Visiting the beach is one of my obsession in life. Beautiful sunsets, the sound of the crashing waves, the magnificent underwater world, it just blew you away. A perfect place to relax and pause from our busy lives. That is why it is a must for me to visit this natural blessing, just to keep me alive. (seriously, I LOVE BEACHES)
In the middle of my hectic semester, I managed to escape and sail to the furthest island in Pulau Seribu, Pantara Island.
The journey begins at 8 am from Marina Ancol, where we entered the ferry and felt the sea breeze on our face. About 2-3 hours later, an island emerge. As we walked across Pantara’s pier that was surrounded by a clear blue ocean, acoustic music was playing and tropical fruit punches was waiting. Island life, here I come!
(The scent of the sea made me happy)
The cottage has huge windows and a terrace near the beach, perfect for a person like me who just likes to sit and stare at the air (while listening to music of course). It took me about an hour to explore the island by feet. There were mangroves with little fishies swimming around. I was surprised to find abandoned cottages and buildings with holes on the roof at the back of the island (it’s kinda scary, like a horror movie about a person stranded on a haunted island).
Lunch time! All of the food was served on a floating restaurant that has a deck straight above the ocean, where we can see the fishes while eating (and feeding left over food to them). The food here was okay, not that great. But at least it has a view and live music. FYI, this place doesn’t have any mini markets so I suggest you to bring your own snacks.
(The Floating Restaurant)
Next agenda, snorkeling. Don’t worry about the snorkeling kit, it’s provided by the tour. Of course, jumping from the pier is the best way to enter the ocean.
I was so surprised to see that some of the coral reefs here are still healthy and has a lot of different fishes. As you know, the current issue about reefs are the massive coral bleaching caused by the raise of sea temperature. Last year, when I visited Labuan Bajo (Nusa Tenggara Timur), one of the snorkeling point was warm and a lot of corals were bleached. It was a sad thing to witness and the bleaching is ongoing until god-knows-when or until us human beings commit to reduce the effects of global warming.
Okay, moving on. The reefs ….. c’est magnifique! I was thrilled when I spotted a clown fish and it’s anemone, and also a purple crab near my feet (yeah, it definitely startled me). A tip from me is you should bring a lot of biscuits to feed the fishes. They literally swim around me when I release the biscuit in the sea. I was grinning all the time cause it was just …. okay now I’m speechless but you get my point right? I swam a bit further from the deck and then I saw a school of fishes! Like OMG it is really cool hahahahahhahaha (<— this laughter represents my extremely happy self). The lifeguard told me that fishes has territories so if you explore a different place you will find a different fish.
We also went canoeing (which is also included in the package), super fun. I also fed the fishes when canoeing. Love the fishes. love them so much!
Tired? Don’t worry, there is a coffee break at 4 o’clock. And what comes after that is….. a sunset cruise. With a traditional boat, we circled the island and enjoyed the sunset.
I spend the night at the pier cause there are weird fishes spotted there. If you want, you could bring a flashlight to observe the dark sea. Don’t forget to end the day with laying on your back and just observing the stars.
I really recommend you to visit this place cause it is peaceful, not like most commercial islands in Pulau Seribu. The underwater world is wonderful and easily accessible. So if you wanna turn that frown upside down, visit Pantara Island.
FYI, the reception here is really bad so you will be disconnected to social media. But isn’t it great to have a break from our phones once in a while?
Tour Info:
A 2 day 1 night tour, about 2 mil rupiah (include: boat return, 4x meal, cottage, coffee break, sunset cruise, snorkeling kit, canoe)
firachika 