Pulau Pramuka Pt II

morning on the pier

Previously I thought you need a blue sky hoooooliday . . . (citing Powter's Bad Day)

Well, there was a new color up above on the last holidays.

perhaps i was way too excited when Vit told me Dania was igniting the idea. the last time we went there was a good two yrs ago.

in my mind was blue and sunny sky and long pistachio (uhm, whitish yellow) beaches.

But the night before, it was raining hard. Vit and I got wet even before waking up on the d-day (we went out to eat some instant noodle and were met by heavy rain). I ignored it, hoping that the day after would be clearer.

in the morn, Apis, Adi, Dania and Adi, Lenny, Sofyan, Ninus and Lia met us at Grogol and took a drive to Muara Angke Port. for Apis, Adi, Dania's Adi, Ninus and Lia, it was thier first time.

It was drizzling. We boarded on the top of the boat to get the best view. Thankfully this time we had a nice and fast boat with tolerable engine noise. I hardly slept but Sofyan's demeanor and Lia's makeup session kept me entertained.

two and a half hour later we landed on Pulau Pramuka safely. We had nice housing there by the beach which Sofyan reserved for us. Vit and I darted to Two Flowers Cafe (formerly Two Flower Cafe) and ordered what Vit called affectionately "soto yang ngangenin" (I dont know it in English, perhaps homecoming soup, so to speak). I din know but my appetite soared here. I was constantly hungry.

anak pulau (LR: Lia, Dania, Vit, Adi, Lenny)

the real anak pulau

I saw many a sad face as if they were reflecting the gloomy sky. It was the day of high school graduation announcement. I overheard the crowd, they were in the middle of a hot topic, topic of the island, topic of the week: 97 students din make it (one and only high school in the nearby islands) only 16 made it. (And i felt a bit sorry too.)

We later paid some visit to turtle sanctuary and had a good laugh especially when Sofyan found a new species, Penyu Kundang (perhaps cousins to Malin Kundang). And the tukik (the hatchlings) were so cute and it was the first time for us to see them feeding on fish flesh.

LR: Sofyan, Vit, Ninus, Adi, Lenny

Finally, it was sailing time! We jumped on board. the driver of ojek kapal (chartered boat) was no stranger. He drove us two years ago with the same boat. The clouds was heavy on our head but we din lose hearts. We headed to Pulau Air.


The island remained the same and I had the opportunity to observe the towering conifers (native to the island) from a close distance. The ship was halted to land because a local said "X is here". So we chose a remote spot of the island where the strait was calm and turquois.

the sky above Semak Daun Island

Adi was first to jump into the water and crossed the strait. Sofyan and Lenny later joined and crossed the 10 meters strait. When Pak Salim carried the buoy, I thought I could make it. So I swam. Good Lord, it was a big mistake!

the current below was fast and I began to tremble. I was exhausted in the mid and felt that the current was holding me and drifting me further. But i managed to cross and landed my feet on the sharp reefs. It was no fun at all.

Later Sofyan and I swam together across. Every move seemed to take us nowhere. Stupid eh? I wished I stayed ashore and adopted "turtle laying eggs" style of relaxing :)

Surprisingly, Ninus, Dania and Lia were brave enough to swim across together with the buoy. The current drifted them farther. But their faces were bright with smile. Me ashamed

While laying on the sand I could hear a strange but beautiful music the wind made. It blew smoothly through the conifers and it was like the sound of smooth whistling . . . This music lulled me to sleep as I felt headache and heavy breaths onboard. Apis was also running out of breath, so we slept.

I woke up as the boat reached Pulau Karya (formerly Pulau China). We stopped to drink some hot tea and coffee here to revive our strength. The island itself is relatively small island with a football field in the middle. In weekends it is calm because people (pegawai negeri, government employees) only come to work on weekdays. It was nicely decorated island with some government buildings around. There are Police Office, Navy Office, etc and--I dont know it in English--Departemen Agama where Sofyan, Vit and I took temporary shelter from the rain (I forgot to ask the divorce rate on the islands).

A half round trip (we stopped a while to inspect Pembangkit Listrik Tenaga Bayu or Wind Powered Electric Engine to imagine our friends named Bayu work their muscle to power the engine, haha) and we went off to bandeng fishery island nearby. We couldnt land because they were mending the pier, so we went to a giant floating swimming pool.

I thought if we plunged, we would go straight to the ocean floor, but Pak Salim said no. It looked inviting and calm but only Adi and Sofyan dared to swim. As soon as Sofyan plunged, a dead fish afloated. See how strong Sofyan's smell was, we joked.

the night fell and the rain was a loyal friend. We chatted at the saung (gazebo) and later gathered on the terrace to greet four fellow travelers. and in the midnight the rain poured and lightning blasted. we had a good night sleep.

In the morning there was no sunrise view. It was still gloomy but we were happy to take some walk on the pier and the beach, discussing that there was no sleep walking here but sleep fishing. This kind of activity proved to be stress relieving as a local confessed in the night on the pier. He was fishing (squiding?) for squids using mock prawn (plastic) lure.

After breakfast, we combed the left side beach and did some shell collecting (Lenny started it when she found a giant clam, complete with both disks. Sofyan also did). I finished first so i waited for them and ordered some hot noodle and tea.

It might not be a blue sky holiday, but we had a very good time here and are looking forward to return there.

Xem