Land Excursions: All you Need to Know

komodo dragon with tongue out

While the emphasis of all of our tour itineraries is largely based around getting our guests as much snorkeling time as possible, we do make sure to include one or several excursions on land during our tours so everyone can experience the terrestrial nature, historical sites, or indulge in cultural traditions. From the ancient pyramids of Giza, Komodo dragons, and remote beaches, to charming local villages, we always make sure you get the full experience of that particular area-above and below the water. Here’s a quick description of what you can expect from our land excursions and some things to pack for them.

What to Expect

Transport

The transportation method and distance to our designated land excursion varies by location. For some tours, it could be a quick ride on the liveaboard’s dinghy to a local village or beach, while others could be in air-conditioned vans or busses. Depending on the location, travel time can be anywhere from a few minutes to an hour. Regardless, we make the journey there as comfortable as possible with all transport organized in advance and reserved exclusively for us.

Duration

Most of our excursions will only occupy a portion of the day, usually the mornings as that’s when temperatures are the coolest. After breakfast onboard the liveaboard or at the resort we’ll hop into the vehicles or boat and make our way to the destination. Once everyone is satisfied with the sites or encounter—usually an hour or two—we’ll make our way back to the vessel or resort for lunch followed by some afternoon snorkeling. For the land excursions that involve a bit more transport time, we will have a delicious lunch organized for us at or around the area where we’ve been visiting. Don’t worry, we won’t ever let you miss a meal!

Local Egyptian food

Difficulty

None of our excursions are overly difficult from a physical point of view. Most of the time we are walking over flat ground or through well-maintained paths with distances kept under a mile or so in total. Our Komodo trek may be the most difficult as the trek does have one incline to a viewpoint at the end. For those that have difficulty with steeper inclines, there is an alternate route one of the guides will escort you on. Don’t worry, you won’t miss the dragons.

Guest photographing Komodo dragon on island

Guides

Wherever we go we always have a local tour guide or guides to lead us to the most interesting areas and feed us those tasty facts about the area you wouldn’t otherwise find in a guide book.

What to Pack

Sun Protection

As all of our tours will take place outside, it’s always advised to bring some form of sun protection. This could be everything from reef-safe sunscreen, hats, and buffs, to SPF clothing. All of our tours take place in hot tropical climates and there’s no quicker way to ruin a day or two of a snorkeling holiday than by a massive sunburn.

White sand beach with Kayaks and jungle

Shoes and Clothes

Most of the terrain on our land excursions is quite flat and could easily be done in a sturdy pair of sandals, however, we always suggest a pair of trainers or light hiking shoes if you have difficulty with your ankles. Shorts and t-shirts are normally what everyone wears, but if you are particularly prone to sunburns a lightweight long sleeve top would be advised.

Money

Somewhere between $10 and $50 dollars in the local currency is not a bad idea to bring along on the excursions as most of them will at some point have people selling souvenirs who will not take credit cards.

 

Like all the organized activities on our tours, nothing is mandatory. If a morning trek or village tour is not something you fancy doing, then you are absolutely welcome to lounge around the resort or go for a snorkel on the house reef. We’ve found that the majority of the guests will join in on the land excursions, but we also understand that people might prefer to spend that time snorkeling or sleeping in! If you do decide to hang back, we will make sure you are well looked after.

guest being massaged over a coral reef

How to Pack for a Snorkel Venture

First of all, this is not a blog on what to pack for a snorkeling safari, that information is here. This blog is all about how to pack for a snorkeling adventure with us. It may sound like a simple enough subject—just toss in a week’s worth of tropical clothes and your snorkel and mask into a bag and off you go—but with the varying restrictions between your international and any domestic flights we may need to take to reach our ultimate destination, it’s a good idea to pack with a bit of a plan.

International Flight

Your main international flight from your home country to any one of the countries where the tour will be held is fairly straight forward. Just make sure you are within the weight restrictions for both checked and hand-carry bags and all should be well. With that in mind though, do also keep in mind the weight requirements for any upcoming domestic flights you may have once in the country our snorkel safari is in. For exa

mple, if our domestic flight from Bali or Jakarta to Komodo only allows for a maximum of 30kg for our checked luggage and 7kg of hand-carry baggage, you wouldn’t want to have a total luggage weight exceeding 37kgs even if your international flight allows for more than this.

