Gandiva Phinisi
Updated 3 November 2026
A Komodo getaway for two on a private phinisi means three days, two nights and a cabin with its own bathtub. Two in Arjuna aboard Gandiva pay 2 x IDR 11,500,000 (≈ USD 706) on the open trip; the whole boat starts at IDR 80,000,000 (≈ USD 4,908). Sunset at Kalong is the frame to plan around.
This trip suits a couple who want one anniversary evening done properly and are content to keep the rest simple. The trip lasts three days, with two nights on board, and starts and ends in Labuan Bajo. You need no hiking skill and no diving licence. You do need to be up before dawn once, for Padar, and to accept that the captain, not the calendar, orders the stops.
There are two ways to go. On the open trip you take Arjuna and share the boat with other guests. A private charter hands you the whole boat, with room for friends. The route is the same either way. The first evening is Kelor, Manjarite and Kalong. The long second day starts on the Padar ridge, calls at Pink Beach and Komodo with a ranger, then reaches the Taka Makassar sandbar and Manta Point. The last morning ends at Sebayur and Kanawa. The three-day itinerary page sets each stop in order, with its light.
This page answers the other questions: which cabin, which evening, what to add and what two people pay. The evening is Kalong at dusk, with the sun behind the boat and two glasses on the rail of the Arjuna balcony. The camera is yours unless you add a photographer, and the sky we cannot promise. Where to stand when it delivers, we can tell you.
Arjuna sits on the upper deck with sea-view windows, a double bed, a balcony of its own and a freestanding bathtub under the glass. Every cabin on Gandiva has an ensuite bathroom, air conditioning, a chiller and a safe box. Only Arjuna has the tub and the balcony.
In the boat's own cabin photographs the towels on the bed are folded into swans, which tells you how the crew finish a room. Hot water is listed for the cabin showers.
Arjuna is one cabin, and on the open trip it sells first. With a fixed date, ask for Arjuna before anything else. Nakula and Sadewa are sea-view doubles on the same deck, without the balcony or the tub, and a sensible second choice for the friends who travel with you.
Upper-deck double with sea-view windows, a private balcony and a freestanding bathtub. The only cabin with either. Seat fare IDR 11,500,000 (≈ USD 706) per person, two sharing.
A couple who want the bath, the balcony and the sea at the window.
Check availability · Arjuna Cabin
Upper-deck double with sea-view windows and its own bathroom, matched to Sadewa. No balcony or bathtub. Seat fare IDR 10,000,000 (≈ USD 613) per person.
A second couple sailing beside you, or two who want the view and not the bath.
Check availability · Nakula Cabin
Upper-deck double with sea-view windows and its own bathroom, matched to Nakula. No balcony or bathtub. Seat fare IDR 10,000,000 (≈ USD 613) per person.
Friends or a second couple who want the sea at the window.
Check availability · Sadewa Cabin
Lower-deck double with a porthole, not a sea-view window. Own bathroom and air conditioning. Seat fare IDR 9,000,000 (≈ USD 552) per person, the lowest fare with Yudhistira.
Guests who spend the daylight outdoors and want a quiet bed at a lower fare.
Check availability · Bima Cabin
Lower-deck family cabin: one double, two singles. Two pay IDR 9,000,000 (≈ USD 552) each; a third and fourth pay IDR 6,500,000 (≈ USD 399).
Parents with grown children, or a couple travelling with two friends.
Check availability · Yudhistira CabinThis is the picture the trip is built on. Twenty minutes before sunset you are out on the Arjuna balcony with two glasses on the rail and the sun low over the water. Kalong's sun goes down at 17:57 in July and at 18:01 in November, and the table below lists your month.
Nobody lands at Kalong. You watch the mangrove islet from the boat, and the flying foxes leave it in a long stream that starts about fifteen minutes after sunset and lasts about half an hour. If the sails are set, they take the gold at their edges. Whether they are set depends on the wind, and where the boat lies is the captain's decision on the day.
