Kelor sits just 8 to 10 kilometres from Labuan Bajo, Kanawa about 15: twenty to forty minutes by speedboat. With Kalong Island’s bat sunset they form the classic 3 islands day trip from Labuan Bajo, and on longer charters they serve as the first swim out and the last snorkel home.
These are not the headline stops, and that is their value. They cost almost no sailing time, they carry real snorkeling and one genuinely great short climb, and they let a well-built itinerary start delivering within the first hour instead of after a long crossing. This page covers the trio and the boats from our graded fleet that use them well.
How to get there by boat from Labuan Bajo
All three sit in the channel between Labuan Bajo and Rinca, which keeps crossings short and sheltered:
- Kelor Island: 8 to 10 km; 20 to 30 minutes by speedboat, about an hour by phinisi.
- Kanawa Island: roughly 15 km; 30 to 40 minutes by speedboat, around 1.5 hours by phinisi.
- Kalong Island: near Rinca’s north coast, about 45 minutes to an hour by fast boat, timed for dusk.
Because the water stays calm in this channel, the trio remains workable on days when outer-park anchorages are marginal, which is why crews lean on them as both openers and weather alternates. Distances for every stop in the park: our routes and times guide.
What you do at each stop
Kelor is a two-act island. The climb: a steep 10-to-15-minute dirt path to a ridgeline with a full panorama over turquoise shallows and the Flores hills, the best effort-to-view ratio in these waters. The swim: a white-sand beach with coral heads within an easy surface swim, busy with reef fish by mid-morning.
Kanawa is the snorkel stop. A long jetty crosses a house reef that begins in standing depth and slopes through coral gardens where turtles graze; you can spend an hour without covering half of it. The beach behind is broad and calm, a natural long-lunch anchorage for families.
Kalong is theatre. At dusk, thousands of flying foxes rise from the mangroves and stream overhead toward Flores in a column that lasts twenty minutes or more, watched from your deck with the anchor down and the day’s salt still on your shoulders. Nearby Manjarite adds a plan-B reef with some of the channel’s healthiest shallow coral.
The full pairing logic, including how the trio bolts onto the Taka Makassar run, is in our Taka Makassar and Kalong Island guide.
Which boat class suits these stops
Speedboat, for the classic afternoon. Kaia Explorer runs the logged half-day sunset route of Kelor, Manjarite, Rinca and Kalong: climb, snorkel, dragons and bats in a single sweep. Compare fast hulls on the speedboat charter Labuan Bajo page.
Speedboat with cabin comfort, for families. Aquamarine, a 13.5-metre boat with an air-conditioned cabin, hot-water bathroom and Wi-Fi, logs Kelor and Kanawa on her day routes and suits groups who want the short crossings made soft.
Shared VIP day boat, for the budget-smart version. Sea Escape folds these near stops into her seven-destination day at a per-seat price. Full formats and per-stop pricing live on the Komodo day trips hub.
As with every vessel in the directory, grading and crew vetting is done by the fleet desk we operate under Komodo Luxury.
Best time to go
The sheltered channel keeps this trio in play nearly year-round, the widest season window in the park. May to September gives the clearest water over Kanawa’s reef; November to March greens the hills and thins the boats, with the bats flying on schedule regardless. For the Kelor climb, go before 09:00 or after 15:00 in hot months. Kalong is fixed by nature’s clock: anchor down by 17:30. Month-by-month conditions: best time to sail Komodo.
Park fees, briefly
Kelor and Kanawa sit at the park’s edge and fee treatment differs from the core dragon islands; Kalong viewing happens from the boat with no landing. Where park lines apply, they follow the usual per-person, per-day structure, and a full day mixing these stops with Rinca runs foreign visitors roughly IDR 300,000 to 650,000 in combined levies. Your crew settles the sheet; details in park fees for charter guests.
Itineraries that include Kanawa and Kelor
- Half-day and full-day runs — every format on the day trips hub opens or closes with these stops.
- 2D1N charter — Kelor as the first swim out, Kalong’s bats from the anchorage on night one.
- 3D2N charter — the trio brackets the loop: Kelor outbound, Kanawa on the sail home.
Next door: Rinca Island for the dragon walk that anchors the 3-islands day, and Taka Makassar when you push deeper into the park.
Curator’s notes for the trio
Kelor’s path is loose gravel from the first step, so this is the one stop where grip soles genuinely beat sandals; take the descent in short switchback steps rather than straight lines. At Kanawa, enter the water from the beach or the jetty ladders and give the rocky patches near the jetty pilings some respect; urchins live where the sand ends. Both islands reward an early arrival, since day fleets from town reach them from mid-morning.
For Kalong, position matters more than lens: ask your captain to anchor with the mangroves between your deck and the western sky, so the bats cross the sunset rather than the dark. Phones capture the scale surprisingly well if you shoot wide and expose for the sky. One planning note our desk uses constantly: because these stops sit so close to the harbor, they rescue arrival days. A guest landing at Komodo Airport by early afternoon can be on the water by 15:00 and watching the bat exodus by 18:15, which turns a would-be dead travel day into the trip’s first highlight. Transfer timings from airport to harbor are covered in our flights and transfers guide; the harbor sits ten minutes from the terminal.
Frequently asked questions
How far is Kelor Island from Labuan Bajo?
About 8 to 10 kilometres, the closest stop in these waters: 20 to 30 minutes by speedboat or around an hour by phinisi. That proximity makes Kelor the standard first stop of a 3 islands day trip and the classic final swim on the way home from longer charters.
What is the 3 islands day trip from Labuan Bajo?
It is the near-park sampler: usually Kelor’s ridge and beach, a Rinca dragon walk at Loh Buaya, and the Kalong Island bat sunset, sometimes with Kanawa or Manjarite added for snorkeling. Half-day and full-day versions run by speedboat, returning after the bats fly at dusk.
Is the Kelor Island climb difficult?
It is short but steep: a loose dirt path gaining the ridge in 10 to 15 minutes, with no steps or rails. Wear proper footwear and take it slowly in the heat. The reward is a full panorama over the bay, and the beach below is an easy snorkel afterward.
When do the flying foxes leave Kalong Island?
In the last half hour around sunset, roughly 17:45 to 18:30 depending on the month. Boats anchor off the mangroves as thousands of flying foxes stream out toward Flores to feed. It is a from-the-deck spectacle; no landing is involved, and the exodus lasts twenty minutes or more.
Start your charter delivering in the first hour
Tell us your dates and pace and the curation desk will send three matched boats for the near-park trio, from half-day sunset runs to full charters.
WhatsApp (+62) 811 3823 875 for a 3-islands shortlist · or email sales@komodoluxury.com with your dates and group size.