this year. It was four days and three nights, and the part of their two weeks in Indonesia they looked forward to most. Anda writes the travel blog Travel Notes & Beyond, and she wrote the trip up there in full. She let us use her words and her photographs. What follows is mostly hers, the good parts and the parts she did not like.
Why she chose a four-day boat
Her husband wanted whale sharks above everything else. They feed in Saleh Bay, off Sumbawa, a long way west of Komodo National Park, and shorter trips do not have time to stop there.
If you want to see both the whale sharks and the Komodo dragons, you will need at least 4 days. Even then, you need to read the itinerary carefully. Not all 4-day trips stop in Saleh Bay, especially those sailing from Labuan Bajo to Lombok.
Then she compared boats. She looked at the decks as closely as the cabins, because on a four-day trip you spend most of your time outside. Al Fatran 3 has three decks, and that is a large part of why they picked it.
Getting to the boat
The boat leaves Kayangan Harbour on the east coast of Lombok around 2 pm. Every guest is collected from their hotel. The driver works his way across the island, so the first pickups can spend five or six hours in the car. Anda and her husband stayed in Mataram, one of the last stops, and were at the port in under two hours. If you take this trip, stay as close to Kayangan as you can.
Day 1: Kenawa Island
The only stop on the first day is Kenawa, a small uninhabited island off the northwest tip of Sumbawa, reached around 4:30 pm. There is time for a swim, then a short climb up the hill behind the beach for sunset. There is no electricity or fresh water on Kenawa, only savanna, a few wooden huts and a couple of kiosks.
After dinner, we stretched out on the lounge chairs on the upper deck. With no city lights around us, the sky was full of stars, more than we had seen in years.
Day 2: Whale sharks in Saleh Bay, then Doropeti
The wake-up call came at 5 am. The whale sharks in Saleh Bay feed beside the bagan, the fishing platforms that work through the night, and the fishermen keep them near the surface at dawn with small fish. Within minutes there were snorkelers all around the first shark.
Anda is honest that she did not get the morning she hoped for. The current was strong, and after a few attempts to get closer she swam back and watched from the deck. The whole session lasted about 90 minutes, then breakfast.
Watching sharks at the bagan raises a fair question. Some crews feed the sharks on purpose to hold them at the platform until the boats arrive. We set out what we think, with the research behind it, in Is whale shark tourism in Indonesia ethical?
Doropeti, off the Sumbawa coast, was the opposite: calm, warm and clear enough to see the bottom from the boat. Rocky islets drop straight into shallow water full of reef fish, coral and blue starfish. The afternoon and night are the long crossing to Komodo National Park.
Day 3: Manta Point, Komodo, Pink Beach and Padar
The busiest day, and for Anda the best. It started with a drift at Manta Point, where the tenders drop you upstream and follow you.
The current was strong, almost like a river, and it carried us at a surprisingly good speed back toward [Al Fatran 3]. All we had to do was float and look down. Below us, manta rays glided by, sea turtles swam lazily along the bottom, and fish of every color moved in and out of the coral.
Then Komodo Island, on foot with a park ranger, which is compulsory. The rangers carry forked sticks to keep the dragons at a distance. Attacks are rare, but they happen when a dragon is cornered or disturbed. Park fees are paid on top of the boat: see our Komodo National Park fees page, and note that the park has run a daily visitor quota since April 2026.
Pink Beach in the afternoon, where the crew drop you off and leave you to it. The colour is real: red shells of tiny reef organisms and fragments of red organ-pipe coral mixed into white sand. It is a soft blush rather than bright pink, strongest at the waterline. Taking sand, shells or coral out of the park is forbidden.
Padar at sunset closes the day: roughly 800 steps up a steep ridge in the heat, and a view over three bays of white, pink and dark sand. Anda calls it the most memorable moment of the trip.
Day 4: Kelor and Labuan Bajo
One last stop, early. Anda warns that the Kelor hike is shorter than Padar but harder: very steep, loose and slippery, with no steps, and on her morning crowded with people going both ways. The 360 degree view from the top is worth it, and the way down is just as tricky. Wear proper shoes.
On the far side of the island they went looking for the young reef sharks that live in the shallows. They snorkelled out and saw nothing. Wading back in, with the water at their knees, they found the sharks all around their legs.
The boat, in her words
Anda booked with Michael from our team after hours of comparing boats, and she says kind things about him. She is just as direct about the boat.
The decks are the best part of the boat. The main lounge deck is shaded by a big canopy, with a leather corner sofa, bean bags and a couple of wicker egg chairs, and there is an open sundeck on top. The cabins are where she was disappointed. Hers was on the main deck and had room to sleep and change and little more. The bathroom was about two square metres for toilet, shower and sink, with no shower tray, so the water ran across the floor, and it had a bad smell they could not get rid of.
Her advice: if you want more space, book one of the two Senggigi cabins on the upper deck, which open onto a terrace, and book early because they go first.
The rest she liked. Coffee at the bow every morning, a cold beer on the upper deck every night, simple fresh Indonesian food with plenty of it, and a crew who helped with everything from the tenders to the snorkel gear. Wi-Fi worked well everywhere on board, cabins included.
Was it worth it?
Absolutely, yes! Looking back on our two weeks in Indonesia, this boat trip was easily the highlight and no other part of our itinerary was nearly as exciting.
If you can live with basic comfort for a few nights, this is one of the most rewarding ways to see this part of Indonesia. I’d do it again in a heartbeat.
What we take from her report
Read the itinerary before the boat. If whale sharks matter to you, check that your departure stops in Saleh Bay. Not every four-day trip does, especially in the Labuan Bajo to Lombok direction.
Treat the wildlife as likely, not certain. Anda saw whale sharks, mantas, turtles and reef sharks. In season the odds on this route are good, but whale sharks and mantas are wild animals, and some mornings they do not show up, or the current decides for you.
Pack light. Cabins are small, so a carry-on is plenty, plus shoes with grip for Padar and Kelor.
The boat, its cabins and the weekly schedule are on the Al Fatran 3 page. Other boats on the same route are in our Lombok to Komodo collection.
Words and photographs by Anda Galffy. Her full trip report, with more photos, prices and a packing list, is on her blog: Lombok to Labuan Bajo by boat, on Travel Notes & Beyond. The boat trip was one part of their two weeks in Indonesia, and she lays out the whole route in her 2-week Indonesia itinerary through Bali, Java and Komodo.
