Karimunjawa, the most beautiful beach I’ve ever seen!

karimunjawa map

Karimunjawa has become one of Indonesia National Park. Maybe “Karimunjawa” sounds not so familiar in peoples and they don’t know that Karimunjawa keeps beautiful beaches within it. Yes, I’ve proved it! It can be said that Karimunjawa is the most beautiful beach I’ve ever seen. FYI, I’ve even compare it with some beaches in Phi-phi Island, Thailand!! :peace:

Beside that, Karimunjawa also offer beautiful underwater scenery, white sand and the clear blue water. I think beach lover people would have satisfied when visiting Karimunjawa.

Karimunjawa island, here’s the center of citizens activities. Almost all the hostels, guest houses, etc. located on the island. Harbors are also located here. The bigger one for the ferry dock and one for fishing boats dock.

karimunjawa national park map

I really wish I could visit the Karimunjawa  for the second time! Of course to explore other unspoiled islands! 🙂

_{*  Things to DO and Point of Interest  *}

1. Explore  the islands (islands hopping)
Karimunjawa has many small islands uninhabited who has a great view. We can freely play the water and sand as we like. Please prepare enough sunblock lotion! 🙂 There is one island called Gosong island, that we can visit in the morning when the water has not high tide. At high tide, the island will be submerged and not visible. 🙂

Beauty of Karimunjawa

2. Dare to swim with sharks?
Yes, in Karimunjawa, precisely at the Cemara Kecil island, there is a sharks captivity. We can swim with sharks in the same pool! There are about 10 sharks in it. Time that I recommend is at the time of the morning, when the water has not high tide. Take it easy, the guides said that the sharks are benign, but still it will spur the adrenaline someone that was there in a pool with sharks. Are you brave enough? I bet you will! 😀

thanks to Mahendra ;P

3. Snorkeling (of course!)
Karimunjawa has beauty underwater world of its own. There are some spots to do snorkeling. Snorkeling enthusiasts will surely be satisfied with the views offered. If I allowed to be honest, based on my experience, Karimunjawa underwater scenery is more beautiful than Phi-phi!

underwater of Karimunjawa

4. Swimming!
Swimming! Well … in the sea near the Cemara Besar island. The sea was calm, no big waves and the water was really clear. It’s really clear, like a giant swimming pool. We can swim with satisfaction here.

it isn't a swimming pool, it's Karimunjawa!

5. Hunting sunset
There are some islands to hunt the sunset on this archipelago, one on the island of Tanjung Gelam (a lot of people also call Ujung Gelam island). In addition, on the dock of the Karimunjawa island itself we can get an interesting sunset spot. Unfortunately, because of the mountain location in the east of the island, we little difficult to get a sunrise spot on the Karimunjawa island.

Sunset in Karimunjawa

6. Enjoy the scenery, enjoy the life!
Yups! Like I said, here I have ever seen the most beautiful beach! Around Cemara Besar island, there is a very beautiful beach that really made me unable to say anything, speechless, amazed and impressed! I Love You Indonesiaaaaaa! : D

We also can enjoy lunch with grilled fish menu that is baked directly on the island (if you want this, please ask your tour guide ^^) There are also other islands that offer many beautiful sceneries.

it’s not photoshoped!! ^_^ – original taken by Dani original taken by Dina Ari

_{*  Transportation and Accommodation  *}

From Cikarang & Jakarta, we headed to Jepara by bus. We chose Shantika Bus at price 110.000 IDR for one seat executive class bus. The bus was good enough and comfortable for almost 14 hours trip. We departed from Jakarta-Cikarang around 6 pm and arrived in Jepara around 8 am.

The bus final destination was Jepara Bus Terminal, and we used becak (traditional public transportation) to reach the harbor. It costs 15000 IDR. To head to Karimunjawa, from Jepara we used a KM Muria ferry. The ferry departed around 8.30 am. from Jepara harbor. We chose Economy Class (30500 IDR). FYI, you should go to inside ASAP if you want to get some seats there. 😉

Jepara – Karimunjawa, it’s about 6 hours. Yeah…, it’s very recommended for you to bring a MP3 player, books, cards or something that can kill the time, beside sleeping of course! ^^

We slept over in Karimun Indah Guest House, price “only” 30.000 IDR / night / person. The price is “only” for the bed room and a glass of hot-morning-tea. The guest house is just an ordinary house with some rooms there. One bed room consist of 2 double size beds. The location is far enough from the Karimunjawa harbor, but it’s so near with the boats pier, just 2-3 minutes by walking I guess. 🙂  Mr Ari is the owner of Karimun Indah guest house. You can contact him at :  +62 81325131608 or by his facebook account. (arikarimun@yahoo.com)

original taken by Mahendra

To explore the islands, we use the traditional motor boat there. We rent a rather big boat at price 850,000 IDR per day plus 2 guides. Sometimes you can get cheaper price for the boat, it depends on the size of the boat. Don’t forget to ask if the price is included the guides fee or not. 🙂

To go back to Jakarta, we used Shantika bus again. It departed from Jepara Bus Terminal at 5 pm.

How about the food? Yeah, don’t worry, you can buy the food in the diner called “Bu Ester”. It costs about 10,000 IDR for once lunch or dinner. If you want to the simple one, you can ask the guest house owner to serve the catering. 🙂

I arranged this tour by myself and total fee was about 520.000 IDR for 4 days 3 nights! Yeah, it’s worthy! 😀

Jump! – Karimunjawa – original taken by Mahendra