After several years planning to discover Karimunjawa, finally I had a chance to go. Located in Jepara, central Java, Karimunjawa is one of best under water tourism in Java island. I never go to that city before, but it’s quite easy to get there. We can take bus from Surabaya or Jakarta the capital. From the bus station, we need to take a “becak” to go to the Kartini harbour and get a boat to Karimunjawa. It’s quite cheap, we have to pay about 110.000 IDR or about 10 USD for the boat. It’s important to check the schedule of the boat because it doesnt operate every hour and some boats may get cancelled due to the bad weather.
If we want to have some simple but wonderful experience, some travel agents provide a low cost package for 3Days 2Nights. Preparing by ourselves is possible but we need extra work to deal with the locals for the small boat during our stay, and off course it’s cheaper to travel in a group. I took a 3D2N package in a week end, which cost 735.000 IDR, all included but with a standard home stay in local people houses.
On friday, we started the journey in some beaches with very beautiful coral reefs. it was my first experience in Snorkling but the guide boys were quite handy to let us learn how to play underwater. In the end of the day, we were quite happy to enjoy the beach of small island full of coconut trees. it was amazing afternoon.
During the night we enjoyed some culinaries in such traditional market located in “alun-alun”. Some fresh sea foods were sold for a local price and we could choose what kind of ingredient and how they cooked for us. Wonderful day, delicious meal and good rest, it’s the perfect day ever.
For the second day, again it’s play time. We started the day in a super tiny island called Pulau Gosong which is 8×5 m square only. Then, we continued for another coral reef spot. At noon, we did some BBQ of some fresh fishes in Pulau Cilik (means Small Island). After enjoying the meal and taking a little rest, we continued for snorkling. it’s never ending for snorkling.
In the end of day, we went to a shark pool. We could enjoy swimming with the sharks even taking photos. Some people might be scared but it’s an amazing moment. Starfish and turtle were also there among the sharks.
The last day, we had a free schedule. We decided to visit some mangrove forest. A good place to explore and relax our body after 2 days of snorkling. it was an amazing week end. We wish to come back someday.