Sape to Labuan Bajo, how to?

By Ferry

This info is from 2015.

1. Type of transportation: ferry
2. Departure times: 2 boats per day from Sape, one at 9:00 & the other at 16:00 Schedules are very approximate, arrive as early as you can. I updated this after 2 other answers contradicting the first info I posted and contradicting one another.
3. Length of journey: it takes 6h.
4. Price: 60'000 IDR.
5. Possible delays: this ferry is often late. In my case, the ferry left 3h late (left at noon). In the case of the erohisms bloggers, the ferry left 2h late (left at 11am). I met someone who did have to stay overnight in Sape because he missed the morning ferry (which left on time for once), not sure why he didn't take the afternoon ferry. I also met an expat from LB who confirmed the fact that the ferry is often late of several hours & corrected me regarding the number of ferries per day (I originally thought there only was one per day).

Speedboats

Wikitravel mentions a speedboat from Sape to Labuan Bajo but I have not met anyone who used this service.

A speed boat connects Sape with Labuan Bajo and viceversa three times a week (June 2014 - Tuesday, Thursday and Saturday from Sape to LB, Monday, Wednesday and Friday from LB to Sape). The travel time takes only 3 hours. tickets are about 130.000 rp per person. The same company also goes to Sumba. Call Kapal Cepat Express Bahari 0823 592 87 257 in Sape, 0822 373 68 767 in LB.

Resources

wikitravel.org/en/Labuan_Bajo

erohisms.com/overland-travel-from-bali-to-flores/

forum.virtualtourist.com/Lombok-1214370-5-10077124/lombok-flores.html

Price list

I took a picture of the price list for the ferry from Sape to Labuan Bajo in July 2015 at the Sape harbour. Note that I ended up paying 60'000 IDR (vs 56'000 on the price list) when inside the boat for some reason, I kinda gave up trying to ask/understand why.

Ferry type

I'm no ferry expert but it looked pretty standard to me. It welcomes "walking passengers", motorbikes, cars, buses, trucks, anything that fits in really. I took this photo in July 2015 at the Sape harbour.

I got to Sape at 14.00 to catch the 16.00 ferry but there only seems to be one ferry a day, in the morning. I've asked over 10 people and they all said the same.

The phone numbers listed on the wiki for the fast boat arw no longer in use.

You dont need to be that early in Sape. Ticket Office will officially open at 8am But when I was there it opened at about 7:30am

Some Locals told me that you can't trust the Ferry to run every day, but there should be two Ferrys a Day (9:00 and 16:00)

(also on the Way back Labuan Bajo to Sape there are two Ferrys at the Same Time. 9:00 and 16:00)

Be sure you pay the Price mentioned on the Price list - Some Guys tried to sell me one Ticket for double the Price.

Here is the updated Pricelist:

I got to Sape from Bima at 14:30 in plenty of time to catch the ferry at 16;00, but the fools decided to leave at 14:00. Don't trust any schedule just make it to Sape way before.