27m (89 ft) · 12 guests · 5 cabins · Private from $4,600/night · Cabin from $425 + pp/night
A 27-metre (89 ft) teak and ironwood phinisi for twelve, with five ensuite cabins and a
crew of six. Take the whole ship, or join a cabin on a published Komodo sailing.
Samara I is a 27-metre (89 ft) modern phinisi, built in 2017 from teak and ironwood.
Beam 5.5 m. A Mitsubishi D16 carries her at 5 to 9 knots. She stays in Komodo National
Park, out of Labuan Bajo. Crew of six. This is the hull that also sells open trips.
Samara II is the smaller private-only sister, with shared bathrooms. Do not mix them up.
Twelve guests sleep in five ensuite cabins, all air-conditioned. Two queens sit on the
upper deck (Kelor and Kanawa). Padar is the main-deck queen, with a balcony. Komodo
and Rinca sit below, each with a queen and a single bunk, which is how a family of
three, or twelve on a full ship, actually fits. A salon, a dining room, a shaded
foredeck bar and more than one sundeck.
She is a snorkel boat, not a scuba liveaboard. Two paddleboards, fins and masks, a
6.2-metre tender. Solar helps keep nights quieter than a generator-first hull. Padar
at sunrise, Pink Beach, dragons, Manta Point. Private charter from $4,600/night.
Cabin charter from $425 + per person per night on a published 3, 4 or 5-day sailing.
Planning with us
Check the Availability for Samara I
Vhana is a full-service travel agency and part of Virtuoso Consortia, and we are
happy to customize your holiday. Send us your dates or approximate dates and the
number of people. We then work directly with the boats for the best price
guarantee. You are not looking at a public calendar.
If your preferred nights are already taken, we will provide alternative options
for your review, including a cabin on a published Samara I sailing if that fits.
We are happy to quote pre- and post-cruise stays, airfare, and travel insurance
around the same voyage.
Private charterFrom $4,600/night
Cabin tripsFrom $425 + pp/night
Private charter is the whole yacht for twelve. Cabin charter is a berth on a
published sailing, priced per person per night. Park fees sit outside. The figure
on each sailing is the one that matters.
We work directly with the boats for the best price guarantee
We are a full-service agency and happy to customize your holiday
We slip out of Labuan Bajo by boat, and within the hour the first island rises ahead: Kelor, small enough to walk around in an afternoon, and uninhabited but for the goats. The climb to its summit takes only fifteen minutes, though the loose scree underfoot demands proper hiking sandals rather than good intentions; the reward at the top is worth the caution, a full sweep of Flores, Rinca, and the scattering of lesser islands that make up Komodo National Park. Back at sea level, the white sand and clear water offer the obvious answer to the heat.
Menjerite (Pink Rock), Reef and Ridge
A long wooden jetty runs out from Menjerite over water so clear the coral beneath seems to float rather than sit on the seabed, reason enough to stay in the shallows with a mask and fins. Those who'd rather stretch their legs can follow the trail up into the hills, where the view opens onto mangrove forest and the neighboring islands beyond. Either way passes for a morning well spent.
Kalong Island
We anchor for the night off Kalong, and as the sun goes down over the water, the island's namesake reveals itself: flying foxes, tens upon tens of thousands of them, lifting from the forest canopy in an unbroken column that might be mistaken, from a distance, for smoke, or, as the old comparison goes, a squadron of aircraft slipping past radar. These are giant fruit bats, wingspans reaching five and a half feet, roosting in the open canopy rather than caves, and cooling themselves with slow fans of their own wings through the heat of the day. Guided by sight and scent rather than sonar, they'll cross as much as twenty-five miles of open water and forest tonight in search of the night-blooming flowers and fruit that sustain them, pollinating and seeding the mainland as they go. Dinner is served on deck, with the show continuing overhead.
Day 2
Komodo National Park
Padar Island, On Foot
Padar, the park's third largest island, has become something of a favorite among photographers, and it doesn't take long to see why. The climb to its peak runs twenty to forty minutes depending on pace, a modest ask for what waits at the top: a view unlike almost anywhere else in the archipelago, a series of crescent bays cinched by ribbons of sand, curling out in every direction below.
Long Beach (Pink Beach), Sand and Snorkel
Padar's Long Beach holds the distinction of being the longest of the park's several pink beaches, its color owed to white limestone grinding together with fragments of red, coral-dwelling foraminifera. The effect is subtle rather than lurid, best appreciated barefoot, and the water offshore is calm enough for an unhurried swim or a morning of snorkeling.
