About Cordelia
We keep Cordelia’s bow into the current when we’re at Batu Bolong just before dusk – it’s the only way to hold clean off the reef while the current stacks up with the tide. At 33 meters, Cordelia’s not the largest phinisi out here, but her lines cut clean through the Savu Sea swell, and we’ve run her steady through monsoon swells when others turned back to Labuan Bajo. Her five cabins sleep 14, and we’ve timed the engine runs so you won’t hear them past 9 p.m. or before 6 a.m. – critical when you’re drifting off to the sound of waves on Padar’s pink sand.
Most boats rush from Komodo Island to Pink Beach by 10 a.m., but we anchor early at Sebayur and let the tide settle. That means you’re in the water at Manta Point on slack, not fighting surface surge. The upper deck Sapphire cabins get the morning sun, but the real prize is the Diamond Cabin – it’s forward on the main deck, double windows facing the bow, and when we’re tied at Kalong Island at sunset, you’ll feel like the entire mangrove is yours. Our crew of six knows every snag on the bottom at Taka Makassar; we’ve dropped the hook there over 200 times.
Breakfast is cooked to order – not buffet-style – because once you’ve seen how eggs scramble over dragon fruit and local cornbread, you won’t want it any other way. Lunch is usually grilled reef fish caught that morning off Kanawa, served under the sundeck awning. The lazy bed up front? That’s where guests end up after lunch, watching flying fish skip across mirror-flat water. We don’t run music during dive or snorkel entries – just crew instructions over hand signals. Silence keeps the mantas close.
Day two starts with Padar at first light. We don’t anchor in the main bay; instead, we tie off at the northern cove, a five-minute tender ride from the base of the climb. Fewer people, better photos. After the dragon walk on Komodo Island – ranger-mandatory, and we carry extra water in the tender – we drift-snorkel along the wall at Pink Beach. The sand gets its colour from foraminifera, not coral, and it’s warm underfoot even at low tide. We’ve pulled up anchor early enough here to hit Manta Point by 3 p.m., when the cleaning stations are busiest.
On day three, we push to Taka Makassar – a sandbar that only breaks surface at low tide. It’s the Instagram shot, yes, but it’s also where the currents slow enough for beginners to float without drifting. We’ve timed the tide so you can wade across at noon. Then it’s a slow cruise to Kanawa for final snorkeling – the coral regrowth there since 2018 is worth seeing – before returning to Labuan Bajo by 5 p.m. No airport dashes.
