Pink Beach

Pink Beach — locally known as Pantai Merah — is the kind of place that makes you look twice when you first step off the boat. The sand really is pink. Not in a poetic sense, not a trick of the light, but genuinely, visibly pink. The colour comes from fragments of a tiny marine organism called Foraminifera, whose red casings break down and mix with the white coral sand. It shows up strongest at the waterline and on a bright day.

The beach sits in a sheltered bay on the southeastern coast of Komodo Island. No hotels, no sunbeds — just a few small food stalls under trees, green hills behind, and turquoise water in front. The reef starts just metres from shore, which makes snorkelling here unusually easy and unusually good: corals, tropical fish, turtles, and the occasional ray. Further out, around 150 metres, the bottom drops away sharply down a coral wall.

Komodo dragons are rarely seen at the beach itself — they stay further inland. Early morning and late afternoon are the better times to visit: fewer tour boats, softer light, and the pink in the sand is easier to read. By midday the bay tends to fill up.