Day 276: Moni to Maumere via Koka Beach — Arrive at Sea World (Not THAT Sea World)
After breakfast we checked out of the Kelimutu Crater Lakes Ecolodge and headed east.
Yopi was rockin’ this gem this morning:
Our final destination was to be the Sea World Club Beach Resort (no relation to the Orlando park) but we broke up the three-hour drive with lunch at Koka Beach.
We turned right off the main road and drove down a ridiculously bumpy rock and dirt path. We were the only car in sight yet Mopy paid two different guys for “parking” along the same road — apparently two different land owners are taking a cut from everyone who wants to drive to the beach.
We parked next to a couple little buildings with chickens running around. There are two protected beaches with gorgeous blue water unfortunately littered with quite a bit of trash — such a shame at this otherwise idyllic spot. Koka Beach felt a million miles from civilization, yet the plastic reminded us that isn’t far enough.
The kids went right in the water. I wandered over to some rocks where waves were crashing. It didn’t feel super dangerous but it was exciting to see the white water splash up on shore. I thought it would be a fun backdrop for a photo. It was indeed!
The lunch options were fish or squid. We all shared a beautiful barbecued fish with rice, veggies, chili sauce on the side and mango. Grownups had Bintang and the kids had fruit juice. All soooo good.
A nice Indonesian travel guide named Wiwin was seated with her family at the table next to us. She and the kids spent 30 minutes picking up trash on the beach.
After the kids had their fill of beach frolicking we drove across Flores from the southern coast to the northern coast, arriving at the Sea World Club around 5pm.
This Sea World is literally and figuratively 10,000 miles from the private equity owned and much maligned home of Shamu in Orlando.
Possibly the most casual, chilled out place we’ve stayed in all year, the property is scattered with palm trees and several amazing purple and white Bougainvellea in full bloom — Flores island living up to it’s name.
There are very few other guests. We were shown three different bungalows and choose one where we could all be under one roof. Our little two bedroom house is outdated and weathered, yet clean and appropriate for this location.
The hotel is owned by a 80-something year old Swiss (or maybe German?) Catholic priest who has been serving the poor people of Maumere for decades.
We had an early dinner at the beach bar, ordering two mains, an app and a beer for $11.65 USD, including the 20% tax!
MISC:
“What are living rooms even for? Just for living? So you can’t be dying in them?” – Random James musings
Ugh. Tonight it occurred to us that this morning we forgot to tell the staff at the Ecolodge about James’s bloody nose. We had stripped the sheets but never gave them a heads up during checkout. So some unsuspecting staff member found sheets that looked like we sacrificed a water buffalo in Bungalow #4. We feel terrible.
