Three days from quay to quay: the standard route, stop by stop

Day two is the long day, and it is the reason the group came. It starts before sunrise at Padar.

Pace: the climb takes 30 to 45 minutes, so rise early, wear shoes with grip and carry water. The path is narrow, and 20 guests go up in a line. Sunrise from the top is why the climb starts when it does, and the walk down is quicker. Breakfast follows aboard.

Next stop Pink Beach, with time for a swim and a snorkel. Then Komodo Island for the ranger walk: closed shoes, a hat and the ranger's instructions followed to the letter. Lunch is aboard, then a snorkel at Taka Makassar, and last Manta Point, where the current decides whether mantas show.

So Padar, Pink Beach, Manta Point and Komodo Island itself are all on this route. Anyone who asks whether the trip reaches them gets a plain yes.

Day three is short and wet. Breakfast aboard, then a last snorkel at Kanawa before the boat turns for the quay.

The boat returns to the quay in Labuan Bajo near 12:00. That figure is a plan, not a guarantee. The sea, the wind and the tide can shift it by some time either way, and the captain does not push a landing to hit a clock.

Pack the night before. Bags go to the sun deck at breakfast, wet towels hang to dry and nobody waits for a cabin to empty on the last morning. A group of 20 loses half an hour to bags if it does not agree a drill beforehand.

Pickup back to the hotel or the airport is included. We agree the drop-off point with you before sailing.

Each guest's share is the fare divided by the headcount you will actually have. The part worth explaining to the group is the band step.

At 13 guests the share is IDR 5,000,000 (≈ USD 307). At 12 guests it is the same figure, because 12 sits at the top of the cheaper band and 13 at the bottom of the next. The thirteenth guest moves the whole boat up a band, and the share stays where it was. The fourteenth brings it down again.

Park package per head comes on top of every share. Add it before you tell the group a total, so the number you announce is the number that stays. The group charter page gives the share at every headcount, for all four routes, in one table.

You leave from Labuan Bajo and come back to Labuan Bajo. The boat runs the nine stops and returns to the same quay, so a one-way crossing to Lombok is not part of this charter.

For your flight home: the trip ends near 12:00 on day three, so book a departure for the late afternoon or the evening. Twenty guests with bags need that margin. A morning flight on day three does not work.

For the start: pickup is between 10:00 and 11:00, and the boat sails at 11:00. Arrive the day before. The exact pickup time and the driver's contact reach you in writing the day before sailing.

Longer or shorter plans use the same boat. The 2D1N and 4D3N pages show the sample routes, the hotels page covers the night in town, and the group leader's day-one guide runs the first hours in detail.