Loh Liang, Komodo Island, Into Dragon Country
We moor in Loh Liang Bay, where a hot, dry monsoon forest gives way to open savannah beneath a landscape that feels distinctly prehistoric. Timor deer and wild boar move nervously through the palms, wary of the island's apex residents. Park rangers, carrying nothing more than forked sticks, lead treks of varying length inland, and the short climb to Sulphurea Hill rewards with a sweeping view over the bay, cicadas and birdsong for company. Along the way there's a fair chance of rare orchids, lontar palms, a shriek of sulphur-crested cockatoos overhead, perhaps a water buffalo at a drinking hole or a jungle chicken underfoot. But the dragons are why we've come, and with some luck, one will be found sunning itself on a rock, or a female standing guard over her nest, since other dragons are usually the threat she's guarding against. Armored, clawed, and forked-tongued, these are the largest lizards on earth and Komodo's namesake predators, seeing one in the wild is not a thing easily forgotten.
Taka Makassar, A Sandbar Adrift
Taka Makassar is barely a place at all, a sliver of a sandbar, smaller than a football pitch, that vanishes entirely at high tide. What it lacks in permanence it makes up for in setting: turquoise shallows on all sides, ideal for a lazy swim, and marine life close enough to reach from the sand, manta rays included, drawn here in numbers. Few spots in the park photograph better.
Manta Point, In the Company of Giants
Manta Point is a cleaning station, and the mantas that gather here, wingspans averaging ten feet, hold steady in the current while small wrasse and copepods pick them clean, sometimes queuing for the privilege. Slip in with a mask and snorkel and drift above them in the clear water; sightings here are close to guaranteed, and few encounters with wildlife feel as unearned as watching something this large move with this much grace, filtering plankton from the water as it goes. Expect a strong current and an experience that's hard to top.
Day 3
Disembarkation
Siaba Besar Island, Turtle Territory
If there's one place in Komodo to find green turtles, it's here. The bay's hard coral has made it a favored feeding ground for a substantial resident population, and a morning in the water usually means watching them go about their business unbothered, scratching against the reef or rubbing their shells clean on passing sponges.
Sebayur Besar Island, A Reef in Full
Sebayur Besar's reef rewards patience and a keen eye in equal measure. Schools of bumphead parrotfish and fusiliers move through open water while the coral itself hides its stranger residents: leaf scorpionfish, stonefish, morays, batfish tucked into ledges. Look closer still for giant spiny lobster, cuttlefish, octopus, and the startling blue glow of electric clams tucked into the reef.
Kanawa Island, A Fitting Close
We finish where the light is best. Kanawa's white sand and clear reef make for an easy last afternoon of snorkeling, dolphins, stingrays, turtles, and starfish among the regulars, before the day resolves into a view of Sangeang's distant volcano across the water. Stay for sunset, and on a clear evening there's a real chance of the green flash, that brief, much-mythologized flare of color at the exact moment the sun disappears.
Itinerary subject to change based on guest requests, beach lunch or dinner arrangements, flight timetables, seasonal weather, sea currents, and restrictions imposed by the National Park without prior notice.
Gallery
Samara I in Komodo
ExteriorAt seaSailingSundeckForedeckBowBarSalonDiningKanawaUpper deckEnsuiteKomodo and Rinca
Questions
Samara I FAQ
Can I book a cabin instead of the whole ship?
Yes. Samara I runs published open trips of 3, 4 and 5 days in Komodo. Cabin
charter starts from $425 + per person per night in Komodo and Rinca. Kelor,
Kanawa and Padar sit closer to $465. If you want the hull to yourselves, that
is the $4,600 private night. Samara II does not sell cabins.
How many guests can sleep on Samara I?
Twelve across five ensuite cabins. Ten adults is the more generous number if
the bunks in Komodo and Rinca stay empty. An extra bed on an open trip is
priced separately.
Does she offer scuba diving?
No. Samara I is snorkeling, trekking and a tender. Tanks and a compressor are
not how this hull is sold. If the week needs dives, look at Damai I, Jakare or
Mischief instead.
Does she leave Komodo?
No. Samara I and Samara II stay in Komodo National Park. Raja Ampat, Alor and
the Spice Islands are other boats.
Who is Samara I for?
Families and mixed groups who want Komodo without a dive boat, and couples who
want a short open trip rather than a seven-night liveaboard. She is a poor
match for a scuba week, or for anyone who needs Raja Ampat on the same hull.
Those groups are not how we sell her.
Private concierge
Not sure Samara I is the right ship?
Tell us dates, headcount and how you want the days to feel. If she is the wrong length,
mood or price, we send the next honest match, including Samara II if you want private
only.
Where every voyage unfolds with effortless freedom, expert crews and remote anchorages, planned by Indonesia's yacht experts and a full service travel agency, start to finish.
