It was the beginning of November 2014 and I’d had enough projects at work. I was in charge for the special report of Election 2014 and I was loaded. I had to escape, even for a short time, before the mid of November 2014, which was the beginning of another huge project.
That was when I stumbled upon a post at Backpacker Indonesia forum created by Dinda Lionita, a college student who apparently really loves to travel. She posted about 2D1N share-cost trip to Sepa Island. Such a perfect escape on a weekend, right? I quickly texted her and voila, I was so ready for a weekend beachscape.
The meeting point was Muara Angke. I was a first-timer for this kinda trip; an ‘open-trip’ or ‘share-cost trip’ , I always prefer to go with my friends. Between the 20-ish people on the trip, I only knew Nihaq and Suci, who both are my office mates.
The ship left Muara Angke at 7 AM and after 3 hours, we arrived at Harapan Island. Grabbed a quick lunch and then we headed to snorkeling spots near Harapan and other islands.
We also visited a ‘pasir timbul’– but I didn’t capture any photos because I was too absorbed with the white sands and blue water.
Not long after that, we started heading to Sepa Islands.
Unfortunately, there was a problem with the local permission and we couldn’t camp there. We spent time playing around the jetty while Dinda and Romi–the trip organizer–talked to people at Sepa.
The sun was about to disappear and at the end we all agreed to move to another island. It’s Papatheo, a remote island near Sepa.
We built our tents and cooked our dinner.
After dinner, we decided to play Truth or Dare. Such an ice-breaker, we got to know each other backgrounds and stories. There’s one of us that’s a palm-reader and it was so fun. When it was almost midnight, while others entered the tent to catch some z’s, some of us including me still awoke playing cards.
You could hear the sound of waves from afar, under the dim light from the torch that we put on the tree. One of us put Float – Surrender on mp3 player. It was peaceful.
The next morning… no one woke up for the sunrise, haha. We’re all too tired, I guessed. Besides, our camp was at the west side of the island. We had our breakfast together before packed up tents and other belongings.
En route back to Harapan Island, the wood propeller of the boat broke down. Our boat was floating sadly on the sea and we’re waiting for another boat to pull us to the land. We waited for 10-15 mins, if I’m not mistaken. It’s not a big deal, but it’s so damn hot.
Back to Harapan Island, we took the big ship that would take us back to Muara Angke. We had great time there playing cards while almost everyone on the boat fell asleep. Three-hours felt like just a short time. Back to the land, back to Jakarta, everyone.
It was overall a nice trip. I love meeting new friends, and most of them are cool travelers. But if I had to choose, I still prefer go with my own friends or in a small group. A trip with 20-ish people felt too much.
Doesn’t mean they’re not fun, it’s just the matter of preference.
I’m thinking about going back to Kepulauan Seribu soon. I’d like to visit Pari Island, because I’ve heard issues about reclamation of Jakarta Bay that ruined their corals & sands.
Sad, sad truth. Those greedy companies have to stop. Just please let nature be… nature.