Air asia baggage guide

Domestic Flights

For some of our snorkeling safaris we will be taking one or several domestic flights, particularly in Indonesia. So, it’s a good idea to adjust your packing a bit once you landed in the designated country. First of all, many of our domestic flights will be on smaller planes that will have more restrictions on hand cary luggage size and weights than a large international flight. For most domestic flights the hand-carry maximum weight is 7kg. Along with that, some of the overhead storage compartments are quite narrow so if you have a larger hand-carry bag it’s a good idea to confirm with us or the domestic carrier what their luggage size restrictions are.

Outside of luggage size and weight restrictions, it’s also a good idea to really plan what you pack in both your checked bag as well as your hand cary bag. Our Wakatobi safari, for example, involves a private charter flight from Bali to Wakatobi resort where our checked bags will be dropped of at our rooms several hours after we arrive at the resort. So, with situations like this in mind, it’s a good idea to pack an essential toiletry kit, a spare change of clothes, any medication, glasses, or prescription goggles, and any personal electronics you may need like a laptop or camera in your hand-carry bag. Something else to consider bringing is a power bank to keep your mobile devices charged during flights and car/boat rides.

carry on essentials

You may also find that for some domestic flights the regulations for what items can be carried on and what needs to be checked are more stringent, so we’ve included a generalized list of what items should go where. Please note, this is not an official list of what can be checked and what can not, just a generalized list of items often overlooked by guests.

Liquids: All liquid items over 100ml need to go in your CHECKED BAG

Aerosols: Things like shaving cream and aerosol deodorant or sun cream also need to go in your CHECKED BAG.

Tripods: All tripods and selfie sticks—basically anything stick-shaped—need to go in your CHECKED BAG.

Prescription Masks/Glasses & Medication: Any medication or prescription masks/goggles/glasses should go in your HAND CARY.

Batteries: All batteries, including power banks, need to be in your HAND CARRY bag. We strongly suggest keeping your batteries together in one container rather than scattered about in your bag, just in case the gate agent needs to see them.

Liveaboards vs. Resorts

Liveaboard and resort

Choosing to join a snorkel safari that is hosted by a liveaboard as opposed to a land-based resort, or vise versa can be a tough choice, particularly if your only snorkeling safaris have been with one of the two options, or neither! Resorts can be great as they don’t rock with the waves and the amount of space you get is so much more. However, on a boat you wake up in a new location each day and get to explore so much further in the area. Not to mention the novelty of being on a luxury vessel in the middle of paradise. To help you get the clearest picture possible of what each style of snorkel safari is like we’ve broken it down into a few key points.

Space

Space is one of the biggest differences between resorts and liveaboards. At a resort you have a spacious bungalow with its own veranda and large bathroom. Then there are the resort grounds which offer beautiful landscaping, pools, bars, a restaurant, spa, and quite often a private beach with a house reef.

aerial view of misool resort

The liveaboard option does offer significantly less space than a resort, but you will by no means feel cramped, especially with the elite group of liveaboards we operate with. The boats we use range in size from just over one-hundred feet in length to one-hundred and seventy feet and offer 3-4 different decks to spread out on. The boats all feature large galleys for dining, saloons with big wrap-around sofas, sun decks, camera rooms, and large gearing up stations. Some of the larger boats even have a Jacuzzi and rooftop bar. The cabins will all be furnished with comfortable beds, some may be bunked, but all will be equipped with a private ensuite bathroom with hot water and of course air conditioning.

cabin on coralia liveaboard

Snorkeling

Snorkeling via liveaboard and resort in the very same location can be a completely different experience depending on which one you choose. One is not necessarily better than the other, just different. Raja Ampat is the perfect example for this as Raja is a massive area and no matter how centrally located the resort you’d never be able to see all of Raja, no matter how long you spent there. However, with a liveaboard in Raja you do have the option of being able to experience a bit of everything. Not everything, but a bit of everything, as Raja is HUUGE and even with a liveaboard you’d have to spend a few years exploring it to see it all.

