What the fare carries, one line at a time

Read the ledger as two columns that never swap places. The left column, what the Vhale fare already carries: a car to the quay and a car back, every meal on board, the snacks between meals, mineral water on tap, tea, coffee, milk and juice, and the snorkel gear. The cabins are air-conditioned, which is a facility and not a promise about the small hours. On the open trip the seat brings a guide and the full photo record into the same column.

The right column, what sits outside the fare, holds the park package, the flights, the hotels either side of the voyage, tips for the crew and alcohol, which is not in any fare. Charter the whole boat and the guide and the photographs cross over to this side, each requested and priced apart. The list is shorter than most people expect, and stricter than most pages admit.

Lay the three days over the ledger and each stop finds its column; since day one begins with the pickup, the left column is at work before you have even seen the boat. After lunch the boat sails for Kelor, and the walk at Rinca comes next with rangers beside you; the park package pays for that entry. Sunset is at Kalong. Overnight the boat rests at anchor, in a bay the captain picks according to the weather. Full board is the boat's own phrase, so dinner at anchor is carried like lunch.

On day two, between 12:00 and 17:00, lunch has come after Pink Beach, the table is cleared slowly, and the snorkel gear goes over the side at Taka Makassar and then at Manta Point. Nothing in that stretch is billed. On day three come breakfast, one more snorkel at Siaba or Sebayur and the drop-off by 12:00. Every hour is on the left of the ledger except the park entry and the tips, which are on the right.

The four-day, three-night fare comes with no fixed route, so the stops above are only a sample and the captain settles the final order. The ledger hardly notices. The extra day is one more breakfast, one more lunch and one more dinner at anchor, one more chance for the snorkel gear to be used, and the same list on the right of what you still pay for.

What changes is the table itself. By the third evening the party has stopped being a collection of cousins and colleagues and become a table with habits: who takes the day bed, who volunteers for the paddle boards, who says nothing until the second coffee. The fare for that extra evening is on the price page, and the ledger beside it has the same lines as for three days.

The figures, then, in whole-boat terms. A private charter has one fare per route for the whole party, 1 to 28 guests, and no extra-guest fee: for three days and two nights it is IDR 148,000,000 (≈ USD 9,080), for two days and one night IDR 118,750,000 (≈ USD 7,285). Divide by the chairs at the table and each share shrinks as the chairs fill. At twenty-four guests the three-day share is IDR 6,170,000 (≈ USD 379), and everything on the left of the ledger is inside it.

Fewer than twenty guests pay the same whole-boat fare, which makes the cabin seat the better buy for a smaller party; seats on the Monday & Friday sailing start at IDR 4,450,000 (≈ USD 273) a person. Paying by card adds 3 percent. The park package, flights, hotels and tips sit on the right in any price you meet here, and alcohol is not in any fare.