My 2 days 1 night trip to Pari island

We should depart on Friday morning and we will have a chance for 3 day 2 night vacation in Pari Island – Jakarta, but my boss leave us on Friday afternoon, so eventually we only had a chance 2 days trip, but it was still an amazing and unforgottable holiday.

Saturday morning, we had to arrive early in the morning at Kali Adem dock- Muara Angke in order to cross to Pari island, the boat will cross at around 06.30 am, so before that time we had to be at the pier or if we came late we cannot cross to Pari island. Before crossing, we took morning breakfast around Muara Angke, there are many cafeterias already standby at that morning and we got our breakfast there.

Kali Adem is a new pier, operated for the purpose of taveler transportation to visit Thousand Islands, the passenger of the speedboat could be a local people or tourist. There was a fast boat that will take passenger to Thousand Islands and then take the other to Kali Adem dock, before the dock was built, backpackers usually cross to the Thousand Islands, using a rented fishing boat.

To get to Pari island from Kali Adem Pier, it takes about 40 minutes up to 1 hour depends to the weather and the waves conditions. If you did not used to take a journey by boat, you will usually nauseous and vomiting, therefore, I suggest you to sit in the back of the boat which is more calm, because if you sit in the front of the boat you will feel shock.

Pari Island is an island among many more islands around Thousand Island, that’s people call it “Thousand Islands”. This island was already famous as a tourist destination around  Jakarta. There are many islands around Thousand Islands which was established as the tourist destination, Pari Island is fairly newly developed, only little tourist facilitation we could find here, not like in Pramuka Island, or Untung Jawa island, or  Sepa or Tidung island that was already more famous earlier, even banana boat we cannot find here during my visit, that’s why Pari island’s beach has more natural atmosphere than the other island’s beaches.

Pari island has a population of about 350 families, and according to local people’s information, some area in Pari Island is still in dispute between local people and a developer, because of this situation, tourism developers did not want to invest on the island. There are positive and negative consequences of the condition of the dispute, one side, tourism development on this island become sluggish, but on the other side, this causes Pari Island residents cooperate among theme self  to advance tourism in their island, which means the awareness to be independent and to make Pari Island as a tourism destination truly started from the minds and hearts of the locals, and I think there is no something better than they worked together to advance their environment. And they are really self-conscious and consolidate to build Pari Island as a new tourist destination around Thousand Islands in comparation with the surrounding islands that were already started long before them.

We arrived at Pari Island at around 08.00 am – that was because the boat departure delayed, what should we do firstly is to find a home stay where we will stay over night in Pari Island, the average home stay rates in Pari Island ranges from 300 thousand to 450 thousand for one night, but how lucky we get a homestay with only 150 thousand for the night, even though we should know that the in is not as good as the inn with the price of 450 thousand, but it is more than enough for just resting and over night.

Staying up all night before we left here is indeed exhausting, so we go sleep upon our arrival, we woke up around 01:30 pm to start our activity in Pari Island, there are several interesting places around Pari Island, there is Virgin sand beach, there are hills of sunrise, there is also a snorkeling spot, our first destination was a virgin sand beach. The manager of the beach charge us  Rp. 2.000,- per person for the entrance fee. They said this entrance fee will be used for the purposes of maintaining the cleanliness of the Virgin sand beaches, and this entrance ticket is valid for a full one day, so you do not need to worry to go back to the homestay and back again to Virgin sand Beach repeatedly, as long on the same day, you will not be charged again.

On this beach, we chatted with a few locals who deal with Virgin sand beaches, and they then offered us to drop off at one of the snorkeling spots around the island. To get to the snorkeling spot we had to rent a wooden boat which is operated by local residents, the rent fee is about of 400.000, – per boat, one boat containing a maximum of 4-6 people, we also rent snorkeling equipment with a rental fee of Rp. 40.000.

The underwater scenery around Pari Island is awesome, well-preserved marine life and healthy coral reefs and many kinds of fishes, with a small wooden boat we were riding, we can reach some snorkeling spots without hassles, and it is true really beautiful. The awareness of citizens to preserve marine life make underwater territory of Pari Island are really beautiful, it was really memorable snorkeling experience.

Towards sunset we finished snorkeling activities and get back to the island, on the way home we watched the sunset on the beach and it was so beautiful sunset we ever had, amazing twilight afternoon flushed, reddish yellow horizon, the sun shadow bouncing in the sea surface. For those of you who like beaches, of course, you will really enjoy this moment, an experience that probably cannot be enjoyed by those who are too busy with sparkling metropolis of Jakarta.

After a shower in the homestay, we were served the dinner with squid as the main menu, we had ordered it in advance to one of the residents to cook squid for us. The menu is really spicy, but we ate it ravenously until done, anyway we were too hungry after a day of snorkeling, and then we take rest, we need it to be able to wake up tomorrow morning to enjoy the sunrise on the hills of sunrise.

We woke up when the sun was just rising and we rush to find a place to enjoy the sunrise on the beach, it is always refreshing, enjoy the warmth of the morning sun, the fresh morning air, and the waves that reflect the sun and its rays. Thousand Islands is a paradise for anyone who wants to enjoy beautiful moment of within the archipelagos, if you live in Jakarta or if were in Jakarta and had enough time, I suggest you to make a vacation to Thousand Islands, don’t miss it.

At 11 AM we had to go home, because the fast boat will cross from Pari Island dock to Kali Adem at around 03:00 pm. One day and one night in Pari Island was really fun, even though we were not fully satisfied because of the short duration, but it is enough to relax my self from the busy and the bustle of  living in Jakarta.