We brought you back some postcards from Pulau Seribu, or Thousand Islands - Jakarta ! Feel free to check my previous blog post about Pulau Semak Daun Just Another Trip to Semak Daun Island back in 2009 when we just graduated from high school. Very happy to had a chance visiting this small island in Pulau Seribu again last week. Hekris Akwilla knew I've been craving for beach, so the idea to leave Jakarta on Saturday morning to Pulau 1000, taking the fast boat CitraJet, leaving every 8.30 am from the new harbour in Muara Angke - North Jakarta, only one hour and a half journey ( Rp 100.000 one way, not that expensive and pretty fast ) just perfect if you want to enjoy some sun, snorkeling or just chill, away from this big city and Monday-Friday routines. We even did a little photoshooting, made it to Pulang Tidung, Pulau Panggang, Pulau Pramuka and Pulau Semak Daun Island.
CitraJet boat stops at Pramuka Island then Tidung Island. As we've never been to Tidung Island before so we decided to check what's on the island. Tidung island is great if you want to do some water sports like banana boat, jetski etc, easy walk at the bridge, you can find lots of guest houses there so don't worry about accommodation, prices pretty cheap too starting from Rp 100.000 per night. But it's kind of difficult to rent a fisherman's boat to do island hopping so when we saw a fisherman going back to Pulau Panggang, I didn't think twice to jump into the boat and the captain didn't mind to take us to Semak Daun Island. Bring back the good memories when Will, Bram, Riza, Andret and I went there...5 years ago. Nothing changed with the island, we went camping there and very happy waking up next to the quiet beach with a rainbow in the blue sky.
Pulau Semak Daun
Semak Daun island
Pulau Tidung
Jembatan Cinta "Pulau Tidung"
Pulau Tidung
It was so good to sit at the fisherman's wooden boat in the middle of the ocean, I felt closer to the sky, the breeze and how warm the sun touched my face. Watching the sun rises and set definitely a magical moment I don't wanna miss from traveling.
Sunset at Semak Daun Island
Good morning Jakarta from Muara Angke new harbor
Muara Angke in the morning
Muara Angke this morning
Pelabuhan Muara Angke
CitraJet from Muara Angke to Tidung Island Rp 100.000 one way
Seriously it's good that they now have the fast boat from the new harbour in Muara Angke to Pulau Seribu. The new harbor seems safe for you to park your car there, more organized than the old harbor, they even put the boat schedule which if you miss the 8 am boat, you still can catch the 8.30 am and 11.00 am. Again, our weekend trip was very cheap, the fast boat always better and super convenient, happy to bring home some good photos for the blog.
CitraJet : Rp 100.000 / one way
Rent one fisherman's boat from Pulau Panggang to Semak Daun, then the next morning they will pick us up and drop to Pulau Pramuka where next you can catch a boat / CitraJet back to Jakarta at 12.00
Rp 150.000
Small tip for Semak Daun island's keeper Rp 50.000
Bring your own food or snack, or buy the meals from the local restaurant costs Rp 10.000 - Rp 30.000
This is my sixth post for Travelagys.
I’ve got to say, blogging is pretty addictive. I was very lazy to start writing
but now that I’ve written 5 posts about my previous trip, blogging after work while
sipping my favorite coffee from my babe Yola at Starbucks becomes something
very fun and easy I like to do.
Anyway, I did this 2 days trip
back in 2009. Me and my travel buddies ( five
of us : Will, Andret, Bram, Riza and me ) just graduated from high school
and were always craving to discover new places. So many beautiful beaches in
Indonesia, except the only problem we didn’t have lots of money at that time to
travel here and there, so yeah Pulau
Seribu or Thousands Island like 3
hours by boat from North Jakarta definitely a perfect beach getaway.
Will is a free and spontaneous
person. He was the craziest and always the first person in our group scream “Let’s go here…let’s go there…”. While
Andret was such a cool chick, Bram could read maps better than the others, and
we loved Riza for his fun personality and sense of humor, and those rumors that
he bought some spirits from Ebay, Will spread this gossip and I didn’t
know the exact truth but anyway I loved them and our adventures.
