Karimunjawa Islands: A Virgin Paradise

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The journey started when some young, adventurous, impassioned medical students planned to explore the beauty of small islands on the Java Sea after having been tortured by weeks of exams. We chose Karimunjawa Islands as the destination, famous for its gorgeous underwater biota and, yes, white sand tropical beaches.

After taking a night bus from Jatinangor to Jepara's dock, we could not catch up the ferry leaving for Karimunjawa Island. It went away only half an hour before. Jeez, it was sooo close. We were forced to stay for another day at the dock.



It turned out that it was actually fun to spend our time in Jepara with its Kartini Beach and small islands around. We could see the most gigantic turtle in the world (not real turtle though lol). We did not enter that Kura-Kura Ocean Park because we had to pay like 20,000 IDR and we wanted to spend it for our lunch instead haha .

We could also discover the splendor of Pulau Panjang (Long Island, a small island near the dock) in the evening with its picturesque sunset, followed by a seafood party at night, with fish and shrimp as the main dish, accompanied by the smiling crescent moon and a sprinkling of stars in the sky. We also went around by bikes in the next morning to immerse ourselves in the joy of Kartini Beach and its people. That was awesome.





At noon, we got in the ferry. A few moments after taking off... nausea hit us all badly. One of us even vomited. So, you could imagine how it feels like to be on the boat. Yes, haaawwwrible!

And finally, we set foot on our long-awaited end point: Karimunjawa Island.

It was a super duper fun-tastic experience we had back then. We were invited to go snorkeling in many different spots around the islands. We plunged ourselves in the magnificent scenery of the underwater sphere... the colorful lives of the marine creatures, the untouched beauty of the coral reefs, the most breathtaking panorama that I usually could only watch it on TV. We felt like we were in a giant aquatic zoo.







We also visited the Gleang Island and found the most beautiful beach we have ever seen. Imagine a very quiet, clean small island, painted by crystal-clear landscape with white sand, indulged by relaxing, swishing waves, and breeze that blew our mind away. It was such a virgin paradise.





Another unique experience was that we could visit the breeding site of small sharks that are not aggressive. So, many of us were interested to swim with them. I myself was not brave enough and was feeling too cold already to dip myself in the pool lol.



It was really great to be in Karimunjawa Islands, and I hope I will visit it again with someone special and spend many lovely, romantic days there hehe. Someday.

P.S. Karimunjawa Islands is a cluster of 27 small islands on the Java Sea, with the biggest one being Karimunjawa Island. Note the suffix "s".

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