Day 2 of the cruise started very early with a sunrise hike to the top of Padar Island…

Amazing postcard views…. just a tad hot (even at sunrise!)… 😅

but TOTALLY worth the views!

Amazing way to start the day! Back to the boat for breakfast and some snorkeling, before we stop at Komodo Village.

Apparently timing is everything when visiting the dragons, because we were told we don’t want to visit when they are active and looking for a meal. Midday is their siesta time, so that was the best time to go. We had to register with an official highly trained Komodo guide who was well equipped with a special stick (?) for protection. 😬. Kept hoping he had a real weapon somewhere under his shirt…

There are over 2000 people that live with the dragons, and their houses are all raised up on stilts in case one decides to pay a surprise visit into town…

We didn’t have to hike far out of town before we started spotting them. They prefer the shade and it was kinda scary how well camouflaged they were around the rocks… (Is this one smiling??!!!)

… and how big their claws were…

We learned they will actually cannibalize each other if they get hungry enough and run out of their normal food source. The babies live in the trees for 3 years (or until they become so large they can no longer support their weight in the trees. This keeps their parents from eating them. Their favorite snack are the very tame wild deer and water buffalo that hang around town. Seems the deer and buffalo have figured out that town is a safe place away from the dragons, so they like human company.

Our trusty guide found one named “Ralph” that he was “sure” was safe to take a picture with?

Ok, we weren’t actually *that* close (just a little trick photography they like to do for the tourist!), but it still felt a bit too close anyway…

It was a very interesting experience, and we made it back in one piece, so we gave our guide a nice tip and headed back to the boat!