A family from Flores who never left, and learned to share the place properly
Cabo De Flores Tour started in 2014 with one wooden boat and a phone number written on a whiteboard at the harbour. Eleven years later we run four vessels and forty-one people — all of them from West Manggarai, all of them on year-round contracts.
Labuan Bajo changed fast. We tried to change well.
In 2014 there were maybe thirty boats working the park and one hotel with hot water. Today there are hundreds of operators, an international terminal and a queue on the Padar steps at sunrise. Most of that growth has been good for Flores. Some of it has not.
We decided early which side we wanted to be on. That meant paying crew properly instead of seasonally, refusing to anchor on coral even when it costs us twenty minutes, and quoting park fees honestly rather than hiding them until you are standing at the jetty with cash in hand.
It also means telling guests the truth. If your dates are wrong for mantas, we will say so. If a cheaper operator can do exactly what you want, we will tell you that too — and we would rather you came back in a better month than had a mediocre trip in this one.
Eleven years, in five moments
- 2014
One wooden boat
Yos and his brother start running day trips out of Labuan Bajo with a single 12-metre wooden boat and a handwritten booking ledger.
- 2017
The first phinisi
Sanggar Laut is launched from a Bugis yard in South Sulawesi — 28 metres, six cabins, built by hand over fourteen months.
- 2019
Dive operations
A dedicated dive boat and three PADI divemasters join, opening the northern current sites and the southern crossings.
- 2021
Reef restoration
We plant our first 400 coral fragments at Sebayur with a marine biology team from Universitas Nusa Cendana.
- 2024
Nine thousand guests
Guests from 62 countries, an average rating of 4.9, and a crew that is still 100% from Flores.
Three commitments we will not trade away for a cheaper price
Safety is not a line item
Every vessel carries life jackets for double the manifest, an oxygen kit, a satellite phone and a crew trained in first response. We cancel when the sea says so, and we refund in full.
The park has to outlast us
No anchoring on coral, reef-safe sunscreen provided free, all plastic carried back to town, and 2% of every booking goes to the Sebayur reef restoration plot.
Local wages, local careers
Forty-one staff, all from West Manggarai, on year-round contracts rather than seasonal day rates. Four of our guides started as deckhands.
The people who will actually be on your boat
No agency middlemen. These four run the operation, and you will meet most of them during your trip.
Yosef "Yos" Jelalu
Founder & head skipper
Born in Labuan Bajo, twenty-two years on these waters. Reads the Lintah Strait current better than any chart.
Maria Ndoen
Head of trip design
Plans every custom itinerary. Speaks Indonesian, English, German and enough Dutch to be dangerous.
Bagus Prasetya
Dive operations manager
PADI Course Director, 3,800 logged dives, most of them inside the park. Runs the nitrox bench himself.
Elisabeth Wea
Guest care
The person on the other end of the WhatsApp line, from your first question to the ride to the airport.
5.0 out of 5, from 1 guest
Written by the guests we sailed with, through a private link we send after every trip. We publish the text unedited.
“keren mantap”
fan
inggris · Komodo Trip 2D1N
Come sail with us
Ask us anything before you commit — including the awkward questions about price, weather and crowds. We answer those the same way we answer the easy ones.
- Reply time
- Under 24 hours, any time zone
- Cancellation
- Free up to 7 days before departure
- Direct line
- +62 823-1481-3665