Slaying the dragon: Komodo island, Indonesia

The prelude

October 31st. We are on a cruise line. It is a sea day. A pumpkin carving competition took place with much aplomb in the morning. The evening dinner has the Halloween theme with guests outdoing each other with their costumes and face painting. Gruesome or not, all in all, it was a fun day! 

The warm up

The morning of Nov 1st we anchor at the Komodo islands. In my childhood I had read about komodo dragons and seen pictures in Life Magazine of beaches teeming with these creatures. I can't wait to see them. I do not feel intimidated because I would be in a group tour with forest rangers guiding us.  As we are tendering towards the shore I expect to see lots of these fearsome creatures but I see only one slinking away into the mangrove. The beautiful sandy beaches are bare of beach lovers. Little boats float in the near distance waiting to take other adventurous tourists to the various islands in the archipelago.

Real life encounter

We meet our guide who runs us through the dos and don'ts. There are several rangers around us. Some of them wield sturdy forked sticks. They are armed, albeit with a harmless defensive weapon. As we leave the platform and start walking the trail I spy a giant-sized lizard gingerly moving its bulk  underneath the building raised on stilts. We steer clear of the beast, of course. Who would want to invite a bite that is highly venomous?

We are walking through a dry forest. The landscape of trunks and rocks and dirtpaths are all the colours of the lizards. Wonderful camouflage.  These reptiles climb trees too.The wild orchids and fruit trees draw our eyes but it will not do to be distracted. I should neither lose sight of the park rangers nor take their instructions lightly. After all, this island has the world's largest population of komodo dragons in their natural habitat.

When a ranger stops to illustrate the characteristics of a plant, tree, flower or fruit I become the go-to interpreter for I speak the local language.

No dragons to slay: thanks to the guides

We arrive at a large group of the 3 meter long Komodo dragons. Monitored by the rangers we stand all around these reptiles in their various poses and their activities. The rangers are monitoring their activities closely. Then we are safely shepherded back to the pier where the cursory souvenir shops are. There might be more komodos under those raised structures too. However, they are no threat as long as they are not famished. I did see a cow in the woods. Was it domesticated, or was it bait?

As we leave the island we get a glimpse of coral pink beaches and the rugged landscapes of the volcanic islands.

Can the scary monster be defeated? The following website tells you more:

https://komododiscoverytour.com/the-animal-that-can-defeat-komodo-dragons/

Cockburn, Grand Turk and Caicos: salt, conches and banks

In Search of . . .

Cruising the Caribbean and the West Indies we dock at the cruise centre at Cockburn, on the island of Grand Turk, one of the islands forming the Turks and Caicos Archipelago, a British overseas territory. Most of the guests on board are ecstatic to be spending another day on the beach and snorkelling. We are simply walking off the pier, get a simple map at the  cruise centre and then decide the direction in which we would explore the town.

What attracts the guests most?

Blue skies,warm sparkling water, deck chairs around inviting pools in resorts and the variety of restaurants and souvenir shops  

The town has all the characteristics of a tropical climate. The sun is beginning to get intense. There's little shade along the beach front where only hardy tall coconut trees sway. Along the road are other palms that are pruned to look like giant pineapples. We do not see a side walk. The town is 5 km from the cruise centre and we would like to visit the library in its heart (something we do in most ports), not only because of my love of libraries but also because the librarian is always approachable and has answers to our questions either through personal knowledge or through  brochures. Also, in the days of yore when we travelled without data (i.e. about 10 years ago) most libraries in big cities had free Wifi!  

Engineered salt pans

When in port for the day we find it best to go to the further reaches of the port and then make our way back well before the ship leaves, or in smaller ports return for lunch and venture out again if it is not too hot.

We find that the residential area is further than 5 km. The historic light house is too exhausting a trip according to the distance on the map. Public transport just for that is out of the question. So we simply turn right and,lo and behold, we are at a vast, arid and hot barren land with something like an oasis in the  centre. A road leads to it. We walk up to the huge sign board that tells us we are at Town Pond Salinas.This used to be a saline lake which was channeled into a series of leveed man made evaporation ponds, water being being moved from one pond to the next as it evaporates into different stages of salinity becoming increasingly concentrated until salt crystals formed. The salt ponds extend to the Red Salinas closer to the  cruise pier.

