This is my first experience travelling with strangers but my dad sent me the mail about this outdoor activity from the Indonesian Geographic just when I felt like needing a break. So I asked some friends and my sibling to come along and gathered 6 people beside myself to go there. The trip was so fun I am still so excited about it until now and I'm gonna give you the details here: 

Saturday, 11 October 2008
Mr. Frans from the IG sms-ed us all by 4 a.m. to make sure that we're gonna show up at the meeting point that morning. Idoy and Endy fetched us (me, Bent, Clemy and Jeremy--who stayed over night at our place) at 6 a.m. by Idoy's Timor car (imagine how the 6 people and their carriages fit in that sedan) and we all arrived at Marina Ancol Pier 22 before 7. We met Grace (my schoolmate in Maranatha, but Jeremy was the one who asked her to join the trip)

We finally departed from the pier (after waiting for the 44 people + 2 kids to appear) by a wooden fisherman's boat. It was hesitating at first but once we get comfort, the boat became so cool for us all (especially for the roof part). The first destination was the Onrust Island, in the northwest of Ancol.


On the way to the island we got to know some girls about our age and this was relieving because becuase the rest of the members were adults and 2 kids (which could be so boring). Erika, Rika, Camuy and Ci Merry were nice and friendly. We were more excited about the trip but not so many things could be done in our first voyage.



Onrust Island was once an island used to quarantine the haji from their haj pilgrimage (naik haji) before entering Jakarta in 1911-1933. Now the buildings were ruined and the only one that survived was only the doctor's house which is now becoming a museum. The tour around the island was filled with capturing pictures of the ruins because we didn't know each other yet.



There was one funny scene happened on this island. After visiting the doctor's house we looked around a hole that used to be a place to keep clean water. Idoy got idle and Endy just got his sunglasses fell into the muddy-look water (it isn't as clean as it used to be, after more than 70 years, of course).


The sunglasses was expensive enough that Endy made himself go down the hole and tried to reach the bottom of the hole by his foot and in just minutes count he found the sunglasses. It was very funny for all of us who watched him. He was so brave (or did it so spontaniously he couldn't think first) to go down that hole just in his boxer and from that moment we valued the sunglasses that worth the saving act. It was really funny, I mean it (no hard feelings, Ndy!)



The second island we visited was the Cipir Island (a.k.a. Pulau Kahyangan that was named after a Dutch man, Chypeer or something like that). This island was more or less similar with the first one, but smaller and dirtier. People came to this island to fish and they picnicked there or built tents which were really annoying the view.


We didn't get too long here and went to Kelor Island which looked a bit like the island they used for the shooting of Pirates of the Caribbean 2 for the hostages exchanging. It was even smaller than the Cipir Island but we couldn't got on it because there was no deep water enough for the boat to harbor and there were no decks. It was so bad because the building standing there looked older and nicer than the other 2 islands. But it was okay, we still had another island to go: Bidadari Island.


This is the most famous island among all of the others (Ayer comes to the second position, I guess) because it was organized well. We didn't follow any guide here and got lost with our own photo sessions, exploring the old fortress (that looked like a mini Collosseum) and explonation along the shore line and small labyrinth, until we found a stall that sell fresh coconut water. Now we had to go back to the Onrust Island to have lunch.


The tour management had prepared fishes and chickens for our lunch and after we were fed up, we gathered for the quiz they gave. I answered 2 of 10 questions they asked (which were quite amazing since I never followed the tour so seriously for I was being more busy in taking pictures than listening) and got 2 DVDs of the islands promotion. Jeremy got 1, too, but I gave my other one to the new girl friends.

We got on the boat again and went to the Untung Jawa Island. It was a fisherman's settlement island and there were many more people there. After the pier and its main gate (with a ticket booth for entrance fee) we were welcomed by small road (about 1.20-1.50 meter wide) that spreads out the beach line and houses on the other side. There were police station, homestay rooms, and halls along that road.

We gathered to be given rooms, and I was roomates with my sister. We could pick the room freely in one area and we got the Lape rooms. I took no.3 while Idoy and Endy took the next door. We gathered again on the pier by 3.30 p.m. to get to the next island. I, Endy and Idoy got on the roof top of the boat and enjoyed the wild breeze from there. It was so cool. I and Endy stood on it and felt like we were the arbiters of the sea.





We arrived at Bokor Island for swimming and diving. The water was a bit dirty with so many rubbish but still we enjoyed the swim. We wore the life jackets to keep us floating instead of having to tiredly paddle our foot in the water. The youth enjoyed jumping from the top of the boat and the adults swam in the side of the beach or just enjoyed the view. We finished swimming just after the sun set. I, Endy and Idoy got back to our usual place; on top of the roof, and some of the members followed us.


We had dinner after bath by around 7.30 p.m. by the shore. They served fish and squids with kangkung as the veggie and melons for dessert. We played a game after dinner for fun. First we had to introduce ourselves in front of all the members in the circle. Then we were divided into 7 teams. I got teamed with Endy and someone named Melani.


The game was to guess the title of a song with its singer but it was read mutely from one to another team member. It was kinda hard to do but quite fun. Melani was disappeared by the early of the game so I and Endy paired our team with Idoy's. Still we didn't win the game.

