Wonderful snorkeling trip @ Tidung Island, Jakarta

Last month I traveled to one of the Thousand islands located approximately 60km from Jakarta -- Pulau Tidung. It is situated in the in the area of Kepulauan Seribu Selatan, in the bay of Jakarta. The island consists of two islands, namely Tidung Besar (Big Tidung) and Tidung Kecil (Small Tidung). Of course we took a boat there instead of swimming over to the island. XD

My colleagues and I took a Blue Bird (taxi) to the jetty very early in the morning. Actually I was still half asleep at that moment. However, I was awoke by the stinky smell while we were passing by the fish market. Then, we walked along the wet and uneven streets before reaching the jetty. We stood next to some boats while waited for W to confirm the correct boat to Tidung Island.

There were a lot of people at the jetty. Some of them were eating their favourite Pop Mie (instant noodles in cup) at the side

Ten minutes later, W found our double-decker boat and we boarded the boat. We were quite shocked that the boat was bench-less/ chair-less. OMG! We had to sit on the floor! We didn't see any life jacket around. Luckily B went hunted for 5 life jackets from the bottom deck of the boat. Even though none of the passengers bothered to get the life jacket and B said 'safety first'. Yea, he was right. We didn't care even others were laughing at us. Hahaha!

We were happily sitting on the floor and snapped a group picture

2 and a half hours later, we finally reached our destination - Pulau Tidung. By that time, we were so sweaty and our butts were painful (the floor was hard!!). But we were happy to see the beautiful island in front of us.

B snapped the bridge connecting the big island and small island

Look at the clear blue sea. Aren't it beautiful?

When we got onto the island, we check-in our hotel guest house. Goodness! We requested for a 2 bedrooms guest house, but we ended up with a 2-bedded room. The room has only 2 queen size beds. So, both guys shared a bed, while 3 girls shared the other bed. We had to bear with the run-down guess house.

After we settled down and had our lunch, we proceeded to our snorkeling activity! Wheee~~~ That was my very first snorkeling experience! I was seriously excited with it. We took a small boat to the middle of sea. The sound of waves were covered by the noises from the boat engine. However, I still enjoyed the cold breeze. =)

I was tieing up my hair and getting ready for our snorkeling activity!

For the first time I put myself into the water, I felt a little bit scared. I struggled for a while before I can get into the icy cold sea water! Later, when I saw the corals, they were so beautiful! It was worth it!!

We posed in the sea :)

Our boat operator gave us 3 stops altogether. There were small waves in the first stop, while the waves in the second stop were very strong. We even saw some baby jelly fishes!! One of them bit M and she was screaming for help in the middle of sea. For me, I had not enough strength to swim forward and the strong wave kept pushing me away. Every 3 inches I swam forward, I got pushed back for 1 inch. So, I was getting further and further away from my mates. In the end, I shouted.. "HELP!!!" Then, Mr C swam over and rescued me. Hahaha!!

In the third stop, the water current was much calmer and the corals were even more beautiful! We also saw the colourful fishes swimming freely in the sea. After the 3 stages of snorkeling experience, all of us were exhausted. We dropped by some food stalls located in Pulau Payung for a rest. We had some snacks and coconut drinks before heading back to our guest house.

Even though I suffered sun burnt after that event, I didn't regret that. This is definitely a great experience and I am looking forward for the next snorkeling trip. Hehehe! Pulau Redang/ Pulau Perhentian anyone??


Photo credits: BWK

*Cheers*