Karimun Jawa

My trip to Karimun Jawa was quite relaxing and absolutely spent with excellent people. I was able to go on the trip with some of my co-workers, which is always a plus because they are Indonesian which means we are less likely to get scammed. It is also way cheaper to travel in large groups than pairs or singles when you are in Asia, so the trip wasn't a major slice into my travel budget. 

We took an overnight bus to get to Jepara, and let me tell you this was probably one of the most scary experiences of my life. The driver was, I'm sure very experienced, but also took as many risks driving on this one trip as I have taken in my entire life. Given it was an overnight bus ride I slept not a wink. For those of you familiar with the Knight Bus on Harry Potter, this is what it was like. For those of you not so familiar here is a video clip:

Once we arrived in Jepara we spent some time laying on the curb being pestered by an old Indonesian man trying to find out all of our religions and who among us was single. Then we were trasferred to the ferry dock to sit and wait for a few more hours and eventually hopped the speed boat to the island. 

watching the sunset

Here I very easily fell asleep, though was in and out throughout the whole trip. We arrived on the Island, had dinner and went for a swim, which ended in not 1, but 2 injuries. There were many sea urchins in the water and the dock were were close to wasn't exactly meant for swimming. We all passed out quickly and easily after the power and aircon was turned on at 6:00. 

outside our bungalow. please ignore my crazy hairstyle post 24 hours of traveling.

I woke up almost instantly after the power was shut down at 6:00am due to the sudden influx of heat. We got ready and set off for our snorkeling journey. As soon as we reached the boat it started pouring rain, and we forced our minds to accept the fact that we were going to get wet anyway, however most of us were freezing. 

right before it started to rain

Finally being able to hop in the water felt like jumping into a hot tub. I quickly removed my fins since they were squishing my toe injury from the previous trip. This may have been a bad decision because I ended up cutting my opposite foot on some coral. This forced me back onto the boat where I was inked by a squid! Not even lying! The kid on our boat caught it with his bare hands!

A squid. inking.

Anyway the benefits of the snorkeling were some awesome fish and kick ass underwater pictures. We also stopped on an island where some of the bravest of us (yours truly included) got to travel with sharks! 

That night involved lots of fun large group games and an early night with the plans for the following day being beaches! Unfortunately we woke up to more pouring rain, and ended up spending the day lounging around reading, listening to music, discussing life, and attempting to nap. That evening when we to the local square for dinner, and I have to admit I was quite happy to have something to eat besides fish and rice. I had some chicken sate. It was a nice little area with warungs and a nice grass seating area. We also got to shop for some souvenirs. 

The next morning we left of the ferry, and had lunch at the port. We spend far longer waiting for our driver than we were supposed to, as he had decided to scam us and tell us we were leaving on a private van at 12:00 rather than a public bus at 3:00. Needless to say this trouble ended in us losing out on money in the long run, and almost a fight by some of my dear friends. Then were were off to Semarang, the third largest city in Java.