About Lamain Voyage 2
The first evening told me everything. We’d arrived late at Sebayur, just as the sky turned molten behind the volcanic ridgeline. While other boats anchored far out, Lamain Voyage 2 slid into the cove’s northern edge, close enough to smell the dry forest. A junior deckhand, barefoot and quiet, secured the starboard line to a lone coral outcrop. No shouting, no engine revs. That silence wasn’t oversight — it was calibration.
At 41.5 metres, the vessel carries space without bulk. The four cabins are arranged with deliberate separation — no shared walls between Master and VIP, each accessed via external teak steps. I stayed in the Superior, which sits aft, just above the waterline. The porthole framed the wake each night, a liquid silver trail. By dawn on Day 2, we were already ashore at Padar, hiking under a near-full moon’s afterglow. The climb starts sharp, but the switchbacks are well-graded, and the crew had laid out thermoses of ginger tea at the first ridge.
We saw Komodo dragons not in a staged pen, but sprawled near the ranger station at Loh Liang, half-buried in dust. The guide, Pak Ade, pointed out the forked tongue flicking at our scent. Later, at Pink Beach, the sand wasn’t just pink — it was flecked with red foraminifera, crushed coral visible under a loupe. Lamain Voyage 2’s dinghy dropped us in knee-deep water, and we waded in without stepping on the reef. No ropes, no floating platforms. Just timing the tide right.
Snorkeling at Manta Point wasn’t a free-for-all. The captain positioned the boat upcurrent, and we entered one by one, 30 metres from the cleaning station. Two mantas circled the same groove in the reef for 20 minutes, their wingtips stirring silt from the basalt. Back onboard, the rinse station had both freshwater and a saltwater shower — a small thing, but after two hours in current, it mattered.
On the final morning, we reached Taka Makassar by 7:15. The sandbar emerged like a mirage, thin and blinding. Kanawa followed — shallow lagoons with sea turtles nosing through seagrass. We left Labuan Bajo at 8:30 on Day 1; returned by 14:00 on Day 3. In between, no schedule felt rushed. Even the engine noise was managed — early transits done at reduced RPM, so conversation didn’t drown in vibration.
