Vhale
Vhale Phinisi
The beach after the ridge
Updated 4 November 2026
Pink Beach comes after the Padar sunrise and breakfast on Vhale's 2D1N and 3D2N routes. The tender lands you on pale pink sand, the reef starts near the shore, and lunch on board follows. Red coral fragments give the sand its tint.
Pink Beach after Padar
Pink Beach comes on the second morning, once Padar has been climbed and breakfast eaten, and it is the stop at which the voyage finally lets go of the schedule. The route calls it beach activity, which is a dull phrase for a lovely hour: you step off the tender onto the sand, you swim or snorkel or lie down, and somebody paddles one of Vhale's two paddle boards in the shallows, badly, to applause from the shore. There is no climb here and no path to follow. Everything sits within a few steps of where the tender landed.
Some leaflets call the same beach Long Beach, because of the snorkelling and the paddle boarding. It is the same stop under a different label.
Landing by tender and the snorkel at the shore
The tender is the Yamaha 40 HP boat that Vhale carries, and it lands the party in loads, so with a big table the first group is on the sand while the last is still finding its sandals. Nobody minds. Reef begins near the shore. The table gives depth as 1 to 8 metres, the current as mild, the stop as 45 to 90 minutes; the water is kind.
Snorkel gear is on board for every guest, and so are the life jackets. A confident swimmer goes straight out; a nervous one wears the jacket and stays where she can stand. So the route takes it in the morning, with calmer water and gentler light, and leaves the afternoon for the reefs.
Real photo from a KEXI trip · 12 photos
How pink the sand really is
The sand is not bright pink, and a page that tells you otherwise is selling something. It is pale pink, like the lining of a shell, with red coral crushed through the white. The shade changes with light and tide: blush under the morning sun, nearly white by noon, deeper where the water wets it.
Take the photograph early and judge it kindly, and do not expect the beach to match a filtered picture from somebody else's trip. The colour is faint enough that a guest can walk the length of the sand before seeing it, then crouch and notice the pink grains in their palm. That small discovery is more satisfying than a loud colour would have been.
Lunch on board afterwards
Lunch is back on board, at the outdoor dining table, and it is the longest meal of the voyage. By two o'clock the party is sitting wet-haired at one long table with the anchorage in front of it, the day bed has been claimed, two cousins are arguing over the paddle boards, and the coffee comes round again without anyone asking. Nothing has needed paying for since the hotel pickup, because the meals, snacks, water, tea, coffee, milk and juice are part of the fare.
After lunch the route goes on to Taka Makassar and Manta Point, and the afternoon is spent in the water. The park package, which covers the ranger and the park ticket, is the one cost at this stop that sits outside the fare, and it is quoted to you in writing before you pay.
FAQ
Is Pink Beach on every Vhale route?
It is on the 2D1N and 3D2N routes, on the second morning after the Padar sunrise and breakfast. The one-day and four-day fares carry sample routes, where the captain fixes the order of stops at the quay. Pink Beach and Rinca are the stops that carry the swim and the walk.
Check availability — Vhale
Bookings for Vhale are made with the Komodo Explorer team in Labuan Bajo; the boat sails with its own crew of nine.