Karimunjawa : Its Beautiful Landscape

In the beginning of September 2011 I went to Karimunjawa with my friends. We spent four nights and five days. I had a lot of fun activities with my friends, we were snorkeling, diving, and swimming with many fish and enjoyed beautiful beaches.

Karimunjawa is really worth visiting. However not many people know where Karimunjawa is exactly located. Karimunjawa is a district in Jepara regency that is located in the north of Java Island. Karimunjawa consists of 27 islands that have 107.226 Ha for total large with 100.105 Ha is the sea, and 7.120 Ha is land. From 27 islands only seven islands are inhabited by people (http://en.wikipedia.org). To arrive in Karimunjawa we can take a ferry on certain days such as Wednesday and Saturday, and it takes six hours to arrive in Karimunjawa. We can also go to Karimunjawa by renting a plane from Semarang, and it will take 30 minutes to arrive.

Karimunjawa is one of many choices of places that we can choose to spend our holiday. When you have time on holidays or you want to spend your time filled with fun activities you can come to Karimunjawa. You not only can enjoy the beautiful beaches with white sand, beautiful view of coral, and various kinds of fish but also can have great experiences with the native.

☛ Beautiful beaches with white sand.

Beautiful beaches with white sand are one of greatest thing that you can find in Karimunjawa. Karimunjawa is an archipelago that has so many beautiful beaches, from the 27 islands in Karimunjawa there are several beaches that are always visited by tourists such as Menjangan Kecil, Menjangan Besar, Cemara Besar, Pulau Cilik, Pulau Tengah and Pulau Karimunjawa. Most of those are uninhabited. Some beaches in Karimunjawa are known because their beautiful landscape. The beautiful white sand in the beaches is the best place for you to enjoy your holiday.

To arrive in those islands, you can take a boat that you can rent in Pulau Karimun (the main island) or if you take a tour package you can go there by boat that includes accommodation in the tour package. It takes five minutes to one and half hour to get to those islands. When you take a boat to Menjangan Kecil it will take ten minutes, and to Menjangan Besar it will take 15 minutes to get there. For the island that is located farther like Pulau Cilik it will take one hour and 30 minutes.

Traveling to Karimunjawa would be a great experience for you if you know how to spend your holiday there, and if you can do a lot of activities to spend your holiday. There are several activities you can do in Karimunjawa such as swimming, snorkeling, laying on the beach and sun bathing. You can also enjoy your lunch with barbequing and if it is possible, you can walk around the island because some islands in Karimunjawa are just small islands. If you take tour package you do not need to worry to think about having lunch in the islands since your tour guide and the crew will prepare it for you, so you can enjoy your time doing some fun activities.

crystal clear water 

beautiful beach with white sand

waiting for our lunch  

laying on the white sand

enjoying the sunset

☛ Beautiful view of corals

Besides beautiful landscape on the island, Karimunjawa has beautiful view under the water. Not many people know that Karimunjawa has National Park. According to Forest Ministry data from Forestry Department Website, Karimunjawa National Park consists of 22 islands and has five types of coral reef ecosystem, sea grass beds and sea grasses mangrove, coastal forest, and lowland tropical rain forest. There are several kinds of plants that you can find in Karimunjawa National Park such as Dewodaru (Crystocalyx macrophlyla) found in lowland rain forest, group of algae which consist of three kinds green algae, brown algae, and red algae, and many kinds of mangrove for instance ketapan, sea pine, teak sand, setigi, sea hibiscus, and black mangrove. Those plants such as mangrove are a kind of plan that can prevent flood, tides, and can be the place for fish to breed.

Karimunjawa National Park offers so many beautiful natures under the water that are as beautiful as Bali, and Bunaken National Park. In 1988 Karimunjawa National Park was declared as National Sea Park. Karimunjawa National Sea Park has 12-familia kind of beach coral, such as fringing reefs, barrier reefs, patch reefs and the protected biota species like black coral, and organ pipe coral. Besides coral, we also can find other protected sea biota hornet helmet, triton trumpet, chambered nautilus, green shell, and six species of clam. In addition, Karimunjawa National Park has some kinds of sea grasses and seaweeds such as Enhalus, Thalassia, Chlorophyta, Phaeophyta, and Rhodophyta. The sea grasses and seaweeds are kinds of sea plants that can be used as main ingredients for cosmetics, medicine, and jelly. Some of those kinds of plants that grow in Karimunjawa National Park are plants that are protected and some of them are very rare to find. These various plants attract so many researchers to do research on its uniqueness.  This shows that the plants, which grow in Karimunjawa National Park, have unusual things that should be shown to many people.

The beautiful coral and others kind of plants that grow in Karimunjawa is a major legacy that should be kept. For many years the native did not realize that keeping sustainability of ecosystem in the land and underwater was so important. They used cyanide toxic and fish explosives to fishing activity. Those activities killed fish and damaged the coral.  In 2001, an area of Karimunjawa was declared as Marine Protection Area (MPA). When it was declared, native people eventually realized that they have so many potential to sell their place as tourism sites and the importance of keeping the environment. Most of the native are fishermen; they now try to do fishing activity without using toxic and explosive. They also take part to keep the coral. To keep the coral they make buffer for the coral protected area, and fishing activity area. The fishermen do not allow fishing activity in Coral Protected Area; they just allow fishing activity in the fishing area.

