WEEKEND @ KEPULAUAN SERIBU

After some emails through facebook, we decided to have a weekend at Kepulauan Seribu.. Kepulauan Seribu can be translated as Thousand Islands. Thousand Islands is Marine National Park, that are scattered in the Java Sea about North of Jakarta. Thousand Islands is divided into 2 subdistricts, North and South Thousand Islands. North Thousand Island i.e. Pramuka Island, Panggang Island, Kelapa Island. South Thousand Island i.e. Tidung Island, Pari Island, Untung Jawa Island.

1st day - MUARA ANGKE TO PRAMUKA ISLAND (31 October 2009)

We started our journey from 'Muara Angke'. Actually Muara Angke is a port for fisherman boats, and also fish market, so imagine the smell of fish around you.. the ferry from Muara Angke to 'Pramuka Island' supposed to leave Muara Angke at 7am, but because of weekend, many people wanna spend their weekend to Kepulauan Seribu so the ferry left when it is full and it left on 6.30 am.... Hiks hiks hiks hiks I missed the ferry, all my friend already inside the ferry... The next ferry schedule is on 1pm, but I m lucky they have additional trip about 8am because still have about 100 people cant get on board.Our Ferry route is Muara Angke - Untung Jawa Island - Pramuka Island - Panggang Island. It take about 45 minutes from Muara Angke to Untung Jawa Island. and about 20 minutes from Pramuka Island to Panggang Island.


We reach Pramuka Island at 10.20am. I missed the trip to turtle conservation at Pramuka Island. I walked around the pier and take some fotos of the Tower & Orange Mosque in Pramuka Island, then we boarded the small boats to cruise around Kepulauan Seribu.



We are 9 persons, 4 boys (Yudhis, Obi, Iway, and RIcky) and 5 girls (me, Christy, Desi, Uni and Tika) Some of them I met on my trip to Bali last September like Christy, Desi and Iway. it's my first time meet Yudhis (our coordinator), Obi, Ricky, Tika and Uni.







KARYA ISLAND

Our next destination is Karya Island. It takes about 20 minutes from Pramuka Island to Karya Island. Here, we try our snorkel equipments such as masker, google and fins. It's the first time snorkled for Uni and Tika and even Uni said that she cant swim, but she eager to try and she master it. The beach surrounding Karya island is like a big swimming pool, so quite and no big wave, it's good to learn how to snorkeling.. Lucky we have Rizky, our contact in Pramuka Island, and Iway. They are damn good on snorkeling and diving.. They are our teachers and our life guards.

SEMAK DAUN ISLAND

After we know the basic of snorkeling, we move to Semak Daun Island. We were snorkeling around Semak Daun Island. Our boats didnt berth at Semak Daun Island, we berthed about 100 m from the sea bed, where we can see the Marine Park, full of colorful fishes, corals and ..... Sea Urchins.. Dont touch or step on Sea Urchins, they have thick hair around their body and if you step on them their hair will snap on your leg or hand then you will feel stiff for about 4 - 5 hours

LAYAR ISLAND

Our next destination is another snorkeling spot called it 'Balik Layar' Island. Actually no such an island.. It's a strange place like a white sandy swimming pools in the sea. but near there they have a beautiful marine parks, more colorful fishes and blue starfish. and... no sea urchins..

TIDUNG ISLAND

We choose Tidung Besar Island to spend the nite. There are 2 islands, Tidung Besar Island or Big Tidung Island and Tidung Kecil Island or Small Tidung Island.. There is a connecting bridge between Tidung Besar & Tidung Kecil. No star hotel in Tidung, you can find homestay. We rent a homestay consist of 1 bedrooms and 1 livingroom for Rp.200.000/nite (about USD22). Tidung Besar Island is an amasing place for biking around the island.. You can rent a bike for just Rp.15.000/day.



Sunset @ Tidung Island

The amazing about Tidung Island is that you can see sunset and also sunrise from the bridge.