Weekend Escape at Harapan Island, Thousand Islands, Indonesia
8:00 PM
Thousand Islands (Kepulauan Seribu) are a set of islands stretching from Jakarta Bay to Java Sea and are in fact the northernmost part of the Special Capital Region of Jakarta, Indonesia. Most people who live in Jakarta must know about Thousand Islands, but more often than not, they’ll think about dirty brownie ocean with an awful smell. Will you believe me if I told you there is in fact a sweet, short, and fun escape in Thousand Islands? Where you can go for two days and you can have as much fun as a 3-4 days holiday? The answer is YES, you shall believe me *muahaha*! Ehem. Anyhow, what I’m talking about is Harapan Island, an island located in the Thousand Islands.
To go to Harapan Island, you can go by yourself, or you can take a local tour. Cost per person depends on the number of people traveling, more people equals to cheaper price. I went in a group of seven people for 2 days and 1 night, each person had to pay IDR 350k; details about the tour will be provided at the bottom of this post. It is an all-inclusive tour, you simply have to bring your personal things. However, if you wanted to go by yourself, it’s okay too. It won’t be hard to get an accommodation and food, but the difficult part will be looking for transportation.
Harapan Island can be reached by approximately three hours of boat ride from Jakarta. I and my friends rode on a wooden boat (powered by motor, of course) from Muara Angke Harbour. The journey was challenging and quite the experience, but it will be better if you could depart from Marina Ancol Harbour. However, if you are searching for a low-budget travel, you must depart from Muara Angke. This harbour isn’t suitable for finicky tourists, it’s a fish market, so it’s dirty, smelly, and muddy.
To go to Harapan Island, you can go by yourself, or you can take a local tour. Cost per person depends on the number of people traveling, more people equals to cheaper price. I went in a group of seven people for 2 days and 1 night, each person had to pay IDR 350k; details about the tour will be provided at the bottom of this post. It is an all-inclusive tour, you simply have to bring your personal things. However, if you wanted to go by yourself, it’s okay too. It won’t be hard to get an accommodation and food, but the difficult part will be looking for transportation.
And now I’m going to tell you about my Harapan Island trip with the local tour and also how it felt like traveling from Muara Angke Harbour. Here we go!
DAY 1
We gathered around 6am at Muara Angke Harbour and found ourself competing with other boat passengers to get into the boat (I really don’t suggest this method of transportation for people with disabilities)! The boat could fit up to 100 people, but sometimes the owner pushes it until 150-200 people are aboard- it is surely too crowded and dangerous. Plus there’s the lingering smell from the fish market. Sweat and fishy smell = deadly combo. Muara Angke, YOU SUCKED!
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| People. People. More people. |
Before getting into the boat, it is imperative to find the guide from the local tour you’ve booked because he will be able to help you find the correct boat. It is very hard to find THE boat that departs to your intended destination, since almost every local tour to every island in Thousand Islands -Pramuka Island, Bidadari Island, you name it- departs from Muara Angke.
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| Mirror mirror on the wall, tell me which one my boat is... |
In the boat, you have to sit on the floor, which is made of wood, meaning… hard and uncomfortable. Always be prepared with ANTIMO (or other seasick medication of your choice), one of my friends who normally don’t get seasick threw up his breakfast. The boat more or less looks like this:
Nevertheless, the boat journey was interesting and after arriving at Harapan Island, all my hard feelings was paid up. Maybe some pictures can help you to imagine it :D
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| You can see the bottom of the ocean! YAY! |
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| Here we are! |
We stayed in a local house, it only has one bedroom and one bathroom. Please be extra careful with your valuables because most local houses have a front door and a back door. It is likely that you will only receive a key for the front door and thus can’t control traffic through the back door.
Now, we start the journey!
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| Guilty pleasure: foot-selfie with a blue sea background |
Don’t forget to wear SPF, because you’re going to swim at noon (around 1pm)! I had a really great time swimming and snorkelling, the under the sea view is very nice- I almost couldn’t believe that the ocean was so clear! I was lucky to had not gone there during rainy season, rain makes the sea dirtier and unpleasant.
We went island hopping using a small boat, enough to fit around 10-15 people. Bring your valuable items inside a waterproof bag and wear your swimming suit at the house (with a summer dress over it, perhaps?). There is no chance to change into swimming suit once you’re on the boat… unless you’re an exhibitionist ;)
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| Snorkelling time! |
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| One of the perks of hiring a local tour: they will help you to take an underwater picture |
Next, we went to Bira and Sepa Island to have some fun with the white sand. And then we went to Pelangi Island, a resort island, where we just strolled around.
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| Around Bira Island |
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| Around Sepa Island |
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| Pelangi Island |
And we closed the day with a lovely sunset from the boat. As for dinner, the local tour provided us with BBQ… A LOT of BBQ.
DAY 2
No beach holiday is complete without a sunrise, but I was too sleepy, so I skipped it. In the schedule, we were supposed to have two more destinations in our itinerary, but since there was a misfortune with the weather, we only went to Gosong Island.
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| Boat for island hopping |
Then we went back to Harapan Island to pack things up and go back to Jakarta. NOTICE! You have to ask specifically what time is your boat back to Jakarta. We missed this part and some of my friends didn’t reach the boat in time and had to use the next boat. Luckily, we used the local tour and my friends didn’t have to pay extra. I’m not sure if that’s the case if you were travelling by your own.
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| Goodbye gift from Harapan Island. What a lovely view! |
M.
Harapan Island, Thousand Islands
* Local tour: Pak Wawi (+62 818 08418677, text or call)
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