We arrived in Rinca Island at about noon and arranged a tour to see the dragons the next day at 0700. We anchored 100 yards off the commercial wooden dock that was overcrowded with indonesian tour boats that came from the mainland. There were probably 30 people lined up to take the "long" trek of two hours to see the dragons. At the ranger station where you check in, they feed the dragons to ensure that the tourist see at least a few animals as it is no sure thing that they will be visualized on the tour.

The next day we were up early and started our tour on time. The dragons were about 2 plus meters long. They were ugly and looked prehistoric. Unfortunately, we saw no dragons on our walk. We did see some water buffaloes and some deer but all in all we were disappointed. Those dragons at the ranger station were tame and moved around very little even though in the am is when they are usually most active. These dragons are quite deadly. The bite their prey and then come back in a few weeks for them to have died of infection. Many will attack a water buffaloe simultaneously. They eat most of their young. The few babies that do survive spend their first two to three years in the trees to avoid being consumed by their elders. Some of the other cruisers were more luck and saw several lizzards in the wild. Some were even put at risk and were protected by the rangers that carried long wooden forked branches of hard wood to prod the animals away.

From the Crew of Always Saturday