Light check. The sun sets in the west and the bats leave against a darkening sky, so expose for the sky and let the boat go dark. Wear a light layer for the cool that follows the sun, and charge the battery of your longest lens.
| Month | Sunset | Bats fly from about |
|---|---|---|
| January | 18:27 | 18:42 |
| February | 18:26 | 18:41 |
| March | 18:15 | 18:30 |
| April | 17:58 | 18:13 |
| May | 17:49 | 18:04 |
| June | 17:50 | 18:05 |
| July | 17:57 | 18:12 |
| August | 18:00 | 18:15 |
| September | 17:58 | 18:13 |
| October | 17:55 | 18:10 |
| November | 18:01 | 18:16 |
| December | 18:14 | 18:29 |
Computed for the location; accurate to a few minutes. The crew shifts wake-up with the actual swell.
The boat's own photographs include a night set-up on a beach: lanterns in a circle on the sand and a table inside the circle. That dinner is a service we arrange on request. The fare does not cover it. We send a written quote first, and only your yes puts it on the booking.
Cake and decoration work the same way. Give us the date, your head count and the picture in your mind, whether for the cabin or the deck, and a written quote comes back within one working day. The island, and even the dinner itself, hang on the route, the sky and the captain's call on the day. If the sand is out, the deck table is always there.
A photographer is a separate request, and the park permit for any drone flight is applied for ahead. Each one is its own line on the quote.
The fare pays for the ride to the pier, and the pickup time reaches you in writing at booking.
When a party outgrows the standard vehicle, a Toyota HiAce van for up to twelve or a larger coach replaces it, and we quote the change before it is added.
A dinner for two on the sand, with lanterns in a circle as in the boat's own photograph, arranged when you ask and priced before it joins your booking.
Ask usA dinner built around a birthday, an anniversary or a dietary need; describe it and the price reaches you in writing before anything is added.
Ask usDecoration for a cabin, Arjuna included, or for the deck table, quoted before anything is added.
Ask usA photographer for the hours you name, or a drone flight with the park permit applied for ahead, quoted before anything is added.
Ask usOn request — no fixed price
Mondays and Fridays are the open-trip sailing days, 3D2N, and the next one on sale is Friday, 6 November 2026. The open-trip fare already holds a guide plus photo and video coverage. Other parties take the other four cabins, so you share the deck. The cabins page lists the fare for every cabin.
For friends who want to celebrate with you, the whole boat is a private charter. A private fare holds neither a guide nor photo coverage; we price both on request. She takes twelve; a thirteenth guest means a second boat. The charter page sets the fare by group size.
January and February 2027 are annual maintenance, so nothing sails in those two months. Open trips run from 1 March to 31 December 2027.
For two, the anniversary sum comes in three versions. On the open trip, two of you in Arjuna pay 2 x IDR 11,500,000 (≈ USD 706), 3D2N. On the whole boat, the same two pay IDR 100,000,000 (≈ USD 6,135), which is IDR 50,000,000 (≈ USD 3,067) each. A shorter private run of 2D1N costs IDR 80,000,000 (≈ USD 4,908) for the boat, or IDR 40,000,000 (≈ USD 2,454) each.
The seats are cheaper and bring a guide and documentation. The charter keeps the deck to yourselves. Neither line holds the park ticket, which we quote as its own line, nor flights, nor alcoholic drinks. A card link adds 3 percent.
Pay 50 percent now to hold the date and the remainder 30 days ahead of sailing.
The balance falls due thirty days before sailing, which makes it a sensible deadline for the plan as well. The next open sailing is Friday, 6 November 2026, and every date sits on the Monday and Friday sailings page. Send us these five things before it falls due.
We answer with a written cabin plan and a price to show your partner.
Yes. On the open trip you book Arjuna alone, 2 x IDR 11,500,000 (≈ USD 706), 3D2N, on a Monday or Friday sailing. The other four cabins belong to other parties. Whole-boat privacy is the private charter, from IDR 80,000,000 (≈ USD 4,908).
The captain chooses the anchorage and the running order each day. A dinner on the sand is a request, and the route and the weather settle it. If it cannot happen, dinner is served at the table on deck, which is in the fare.
We cannot say until you give us a date. Arjuna is the one cabin with a balcony and a bathtub, and it sells first on the open trip. Send the date; our written answer says whether it is free.
Nobody, unless you add a photographer. A private fare holds no guide and no photo documentation; both are quoted on request. An open-trip fare carries a guide and photo coverage.
Gandiva sails with its own crew; Komodo Explorer is the booking partner and answers for your reservation.
Gandiva