A little bit of history: no need for a pinch of salt

According to the Britannica settlers from Bermuda arrived and established the salt industry. That is why the town of Cockburn  is named after Sir Francis Cockburn, who was Governor of the Bahamas in the early 19th century.  Historically, it is older than most European settlements in the Caribbean. In fact, the town is older than Kingston, the capital of Jamaica.. 

Production of salt was the mainstay of the islands’ economy, but it became unprofitable in the late 19 hundreds.

Now the economy is highly dependant on tourism and offshore financial services.Sea food export is the islands' third top economic activity. It includes export of conch and lobster.

As we make our way back to the city centre we browse the local craft shops along the seafront filled with island inspired artwork on wraps and scarves, and also shell craft. 

Mahogany and money

Then it's time to amble along the scenic Front Street along the beach front. Mercifully there are spots of shade under mahogany trees that are part of landscaping in the  iconic colonial buildings ( Bermudian style)housing the likes of the Victoria Library and the Turks and Caicos National Museum. The librarian, as expected, is cheerful, welcoming and informative,

We return to our liner for lunch before the scorching heat tires us out too much. We will definitely be served a local seafood dish for dinner.

Trivia, thanks to the librarian:

In 1962, Grand Turk was the first dry land that American astronaut John Glenn stepped foot on after orbiting Earth.

The name of the territory:

Turks" probably refers to either Turk's Head Cactus, or to the pirates who hid in the islands.

"Caicos" is from the" Caribbean term "caya hico," that translates to "string of islands". 

Ocho Rios, Jamaica: the mark of James Bond and Hurricane Melissa

Ocho Rios,Jamaica, is now making the news since the havoc caused by Hurricane Melissa.

We were in the cruise port in 2012. 

The walk of fame.

The walk from the port to the town is an easy jaunt. The weather is tropical. The coconut trees sway. Before we reach the town centre we walk towards Reynolds pier to walk over turquoise blue waters. Surprise, surprise! This is where Dr No ( a James Bond movie) was filmed! Even more Interesting, many of Ian Fleming's novels were written in his home just outside of town.

Noel Coward  also lived in the vicinity.

Mixed impressions.

Nearing the town centre we see a Taj Mahal-like building. No marble here. Just concrete. Painted White and green. Just a shopping centre filled with jewellery and duty free shops. We are not in the least attracted by it. More attractive are the art and craft markets both outdoor and indoors with reggae music in the background. The best thing is we are not harassed by touts. 

Mum and dad approach

All of a sudden pedestrian activity and vehicle movements become a little chaotic. School children are pouring out from every which direction. They are dressed in pinnafores and ties, very British like except that they take on the earthy colours of yellow and brown. The official language is English but Creole is widely spoken.

Some of the young ones address us as daddy and mummy while thrusting out their hands. They ask for money. We are a little unnerved by the experience. Calling males daddy and females mummy is local patois.

Somehow we are able to evade their approaches as we reach what looks like a sunken village with a stream and a pond. It is surrounded by ad hoc dwellings. This must be what remains of the fishing village that has now dramatically developed into a cruise port and a holiday destination.

Are we in British Colonial Asia?

We decide to walk to the hilly residential area that we had noticed as we entered the harbour. It is humid and we sweat up and down the undulating paths lined with houses, surrounded by mango, banana and morainga trees. Also hibiscus and bougainvillea. The building style and lush foliage is akin to that in Malaysia.

A final view

From up here we have a view of the pristine beaches ,brilliant blue waters and white sands of the many bays, including James Bond Bay where we are docked.

A doubt cleared

Are there really 8 rivers, for Ocho Rios is Spanish for eight rivers? no, there's only two. It seems it is a British mispronunciation of another Spanish word Las Chorreras,which means  "the waterfalls". Of course there is a reason for this name.  A short drive from Ocho Rios is the famous Dunn's  River Falls. It is an iconic attraction for the multilevelled cascades which we chose not to visit. 

We leave behind a port that has a bay, a trail, and an airport named after the secret agent.

We hope residents are resilient and are able to pick their lives almost totally destroyed by hurricane Melissa.