It was Friday afternoon, Will
told us his idea about spending our weekend at Thousand Island. We were like yeaaah let’s do it. We’ve never
planned our trip, just pack our stuff – get in the car – and go ! So Saturday
early morning like 4 am we drove
down to Muara Angke, a fish market in North Jakarta where the port to go to Thousand Island was in there. It was
Ramadhan, four of us were fasting. I remember I only brought chocolates and
water with me, Riza had some snacks and that was it, they must sell some food in island. The first boat to Pramuka
Island left at 7 am. The fisherman's wooden boat was packed with local people, some tourists
including us, fresh fish and fishermen. We only had to pay Rp 30.000 ( $ 3 ) for
one way trip to Pramuka Island, the journey took at least 3 hours. If 3 hours sitting at the boat sounds too long, you can take CitraJet boat ( Rp 100.000 / one way ) from the new harbor at Muara Angke, leaving every 8 am, with AC and comfy seats plus it's only 1 hour and a half to get to Pulau Tidung or Pulau Pramuka, we found it very convenient. Check out my new blog post about Pulau Seribu / Thousand Island Pulau Tidung & Pulau Semak Daun 2013.
Andret didn't look so happy there :(
We arrived at Pramuka Island at
11 am, that’s where most of the local people lived. The boys rent snorkeling
equipment for Rp 25.000 then we rent a boat for Rp 120.000 to go to Semak Daun Island. We didn’t book any
hostel in Pramuka Island since we were planning to spend a night at Semak Daun
Island. There was no hotel there obviously, it was just a small island,
practically no one lived there except two or three guys. We didn’t bring any
sleeping bags or blankets, so yeah we knew we would end up sleeping on the
beach. The man dropped us to Semak Daun island and pick us up the next morning
before 11 am because the boat from Pramuka Island scheduled leave back to Jakarta
around 12 –ish.
Semak Daun Island was sooooo
beautiful. I was so surprised there was a nice island with a white crystal
beach just 3 hours from Jakarta. Me and Andret had our fun photo shoot sessh under the sun,
while Riza and Will went snorkeling. I could hear them screaming very excited “You girls gotta stop taking pictures and get
your ass in the water. Check the corals !” Done with photo session, we got in the water.
Those sea urchins underwater scared me to death, I was so panic trying my best
to swim back to the jetty, asked for Will’s help but I guess he was just
watching me, ohh correction, he was giving some instructions how to kick and
swim back to the jetty, which wasn’t help much. But anyway, I got out of the
water and decided to soak up the sun just lying in the jetty, watching my boys
snorkeling.
At 6 pm we sat in the jetty,
watch the sun went down. Forget about building and the hustle bustle of
Jakarta, we had our lovely weekend at Semak Daun Island, except…we realized we
didn’t have food for dinner, not even enough water, so we struggled to survive
til tomorrow. The boys set up a bonfire and they jammin’ under the stars. It’s
like the night sky was celebrating life and love with us, the sounds of wave
while watching shooting stars and you know - just like small kids, each of us
had our wishes. Even tho it was very hard to sleep after, we found many small
animals in the sands and it was getting colder, still it was one of our best
nights.
Our 'hotel room' !
The next morning we got up early.
The boys went snorkeling again, me and Andret just enjoying our Sunday morning
in the jetty, capturing some pictures before the boat pick us up. Leaving Semak
Daun at 11 am and waiting for another hour in Pramuka Island til the boat
arrive and bring us back to Jakarta. Seriously if you guys ever happen to visit
Jakarta, or some of you live here and thinking to do weekend getaway, we really
recommend you to visit Pulau 1000 or thousand
island. It was a very cheap trip, we spent less than Rp 200.000 ( $ 20 ). 3
hours boat from Jakarta to Pramuka Island wasn’t a big deal if you got great
companion with you. Even if you don’t want to spend a night in Semak Daun
Island and prefer to book a room in Pramuka Island, you would still enjoy the
islands. Go rent a snorkeling equipment and boat in Pramuka Island, then do
island hoping, don’t forget to bargain. I guess the price is around Rp 100.000 –
Rp 150.000 ( $ 10 – 15 ).
From some news I’ve read these
days, lots of people do island hoping to Tidung Island then Semak Daun. Tiger
Island or Pulau Macau is also recommended, you can check www.pulaumacau.com .It’s a bit more
expensive but they offer you many activities and the resorts is great, so I guess
the price’s worth it. The girls and I are planning to go to Thousand Island next week, I really hope
things are still the same, can’t wait to soak up the sun. Promise will keep you
guys updated. In the mean time, my last confession would be : I miss my travel
buddies so much. We’re all just very busy doing our own things. Bram and Riza
are working in banks, Will been living in Bali since couple of month ago, I
haven’t heard any news about Andret but definitely wish all of them the very
best in the world.
Please feel free to check the new blog post about Thousand islands Pulau Tidung & Pulau Semak Daun , more photos and info :)
