by Arianne

Last week i went for 5 days to Karimunjawa. And it was really nice! So, i would like to tell you about my experience.

Me, my Dutch friends and our Indonesian friend left for Jepara Harbor on Tuesday night around 23:30 PM. We went with a car, and It was a long drive (around 5 hours). And because of the bumpy road I didn’t sleep at all in the car. We arrived in Jepara around 06:00 AM. Me and my friends were all very tired but also really excited for our holiday! The boat to Karimunjawa left at 07:00 AM. It was the slow boat, which also took 5 hours. It was a nice boattrip, and I slept for about 2 hours. When I woke up from a nice rest, we were almost at Karimunjawa! And the view was amazing. The water was so calm, and the island came closer and closer towards us. What a beautiful island!

When we arrived, we picked up our motorbikes and met our local guide. He would join us for the whole 5 days to show us around the island. After that we went to our hostel to take a shower and went for lunch at a local warung. With our full bellies we left to a beach named bobby beach. The views on the road were amazing! I can’t tell you enough how beautiful this island is. At Bobby beach we had a chill, a swim and a drink. After bobby beach we went to sunset beach, to, ofcourse, watch te sunset. And believe me, it was the most beautiful sunset I have ever seen! (see picture). After the sunset we went to our hostel to sleep, because we were really tired of the long travel.

The next day we went snorkeling. We left around 8:30 AM. I never did snorkel before, and since I’m very afraid of fish it was really scary in the beginning. But wow I’m glad I got over my fear, because it was really cool. We even saw sea turtles! (see picture). The snorkeling trip lasted to whole day. We had lunch on a small island and had a chill on another small island. In between the eating and the chilling we did snorkeling. It was a good day! Only one minus: I got a really bad sunburn. Belanda Bakar! Haha. After the snorkeling trip we had dinner at a really nice hotel & restaurant. Owned by western. This makes me think: should I also open a business in Karimunjawa and live here? It’s so beautiful, I don’t ever want to leave! After the lovely food we went back to the hostel for another early sleep. Snorkeling makes you tired!

The next morning all my friends went for yoga. But since I had a really bad sunburn, I thought it wiser to skip the yoga. Because it really hurt. After the yoga we picked them up to go to another beach. This day was a chilling day. We had a chill on the beach and ate indomie. My first since I was in Indonesia. Aku suka indomie! After our indomie lunch our local friend arranged for us to go on a fishers boat to another island for another chill. The kapten prepared a second lunch for us. Rice and ofcourse fish. Enak! During sunset we went back to the main island to have a really nice diner. After the diner we went to our hostel. After a nice shower we went to sunset beach for a bonfire. It was a really nice evening! We went to bed a little late.

So the next morning (our last day) we slept in, had a late breakfast. And went on our motorbike to see the island. One more nice thing about the island is that there are not a lot of people. So when we drive our motorbike there is no traffic jam. Never! After exploring the island we of course went to chill on another beach, to enjoy our last evening. It makes me sad, because I really don’t want to leave. After the sunset we went for our last diner together. And since it was our last night we wanted to do one more activity, so we went to the ocean to see the blue plankton! It was really cool. Now it was time for bed!

The next morning we woke up early, because we had to take the boat back to Jepara. In the boat I realized how lucky we were. The weather has been so nice the whole week. It was only raining once. And we saw a sea turtle! I had a really nice holiday with lovely people on a beautiful island. And i will never forget this experience.

With this story I hope to inspire you to think about also go to the island. It will be a holiday you will never forget, I promise!