I, Endy, Idoy and Clemy went back to our rooms (or to be more precised, to the terrace of the boys' room) and chat there 'til around 1 a.m. That was another moment couldn't happen so often. That's why I really enjoyed it (and forced my tired and sleepy eyes to be kept open because the fun was so worth it). We finally could slept around 1 or 1.30 a.m. after some late supper.

Sunday, 12 October 2008
Bent called me by the cellphone to ask whether I wanted to see the sunrise but after peeking the outside and found that it was already light, I went back to sleep. I woke up again just by 7 a.m. because of the alarm, Bent's second call (this time he went inside the room), and people's noisy voices who passed by our rooms (that was located just by the main road of the island).

We took bath and had breakfast that was located a little bit farer on the west of our rooms. But I and Clemy don't eat rice for breakfast so we asked the women there to cook us instant noodle. After breakfast we gathered by the pier at 8.45 a.m. and sailed to the Rambut Island. It was a game preserve island for the fauna. We were divided into 2 groups of about 20 to enter the place.



It was quite interesting, entering the forest with swamp of mangrove plants, some kedoya trees (that I just found out to be a tree name beside a house complex in West Jakarta)... and a 15 meter high control tower on the center of the island. We had to climb up the steep stairs but it was worth it cuz the view from top was so beautiful. We only saw few kinds of fauna there but it was okay cuz we were there not in a study tour. 


The tour guide found a black-yellow snake on the way back to the shore and brought it so the whole trip member could see it. We went back to the Untung Jawa Island by around 12 p.m. and had lunch by 12.30. But instead of having another fish, we decided to eat the noodle sold in a cart. When we finished eating we still had some time before we had to leave the island so I and Endy rented a bike and rode it around the island.

We really biked around every corner of the island that we got thru the main entrance of the island, saw an elementary and junior high school buildings, get on a very beautiful beach the water looked so clean and fresh we wanted to just jump swimming there (but didn't), went across the mangrove forest, and finally biked thru the public swimming spot and market that looked quite famous there (seeing the number of people who spent their Sunday there). We were so tired (the fact is, Endy was the one who pedalled the bike while I was just sitting on the back so Endy was the one who was tired while I wasn't to be that tired).



We packed our bags then and got on the pier by 2.30 p.m. The sun shone so brightly it was so hot but I, Endy, Idoy and Clemy got our VIP seats again; on the roof top, and this time we were alone there, the four of us. We had to wear our life jackets for the tide was high and the trip was quite far (around 1 hour journey) and it was so cool and exciting (beside its danger) to be up there, challenged the wind and shaken by the tide wave. It was just soooo cool!


We arrived at the Edam Island that has a very high white old lighthouse. From the distance I and Clemy knew that we had to get inside it, get on top of it. And we were so excited when they say it was on our trip plan. But we never thought that it would be so high (52 meters with 16 floors) that we became so exhausted climbing it, exploring the interiors, got around the top and got back down of it. But it was nice, though, being inside and up the lighthouse. I remembered one of Tini book (that series of a child named Tini from Germany that Mom bought for my childhood book collection) and felt so happy to finally get in it.


After climbing up and being so tired, when we got back to the boat, the boys were already in the water, floating in their life jackets and the even cleaner water looked so inviting. This was the cleanest water we've ever saw along this trip and the happiest closing moment we've ever had. We even took pictures under water by Reva's waterproof camera (Reva is a photographer from Female magazine). That was so cool!


We didn't get in to the Ayer Island cuz it needed another Rp 50,000.- to enter and we enjoyed the water and sun set from the Edam Island already but we didn't feel sorry. It was nicer to swim (I mean, float) in the sea than in the pool. So, by the time the sun was set, we were all ready to go home feeling satisfied.

I and Clemy had to change my clothes because we were so wet and it was so breezy up there so when the boat started to depart I was still in the toilet inside the boat. We stuck inside for a while but we felt that we couldn't miss the last trip down there so we asked the crewmen to help us to get up (which was quite difficult because the tide was so high and the wind was so hard) but we finally got up somehow.


The roof top was so fully loaded that time, the fullest time ever since the first time we sailed but we still got seats. That last trip lasted for about 1 hour and it was so beautiful because beside of the tide, there was an almost full moon above us, lighten our way back and made the water texture looked more dramatically. Too bad we couldn't take any picture of the view because we were shaken so hard. But it was so worth it, being up there on top along the way home. The effect is still felt until some hours from that, even until now that I'm typing the post (I still feel so dizzy like floating now, plus the burnt skin that tingling on the back of my neck).

We reached Ancol just a moment before 7 p.m. so when we walked our way back to the car, there were fireworks shooted above us, as if welcoming us back to the mainland of Java. This trip was so beautiful and unforgettable for me, because of the experience of visiting the islands (being a beach girl, too, as well) and because of the people that I'm sharing the memory with. God is so great and I'm so thankful that I'm now back to Jakarta. Still feel like holiday I don't want it to end but I have to go to sleep now and face the new ordinary day tomorrow. This really is a marvellous holiday!

[Check more pictures of our holiday at Om Frans' and Dwey's multiply sites]