ONE LAST ADVENTURE AWAITS ME
Empower Your Living
October 13, 2025 · 5 min read
October 13, 2025 · 5 min read
I spend the final week of the first leg of my Indonesian journey on Flores, an island just under an hour’s flight east of Bali, close to Komodo National Park. Famous for its ancient Komodo dragons, I’m here primarily to dive. I’ve been following Uber Scuba Komodo on Instagram for a long time — their incredible dive videos never fail to inspire me (see notes). One thing is clear: with them, I’ll be going deep.
Accommodation is quickly decided: a cozy room at Seaesta Hotel & Hostel (see notes). Once again, I’m impressed by the warmth of the people, and the restaurant with its chill vibe, delicious Indonesian and international dishes, and refreshing drinks makes the evenings perfect. After long days of diving, I savor the relaxing atmosphere.
Flores — Island adventure between sun, sea, and magic
A Dream Comes True
Getting up early is the order of the day: we meet at the dive center at 7 a.m. A good hour’s boat ride takes us to the dive sites. Even the ride on the open sea is an adventure — the gentle rocking, the sound of the waves, the first rays of sun shimmering on the water. The team is relaxed, and I quickly start chatting with the other divers.
The dives are breathtaking. I’ve never seen so many colorful corals — like actual carpets. Each dive lasts about an hour, but the impressions last a lifetime. On the very first day, it happens: on my 171st dive, I see my first manta ray. Wow. I laugh into my regulator, almost brought to tears by the sheer joy. Just a few meters away, this majestic creature glides by in perfect calm. A goosebump moment — a gift for eternity. I film the rays with my GoPro, but in my heart, this moment is forever captured.
The penultimate dive surpasses even that. We descend and immediately see the first rays circling. On the seabed, I count about seven manta rays gracefully gliding in circles. I hardly know where to look first. One ray pauses, hovering just a few meters in front of me — as if studying me. I feel the energy between us, deeply moved and overwhelmed by the power of this moment. We stay there for almost 40 minutes, and nobody can get enough. I’m in diver’s paradise — pure joy and gratitude fill me.
At home underwater – pure freedom and wonder
Travel is the Best School of Life
This epic experience marks the end of my seven weeks in Indonesia. I couldn’t have imagined a better conclusion. I ventured out into the world and returned richly rewarded — despite the rocky start, the cold, and the persistent cough that left me drained for a long time.
The first weeks teach me to accept things as they are. Not everything can be planned, not everything can be controlled — especially when your body doesn’t have the strength for peak performance. That’s not easy for me, but that’s exactly what makes this journey special. I lose all sense of time and space, let myself drift, and feel how relaxing it is just to be. After all the planning, organizing, and executing this trip, this is a grounding moment par excellence (see my blog: “Planning the Unknown”)
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Email: barbara@empoweryourliving.com
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