A day on board, written by someone who has had many of them

Nobody sets an alarm on day 2. The boat has been at anchor since the evening, and the first sound is water against the hull. The cabin is air-conditioned and dark, and the ones on the lower deck stay dark until someone opens the door.

Breakfast is served when the party is awake. No breakfast time is published and a menu is not published either, so we do not promise either. The captain fits the morning to the sea and to the stop of the day. Free-flow coffee, tea and water are on board all day.

A walk on Padar or a swim at Pink Beach follows, depending on the day. On a five-day charter a morning holds one stop, not three, which is the difference you feel by the second day.

Lunch comes back on board after the morning stop, and it is not a race. Some of the party sleep. Some take the paddleboard or the canoe. Snorkelling gear is on the boat for a second swim off the stern, and the afternoon opens for those who want it.

The long afternoon is the part of a five-day charter that a three-day trip cannot give. Nothing is booked in it. Cards, a book, a nap in a cabin of your own, a conversation on the bow. The boat moves slowly between stops, and when it stops, the swim is optional.

The captain decides the stops and the ranger decides the trails. The party decides everything else.

Evening belongs to the sky deck and the sunbathing areas, on the main and upper deck. In July the sun sets at 17:57 in this part of the park, and the party gathers early. Whether the flying foxes leave their mangroves on cue is not promised.

Dinner follows on board. Meals are served on board; no menu and no dining time is fixed, and we do not invent them. On a charter of three nights or more the beach dinner setup is free, and the captain agrees the evening with the party.

The lounge carries movie and karaoke entertainment for the evenings when the deck is too warm. The party sleeps on board; the captain picks the anchorage that day, guided by the weather.

Eighteen people need somewhere to go. Indoor dining and an indoor lounge sit under the roof on the main deck. Outdoor dining sits under a canopy. The bow has a relax area, and the after deck has a lounge area. The sky deck and the sunbathing areas sit on the main and upper deck.

The result is a boat with five or six places to sit, and a cabin besides. Someone takes the shade. A teenager takes the bow. A couple takes the after deck. No seat counts or sizes are given, and this guide does not either.

Quiet is easy to find on a boat that large. The only noise is the one you choose.

By the third morning the questions change. On day 1 the children ask where they are going and when. On day 3 they ask nothing, because the boat has become the place they live in. Breakfast runs late, and nobody minds. The teenagers are back from a swim before the adults have finished coffee.

Day 3 of the sample route is Komodo Island, Pengah and Kalong. The walk with the ranger comes first, a swim next, and then a long wait for the light at Kalong. There is time for all of it, and no one hurries.

That is the day off the clock. It is what five days buy, and it is why the host of a long charter keeps saying the same thing: there is no need to hurry, the loop will still be there.