SECRET LAGOON ON SEMPU ISLAND
The next morning was a fairly early start for another epic day out on
the scooter, we rode south for around 2 hours to a little place on the coast called Sendang Biru. Another brilliant ride through the mountains, jungles and
small villages.
Once there we teamed up with some Danish girls who had organized a tour, great timing as it saved us quite a few rupiah, so we jumped in their boat and made the short journey across to Sempu Island.
The boat ride was probably less than 10 minutes and we went ashore to one of the most amazing islands I have ever been to. Firstly we had to hike about an hour or more, probably more, and it was hard going, no paved paths here just mud and jungle.
After what felt like forever we could see a beautiful lagoon through the jungle, it was just a tease though as it was nearly another 10 minutes before we set foot on the bright white sand.
This place has to be seen to be appreciated, after the long, dark, muddy slog through the jungle, we came to a magnificent ocean fed lagoon, completely sealed off and surrounded by jungle. It had a beautiful beach and a rocky hill section that separated us from the wild ocean that lay beyond.
There were Pandan trees on the white sandy beach, inquisitive monkeys scampering everywhere, great swimming, it was about as close to tropical perfection as you are likely to find.
The water was calm and crystal clear, the view from the top of the rocky hill was wild and stunning, this was truly one of those places that you go travelling to find. A few locals were setting up tents to camp and although i had pondered the idea before setting off, all my camping gear was still in Thailand, so we made do with just a few hours in paradise.
I still plan to return with friends and stay for a couple of days, one visit is not enough. It was yet another place that blew me away with the sheer beauty, isolation and simplicity of it all, East Java sure knows how to captivate.
The fact that we had to hike back through the same jungle after such a gloriously relaxing couple of hours had escaped my mind, probably should have thought about that! But no matter, i would do it all again tomorrow given the chance and after another hour or so slog through the jungle we were back aboard our boat and soon after ,ashore at Sendang Biru.
Our scooter was waiting patiently and so were the storm clouds, dejavu kicked in as i pictured another 2 hour scooter ride in the rain and cold mountain roads. It wasn 't so bad, a little bit of rain on the long, tiring journey back to Malang and after a well needed shower we were soon eating delicious Cui Mie at the awesome noodle shop about 2 minutes walk from our room.
Once there we teamed up with some Danish girls who had organized a tour, great timing as it saved us quite a few rupiah, so we jumped in their boat and made the short journey across to Sempu Island.
The boat ride was probably less than 10 minutes and we went ashore to one of the most amazing islands I have ever been to. Firstly we had to hike about an hour or more, probably more, and it was hard going, no paved paths here just mud and jungle.
After what felt like forever we could see a beautiful lagoon through the jungle, it was just a tease though as it was nearly another 10 minutes before we set foot on the bright white sand.
This place has to be seen to be appreciated, after the long, dark, muddy slog through the jungle, we came to a magnificent ocean fed lagoon, completely sealed off and surrounded by jungle. It had a beautiful beach and a rocky hill section that separated us from the wild ocean that lay beyond.
There were Pandan trees on the white sandy beach, inquisitive monkeys scampering everywhere, great swimming, it was about as close to tropical perfection as you are likely to find.
The water was calm and crystal clear, the view from the top of the rocky hill was wild and stunning, this was truly one of those places that you go travelling to find. A few locals were setting up tents to camp and although i had pondered the idea before setting off, all my camping gear was still in Thailand, so we made do with just a few hours in paradise.
I still plan to return with friends and stay for a couple of days, one visit is not enough. It was yet another place that blew me away with the sheer beauty, isolation and simplicity of it all, East Java sure knows how to captivate.
The fact that we had to hike back through the same jungle after such a gloriously relaxing couple of hours had escaped my mind, probably should have thought about that! But no matter, i would do it all again tomorrow given the chance and after another hour or so slog through the jungle we were back aboard our boat and soon after ,ashore at Sendang Biru.
Our scooter was waiting patiently and so were the storm clouds, dejavu kicked in as i pictured another 2 hour scooter ride in the rain and cold mountain roads. It wasn 't so bad, a little bit of rain on the long, tiring journey back to Malang and after a well needed shower we were soon eating delicious Cui Mie at the awesome noodle shop about 2 minutes walk from our room.
Wild open ocean on the outside of the lagoon
Cui Mie
