Karimunjawa 2017 - Part 1

Last month on the 27th was our 10th wedding anniversary. We don't usually celebrate our anniversaries... it's good enough if one of us actually remembers! :D

This year though, after seeing so many beautiful pictures on Instagram, I was eager to find an excuse to go on a holiday again. Traveling with Miss Kiki is fun and mostly easy, but we also like to travel just the two of us. 

I have a long list of places in Indonesia I want to go to, but they are mostly far east and not good for just a weekend. My google search came up with Karimunjawa, a place a friend had mentioned before but had been buried at the bottom of my brain. It's close enough, cheap enough, and was supposedly very nice.

Now lets get the boring details done and over with first.

Transportation

Karimunjawa Island is located in Java Sea about 100 km north of Jepara. You can either fly or take a ferry there. Your options are:

1. Flight to Semarang, drive Semarang-Kendal (1 hour), Ferry Kendal-Karimunjawa (2.5 hours express).
2. Flight to Semarang, drive Semarang-Jepara (2.5 hours), Ferry Jepara-Karimunjawa (2 hours with Express Bahari, 5 hours with Siginjai) 
3. Flight to Semarang, Ferry Semarang-Karimunjawa (4 hours with Kartini)
4. Flight to Surabaya, fly Surabaya-Karimunjawa with Airfast.

Our choice is highlighted in yellow above.

Below you can see the timetable and prices. Note that the prices here are provided by our resort so it is already marked up, but they will do the lining up to get the tickets for you. :) Our resort also arranged the car to drive us between Semarang and Jepara.

As per July 2017

As per July 2017

Accommodation

There are plenty of options in terms of accommodations in Karimunjawa. From homestays to regular hotels to resorts and eco resorts. Several names usually come up more often than others: D'Season Hotel, Karimun Lumbung, Menjangan Resort, Nirwana Resort, and Omah Alchy. Most of them you can book through Traveloka or some of them offer discounts if you book directly.

By chance I came across Jiwa Quest's Breve Azurine Lagoon Resort and after much consideration I opted for this one. For our convenience and because it was still within what I was willing to spend, I booked a full package from the resort. This package includes tours, 3 meals per day, and more. You can check the package details here.

Our trip started with an afternoon flight to Semarang on a Thursday. We flew Citilink from Soekarno-Hatta Terminal 1. At the security check they took my pocket scissors from Japan. It was weird as they don't usually care too much about small scissors for domestic flights. I've even flown to Korea with them in my purse! Someone mentioned that the security lady might have eyed them for herself because they were pink and purple and slim and cute. Oh well. Just (not) my luck! Our flight was delayed for an hour without any announcement, so that was kind of annoying too. The Citilink staff wasn't helpful at all about checking-in my scissors. They claimed it was too small, and they even had the nerve to tell me to check in my purse with it! Grrrr....

The flight itself was quite smooth and short. It took less than an hour from take off time. Upon arrival, our pre-arranged car was already waiting at the airport for us. It turned out that it was a Kartini Taxi van, a taxi company from Jepara. Our driver was Syafi'i. He was a careful polite driver. He was also nice enough to make a stop at a restaurant for dinner in Semarang before heading to Jepara.

At Terminal 1 Soetta

In Semarang for dinner, we went to Kedai Beringin. I've been there before so I knew the food was good. We ordered a bunch of dishes and drinks and the total was still under IDR 170 thousand.

After dinner we headed to Jepara. It normally takes about 2 hours from Semarang to Jepara but in the week that we were there they had construction work so it took much longer. The driver dropped us off at Gecho Inn Town. I booked a night there through Agoda. 

The inn is located behind a pub, but you have to check in inside the pub. The pub was very smoky and dark but the room we had was quite large with high ceiling. Luckily the smoke smell didn't reach our room. The hotel price included breakfast for 2, and they had set menus you can choose from for breakfast. Quite similar to our breakfast in Siem Reap.

Breakfast set 1

Ready to go

Front of our room

When we checked in, we asked the inn staff to order us a taxi to go to the pier the next morning. When we got out the next day, the same driver was already waiting for us. I guess the hotel had called the same taxi company! :D

The trip to the pier took less than 10 minutes, so we just paid the minimum charge for ordering a taxi and also the entrance fee to the pier. At the pier, a Breve Azurine staff met with us and gave us our tickets. For the price listed in the pictures above, we got VIP class tickets. The actual price written on the ticket is IDR 175 thousand.

Not long after, the ferry horn sounded and we boarded the ferry. The VIP class is a small cabin, better than I had expected but not that great either. They definitely need to wash their curtains. They had a big screen TV at the very front and they played a movie during the trip. The VIP room also had an attendant on duty.

It was a windy day and the ferry was rocking a lot. It was not too bad, actually but being inside a closed compartment made it worse. Midway there I got out of the VIP room and went to the back of the boat and stayed there. It was much better.

Express Bahari 9C

Inside VIP Room

The icon of Kartini Beach

At the back of the boat. 

Upon arrival at the Karimunjawa Pier, we were greeted by a Breve Azurine staff and we were shown to our car. I was surprised that we got our own car, assuming that we were not the only customer who arrived that day. The trip to the resort took about 10 minutes and we saw other cars there that just arrived with customers. Another staff came to greet us and we were shown to our room even before we checked in. They gave us a short explanation about the room and the area, and then we left our luggages in the room and headed down to check in.

We had booked the Brown Studio Seafront located in their main building, right by their best room the Esplanade. Other rooms are located in small detached villas. Our room was quite large, it was clean, and had a beach-facing balcony.

The reception desk was located on the lower level of the main building, under our room. The lower level was an open space facing the beach. There you can get unlimited tea and coffee all day until 8 pm. Light snacks are available for to order. If you booked the full package, you have the option of having your lunch here or at their restaurant and bar called Cumi Bar.

It was a very windy day, but we could see that the water around the area was clear and nice. It was rather difficult to pick a spot to sit and relax that day because the wind was so strong.

On the deck we saw three kids fishing with a roll of fishing line and small fish as bait. One kid caught dinner...

The resort area is quite green. There were many cashew trees, mango trees, and of course, coconut trees. If you've never seen it before, here's what a cashew fruit looks like. The nut we usually eat is in a shell hanging from the bottom of the fruit. My dad said that they are very yummy when you roast them in the shell. When ripe, the fruits will fall off the trees and people would pick them up. When left on the ground, they will start emitting a very strong smell.

We went to the Cumi Bar for lunch. It's an open air bar perched on a higher ground overlooking the water.

Grilled Squid

Herbed Chicken

Stir fried vegetables

The rest of the day was still windy and a bit cloudy. We decided to stay in the resort even though our motorbike was all ready to be used. DH went kayaking for a while, and I made use of the hammock and hot tea. The resort provided kayaks, towels, etc for their guests to enjoy the beach. There were many corals at the beach so it would be a good idea to wear coral shoes.

We went back to Cumi Bar for dinner...

Chilli Shrimp

Grilled Shrimp

Creamy Fish

Fried Banana

That was the end of our first day... stay tuned for the next post! Island hopping time!