There are so many coral and beautiful plants that grow in the Karimunjawa sea. When you come to Karimunjawa you can enjoy the beautiful coral and plants. To see the beautiful view underwater there are some activities that you can do such as diving, snorkeling, and scuba diving. For you who are not able to swim, you do not need to worry because you can enjoy beautiful view of coral by snorkeling. However, if you want to go diving you must be good at swimming, and for those who never go diving before, you can take short course of diving in some Diving Centers in Karimunjawa. You can rent diving and snorkeling gears in Diving and Snorkeling Center, but if you take tour packages you do not need to think about it because the tour has prepared it for you.

There are several spots to see magnificent coral and plants underwater such as the sea around Pulau Cemara, Pulau Menjangan Besar, Pulau Menjangan Kecil, Pulau Tengah, dan Pulau Cilik. Those places are the most visited spots to go snorkeling. For diving you can go to Pulau Kemuja Sea to enjoy wreck-diving in Indonor Wreck, the ship that sank in February 1960 when it sailed from Palembang to Surabaya.

snorkeling

jump into the water

beautiful corals and crystal clear water

beautiful corals

☛ Swimming with beautiful kinds of fish

Furthermore, you can enjoy so many kinds of fish in Karimunjawa. According to the Karimunjawa National Park Website, from 2004 to 2006 there are 353 species of fish, such as Pomacentridae (71 species), Labridae (52 species), Scaridae (27 species), Chaetodontidae (25 species), Serranidae (24 species), Acanthuridae (16 species), and Nemiptheridae (16 species).  Those kinds of fish are fish that are most wanted by divers because of their uniqueness. Besides, you can also find protected animals such as penyu hijau (Eretmochelys imbricata), and penyu sisik (Chelonia mydas), you can also find sharks and dolphins. Most of native people of Karimunjawa are fisherman. To keep the fish they do not do fishing activity in the certain zone out of conservations zone. The fishermen also do not allow catching the fish that are protected. 

When you enjoy your holiday in Karimunjawa, swimming with fish is the most recommended activity. Snorkeling, scuba diving, and diving are the activities that you can do to enjoy swimming with beautiful fish such as angelfish, butterfly fish and clownfish. Clownfish is one of fish that is always searched by people. This fish is also well-known as Nemo in Finding Nemo movie. This fish is adorable for its beautiful colors and lives in anemone, so you can enjoy swimming with this fish and at the same time enjoy the anemone. Moreover you can swim with protected animals such as Penyu Hijau, and Penyu Sisik.  When you come to Karimunjawa you have to try swimming with Black Tip Reef Shark. Even though this shark is an active predator but it seldom attacks human. Instead, these kinds of fish just eat little fish, squids, crabs, and birds. Swimming with shark is the most challenging activity. You just pay Rp 5000 and can swim and also play around with the sharks. If you dare, you can swim with the shark while the shark whisperer feed the shark.

clown fish known as Nemo :) 

sea eel 

swimming with beautiful fish

challenge your self, swimming with sharks

☛ Get other experiences

Karimunjawa is an archipelago that has so many beautiful things that should be enjoyed. Besides the beautiful nature, it also has diversity of inhabitants. There are several tribes that live in Karimunjawa such as Javanese, Bugis, Madurese, Mandar and Banjar. Most of Javanese are farmers, and some of them produce the household utensil such as furniture, red brick and coconut oil. The Madurese is known as the producer of the salted fishes, and most of the Bugis work as fisherman. They live in the diversity, and it is one of the uniqueness in Karimunjawa.

Karimunjawa’s cultures and diversity are really amazing. You can enjoy the holiday by spending your time in beautiful beaches and also have great experiences with the natives. To have the great experiences with the natives, you can take the tour packages that provide the home stay. The home stay that you will live is the native's house. When I was in Karimunjawa, I lived in a native’s house. Besides it is cheaper than living in a hotel, I can also know much about the natives. Living with the local people can give you many experiences such as you can enjoy the traditional food that is cooked by the host family and you will know the habits of the natives. The local people always start their activities early in the morning. The electricity can only be used for 12 hours, from six pm to six am, so it makes the people have to wake up earlier and prepare everything before the electricity off. In the main island, native's activities are busier in the evening than in the day-light, because in the daylight they have to go to work and will back in the evening. Some natives in Karimunjawa build good houses and rent them to tourists. Sometimes they just live in their houses when there are no tourists that rent their houses, and if their houses are rented by tourists, they will live with their relatives or neighbors. The most advantages that you can get when you live with the native is you can taste the seafood that is cooked by them, and if you are lucky you can also get the recipes of delicious meals that you eat. So, you have to consider whether you want to get these great experiences by living with the natives or you want to have special tour package by staying in a hotel.

waiting for the sunset

hangout with local people

our home stay

In short, holiday is one thing that you should enjoy. If you get bored with the place that you always come to spend your holiday and want to enjoy something different, Karimunjawa is the recommended place to visit. You can enjoy the beautiful beaches with white sand, beautiful view of coral, and various kinds of fish and can have great experiences with the natives. Those are fun activities that you only can find in Karimunjawa. So what are you waiting for? Enjoy your holiday in Karimunjawa.

Thanks to @yudhistira29 and @edwinsetaaji for the photographs