At first I did not really know Karimunjawa. When we were in Lombok, one of my friend said it was beautiful. She said that Karimunjawa has a wonderful spot for snorkeling. Really? I was curious then.

Therefore from Lombok, I already had a plan to go to Karimunjawa Island. Actually, it was not far from my house in Surabaya. It was located in Middle Java near Jepara or Semarang. There was also a night bus Surabaya-Jepara every day.

We should take a boat from Jepara or Semarang and we should aware about the schedule. Because not everyday the boat went to Karimunjawa. Moreover, if there was a bad weather or high sea wave, the boat will be canceled. Wow, it was tricky to go there.

Therefore, I decided to find local tour guide, so that they will take care if there was a problem. Luckily, my friend found a backpacker tour guide. It was cheaper than others. We will meet with other guests in the Kartini beach in Jepara. We chose 3 days 2 nights trip.

The best time to go there was about March until middle August and middle September until end of December. The weather and the sea was quite good. I chose to go there in the early April when there was a long weekend.

I was really excited waiting this trip. Sadly, near the day, we got news that our trip will be delayed one day because there were over loaded guests for the boat. It was dangerous if we insisted to go. Okey, for the safety reason, we agreed to delay. But what will we do with our one day off? We already got the permission from the office.

After doing some research, we decided to stay a night in Semarang. I found a hostel that was cheap and in the middle of the town. Therefore, we had a day to go around Semarang. Okey, fixed!

In the day, we went to Bungurasih, Surabaya bus terminal in the middle of the night. I remembered that the bus from Surabaya-Semarang was went in the middle of the night. However, I was forgot that it was long weekend. The bus was really crowded and we did not get the bus. Oh, I was so desperate. I wanted to go home and canceled our Semarang trip.

My friend tried to cheer me up. I went there with two of my friends. They said we should find a solution. Suddenly, a man approached us. He said that there were some bus to Solo and Yogyakarta. From Solo, we can get another bus to Semarang. We agreed to take the bus.

The problem was not stop there. The queue was so long. Many passanger had the same mind with us. Imagine that, in the middle of the night we stayed in the terminal waiting for the bus.

With so many people waiting, we found some friends because of the similar situation. We talked and laughed together. It was made me forgot our problem. Finally, our bus has arrived. We paid for the executive class but the bus was economic one. We did not have any choice. It was better than we stayed all night in terminal.

I could not sleep in the bus, eventhough I was sleepy. I can not close my eyes easily like I used to be, because I was afraid that we will miss our bus stop. It was my first time to go to Semarang via Solo. Luckily, the condectur told us where to stop. Then, we changed bus in Solo terminal.

We had a plan to visit Watu Gong Pagoda in Semarang. If we came from Solo, the pagoda will appear first before we enter the city of Semarang. Therefore, I stared and looked carefully to search the pagoda. Finally, I saw that and we can stop on time. (Read Pagoda Watugong).

After that, we took another bus to enter the city. We stopped in Simpang Lima in front of Lawang Sewu. Our hostel was near from there. We walked just a little and found the place. The hostel was like an ordinary house, but clean and comfortable. We like it. After we cleaned ourselves, we went around. (Read Lawang Sewu).

On the next day, we woke up early. Our schedule was tight. We should come to Pantai Kartini, Jepara in the afternoon and met our tour guide. From Semarang, we rode a mini bus to Jepara. The street was so crowded because some of the street was in the middle of improvement.

We saw some students stood in the edge of the street waiting for the public transportation. Suddenly, our bus driver stopped in front of them and offering them to went with us. Of course they were not resist. Many of them rode to our bus.

Some of them can have seat, but many others just stood. Some of them stood in front of entrance door. The bus was really crowded since I can sit still. The magic was I can sleep heavily because I was so tired. My friend just surprised how can I slept in the middle of noisy and crowded bus. I just slept with sit.

Our driver calmed us by saying that the students will stop in the school not far from the street. Finally, they arrived at the school. They said thank you to the driver because they did not have to pay. It was relieved to see their happy face.

I continued to sleep for the entire trip. Luckily we arrived on time in the Jepara bus terminal. It was not far from the terminal to the beach. We rode becak. Becak was one of my favorite public transportation. Riding becak while went around Jepara was really fun. We could see many furniture shops that were very famous from here.

When we arrived in Kartini Beach, there was still a few people. We should wait for our tour agent and other travel mates. Right after we found them, we got the boat ticket. The boat trip was about 4-5 hours. We chose to sit in the inside boat where was the steadiest place in the boat. Actually I wanted to see sea outside, but I was in doubt and afraid of the wave.

Fortunately, the wave was quite calm. We arrived safely at the Karimunjawa port. Wow, finally we got here after the struggle.

(continued to Part 2 Karimunjawa: Perfect Sunset)

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