Aerial view of Raja Ampat Islands

With a liveaboard in Raja you can spend a few days in the north, a few days in the center, and a few days in the south, whereas with a resort you will be snorkeling in either the north or the south. Now, that’s not a bad thing at all as both the resorts in the north and south of Raja have more than enough sites to keep us snorkelers entertained for months. Not to mention the resort’s extensive knowledge of their “neighborhood” will surely yield some exceptional surprises you wouldn’t otherwise have on a liveaboard.

One last point I’d like to make here is that when you are snorkeling from a liveaboard, you naturally end up spending nearly all your time on the water, this constant exposure does often lead to nice surprises like a whale shark or manta appearing next to the boat which then turns into thrilling impromptu snorkel session. That being said, most resorts have a house reef and end up being the guests favorite places to snorkel-no matter which house reef-as they can really get to know that reef after a few days and find all the cool things they might otherwise miss in a single snorkel session.

snorkeler with whale shark feeding

Rocking in Rolling

Yes, boats do rock a bit, and if the weather suddenly kicks up it can be a bit bumpy for an hour or so until the captain can get us into a protected bay, but in general you really don’t notice the gentle motion of the ocean after the first-night onboard.  In fact, most people find the gentle undulating motion soothing. For those that are very prone to seasickness, there are some excellent patches, pressure point wrist bands, and seasickness pills you can take which will quite literally cure you of it for the duration of the trip.

Amira Liveaboard sailing

Final Thoughts

Prior to joining Snorkel Venture I spend five years living and working as an underwater photographer on a liveaboard, and since 2018 when I joined Snorkel Venture I’ve spent the majority of that time traveling around the world and snorkeling from resorts. At the end of the day I would never say snorkeling from one is better than the other, not at all. Liveaboards offer that romantic feeling of exploring a tropical paradise by way of a luxury vessel complete with Jacuzzi and masseuse, whereas a resort offers that quintessential island oasis vibe with a happy hour and infinity pool. Each presents a completely different experience out of the water, but both absolutely offer incredible snorkeling.

Happy couple snorkeling a reef in Komodo

When to Film and When to Take Photos

Just about every camera nowadays has both a video and photo function, which provides us with a ton of opportunities for creatively capturing the underwater world. With so many options though, it can be a bit overwhelming when a unique underwater moment presents itself to you completely out of the blue. What do I do!? Should I film it or photograph it? As someone who spends a lot of time switching between video and photo, I’d like to share a few quick tips that have helped me decide whether I’m going to capture the moment with the camera’s video mode or the photo mode.

 1.  What is your ultimate goal?

If you know how to use editing software and plan to make a little highlight reel from your snorkeling adventure, then filming would be the way forward. Similarly, if your intent is to have a collection of photos to share with friends or to hang on your wall, you’d want to stick with the photo mode. This is a really important thing to think about as I know a lot of people who just film everything they see because in a lot of ways filming is easier and can be more gratifying at the moment, but then they find they don’t know how to edit videos or just don’t have the time to and then they end up with hours of footage just sitting on their hard drive.

Snorkeler photographing schooling fish

2.  A bit of Both

A lot of the underwater encounters we have can last for a while, which means you can do a bit of filming as well as photography. Remember to prioritize which of the two mediums is more important to you at the end of the day and start with that one.

3.  Video for fleeting moments

I always keep my camera set to video mode when I don’t have anything in particular to point my camera at. The reason being is that should a manta or whale shark suddenly turn up and I have only a couple of moments to capture the encounter, video is the fastest and most efficient way to do so as you can essentially point and shoot.

10 New Year’s Resolutions for Snorkelers

The new year is just around the corner and as per the annual tradition of making positive goals for the upcoming year we’ve put together a list of snorkeling related New Year Resolutions, just incase you hadn’t come up with any yet and needed a bit of help.

10. Check all Snorkeling Equipment

It’s always a good idea to routinely check through your snorkeling equipment, particularly if it’s been a while since you’ve used it. One very important thing to check is to see if your mask still properly seals around your face. If you are not quite sure how to do that we have a quick tutorial here. Another thing to look over are your fins, especially those of you with the full foot fins (the kind without straps), and to make sure that the rubber pocket your foot goes into hasn’t dried out and become brittle. If that’s the case, it might be time to look at purchasing a new pair of fins.

