Failed attempt at visiting Karimunjawa

The morning after our sunrise tour in Dieng, we went from one bus to another until reaching Semarang. We had been up since 3 so it was a bit tiring!

After checking in a lovely hotel (with hot water), we didn’t wait a second to jump in the hot shower. What a bliss after the cold previous days! Tjiang Residence, located in China town, is really good value for money. The small room had western standards and it’s the nicest room we stayed in Java so far!

A normal room for you reading at home, a sight of relief for us and our best room to date!

After a nice rest, we went to get information on the ferry to Karimunjawa islands. Karimunjawa Archipelago is a National Marine Park composed of 27 islands scattered in the Java sea. To reach them, you can depart from Semarang or Jepara. Unfortunately, we found out there wasn’t a boat scheduled until Saturday. Given it was Sunday, we had just missed it. Therefore, we thought it best to travel the two hour journey North-East to Jepara for more boat options.

On Monday morning, we got a shuttle bus to Jepara. The journey was pleasant and we soon checked in a hotel upon arrival. We got told the ferry was leaving the next morning at 9am –  perfect! After inquiring about tickets, we got told they aren’t sold in advance and to show up at the harbour the morning of. At 8am on Tuesday morning, we were at the pier, with our bags, ready to go. Unbelievably, we got told the ferry had already left!! It had gone at 7am that morning! Apparently, it leaves early when full. If only we had known this important bit of information! Dumbfounded, we found out the next boat wasn’t until Friday morning. What a shame! Our stay in Jepara would end up being a lot longer than expected.

Of course, we made sure to keep ourselves busy with jogging. It is always a strange experience running in Java. Many locals have never seen western people before, and seeing us run is quite amusing to them. We found a local expat-filled pub called the Gecho Inn where we had a nice dinner in a busy restaurant which was unexpected for such a sleepy town. We also found a lovely beach a short taxi ride away called Sunset beach (Bandengan beach). We enjoyed relaxing at Sunset beach bungalows, using their nice swimming pool and ordering from the big menu.

Sunset Beach Bungalow's swimming pool

Sunset Beach, Jepara

Sunset

On Friday morning, we rose bright and early at 5am in order to reach the pier at 5:30am, in case the ferry would leave early again. We waited until 7:30am but finally got the confirmation: there would be no ferry leaving at all that day. They blamed it on dangerous sea conditions. Discouraged, we decided to scrap the idea of Karimunjawa islands. It had been a whole week ‘lost’ but at least we made the most of our time. The same day, we took a mini-bus back to Semarang, eager to sleep in the nice plump bed of Tjiang Residence again!