Clear Sea Aquarium: Karimun Jawa (2/2)
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Hello! I’m back with more stories from Karimun Jawa, the clear sea aquarium! This post will talk about staying at Wisma Apung and travelling around the islands. And loads of pictures. Ye’ have been warned! Check out this for more information on how to reach Karimun Jawa.
ACCOMMODATION AT KARIMUN JAWA: WISMA APUNG
Most tours would recommend travelling around Karimun Jawa for 3 days and 2 nights. There are a lot of lodging options, from humble B&Bs to pricey hotels such as Kura-Kura Resort, which can cost millions a night. Well, I chose to stay at Wisma Apung.
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| Regular homestay at Karimun |
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| Wisma Apung, where I stayed. Pretty cool, huh? |
Wisma Apung is a very unique place to stay. True to its name, it is built over the water, so travellers can get that unique sense of “completely” surrounded by water. The entire construction of Wisma Apung is detached from the islands. Hopefully the photos can give you a better idea of how it looks like!
Each room in Wisma Apung has two doors (besides toilet door, obviously): one door for entrance and exit, and one more door that leads you to a small private balcony. As it is surrounded by water, both doors will lead you to a beautiful scenery of the ocean. Sit down and enjoy the view!
The room itself is big enough for 2-4 people and has its own bathroom/toilet. The mattress does not have a bed frame, it lays directly on a flannel cloth that covers the whole wood panel.
Wisma Apung has a small pond where they keep a couple of sharks and sea turtles. It’s very interesting and although I can’t exactly tell how those animals feel, I strangely think that they look pretty happy living here. Hopefully I’m right!
How about food? No, you certainly won’t starve in the middle of the island. If you join the tour, the package includes breakfast and dinner at Wisma Apung. I’d say dinner is very satisfying, even luxurious. Still hungry? You can always ask the hotel’s boat man (yes, they have their own boat) to take you to the main island and then later take you back to Wisma Apung (no later than 10:00 PM).
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| Your chauffeur for the weekend |
During weekend nights, there are some sort of bazaar in the main square, where you can find stalls that sell pretty much everything, including souvenirs and seafood. There is also a small café in the main island, named Amore Café. I quite like their banana frites and I really miss it right now!
THE TOUR
On the first day, the tour will take you snorkelling near Menjangan Kecil Island, strolling around Tanjung Gelam Beach, and finally gazing at the sunset from the boat back to the main island. Please note that everything relies on the weather and also how crowded a location is. When a location is crowded, the tour will most likely take you to another place first.
On the first day, the tour will take you snorkelling near Menjangan Kecil Island, strolling around Tanjung Gelam Beach, and finally gazing at the sunset from the boat back to the main island. Please note that everything relies on the weather and also how crowded a location is. When a location is crowded, the tour will most likely take you to another place first.
At every snorkelling spot, there is one local whose job is to help you to take pictures under the water. But in this article, all photos posted were taken by ourselves, thanks to the underwater case! :)
On the second day, the first stop will be the sharks captive in Menjangan Besar Island, where you can see sharks (obviously), putter fish, star fish, and sea turtles alongside the sharks. It is actually not quite right to call it captive, since it’s just a pool where the staffs pet these fishes so those fishes will eventually get used to swimming in shallow water together with humans. In all honestly — and I’m sure some would disagree with me — I feel like this is an exploitation of some sort, don’t you think?
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| Puffer fish |
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| Sea turtle |
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| Sharks and starfishes |
After that, we continued the journey to a short snorkelling session around Gosong Island, then playing on the beach of Tengah Island. I didn’t have too much fun at this beach because there were too many people, and it was hard to have a good time.
Next, we had lunch at Kecil Island. There was something special in this lunch! The tour prepared a fresh fish BBQ, right in the middle of the island. How awesome is that? But be prepared to fight to get your lunch, because there was no line whatsoever. Following lunch, we snorkelled around Kecil Island.
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| The boat crew is also the chef. Be nice to him! |
Lastly, we did some more snorkelling at Spot Gosong aka Gosong Seloka, which is different from Gosong Island. Strange, I know. Spot Gosong is an island that only appears when the sea is on low tide. It basically is just a small area of white sand surrounded by the clear blue sea water. Sounds beautiful, right? But we weren’t lucky enough to see that, as it was already high tide when we got there.
After seeing all of those, how could one go back to work and daily life? Now excuse me while I stare at the calendar and countdown the days until my next trip…
Practical Information:
* Here's a link to the tour that I used: Click Here
P.S. This post is not sponsored.
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