Snorkeling equipment

9. Research Top Snorkeling Destinations

Instead of just swiping through facebook and the other social media apps for hours, why not put that otherwise “wasted” time to good use and do a bit of research on where the best snorkeling destinations are. We have a full inventory of trip reviews, videos, and destination guides on our blog here.

snorkeler swimming through overhang in reef

8. Practice Duck Diving

Why not hit the ground running on your next snorkeling holiday by already having the art of the duck dive perfected. If you don’t have access to snorkeling sites you can easily practice at a nearby gym or friend’s pool. A pool is actually an ideal place to practice diving down underwater and equalizing as there aren’t any waves or current and it’s a very familiar and controlled environment.

Snorkeler duck diving

7. Find  Snorkeling/Travel Buddy

If you just don’t seem to have any friends who share the same passion for snorkeling  as you do and you just don’t like the idea of traveling alone, there are still plenty of ways to meet fellow snorkelers like you who are eager to have a buddy to share the adventure with. A quick search on Facebook or other online snorkeling forums will reveal groups full of likeminded individuals.

6. Buy an Underwater Camera

Why not treat yourself to a little gift this year for making it though one of the most historic years in modern history. As camera technology progresses there are a ton of very affordable camera options, many of which are already waterproof and come with fantastic underwater modes for shooting amazing photos and videos.

Olympus TG5 sitting on beach

5. Practice or Study Underwater Photography Tips

If you haven’t done much practicing with your underwater camera lately why not take a few of your kids toys and your snorkeling buddy to a friends pool and toss them in and then let have a bit of creative fun pretending that Barbie is a porcupine fish. It might sound a bit silly but one of the best way to learn how your camera works is just time in the water with it. If there’s just nowhere to snorkel, even a pool, then I’d suggest reading some underwater photography tips so that once you do hit the water you have all the knowledge fresh in your mind.

Photographer photographing river scene

4. Purchase a New Piece of Snorkeling Equipment

There are some really amazing new pieces of snorkeling gear on the market now, from snorkels that don’t let water in to exposure suits that keep you just as warm as a five millimeter wetsuit but weigh the same as a sweater. Similarly, there are a lot of really amazing eco-friendly options for snorkeling gear now that companies like Fourth Element have started using textiles made from recycled ghost nets and old car tires.

3. Conquer that Fear of Deep Water

It’s not uncommon to have a phobia of open or deep water. Many people do. Rather than let this control you though, there are some very simple and practical steps you can take to help curb this fear, most of which just involve becoming more familiar with that particular environment. Some things we’d suggest doing are watching some uplifting underwater documentaries like My Octopus Teacher, or any of the BBC Blue Planet episodes as they will help give you a more real idea of what happens in the ocean. Something else to help relieve any anxieties about deep water is to just spend time in it, start with the shallow end of the pool and then slowly progressing to the deep end, and then eventually to lakes and protected bays if you have access to bodies of water like that. While we aren’t phycologists by any means, we understand that a fear of something will generally comes from just being unfamiliar with whatever it is you are afraid of, so the best thing you can do is take gradual and controlled steps to expand your understanding of the thing you fear.

Swimming underwater in a swimming pool

2. Get Back into Good Snorkeling Shape

While our snorkeling trips are pretty relaxed with guests being able to take the snorkeling sessions at their own pace, it’s not a bad idea to do a little bit of training prior to your trip. You don’t have to re-enact the pre-fight training montage from the movie Rocky, but  by just jumping in a pool with a mask, snorkel, and fins on and doing a few laps every now and then you’ll be doing yourself a favor as we use muscles while snorkeling you wouldn’t otherwise use while walking or ruining. Basically, anything that helps stimulates muscle movement and increases your overall stamina in the slightest bit will just help make you more comfortable while on a snorkeling tour.

1. Book a Once in a Lifetime  Snorkeling Adventure

If you’ve been saying for months or even years that “one of these days I’ll book a snorkeling trip” then right now is a pretty ideal time, especially since we’ve all been cooped up in our homes for the past ten months. You can find a full list of the guide-led group snorkeling safaris that we offer here.

Snorkeler Surrounded by Manta Rays

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