Muara Binuangeun

Muara Binuangeun is a fishing village in the southern part of West Java. 5 hours by boat from Pelabuhan Ratu going west or from Ujung Kulon going south towards the Indian Ocean. The nearby islands are Pulau Tinjil dan Pulau Deli. The fishermen seeking refuge at Muara Binuangeun are from nearby fishing village of Pelabuhan Ratu or from as far as Lampung in Sumatera and Cirebon and Tegal, in the north part of West Java. This place also a favourite spot for sport fishing anthusiasts from Jakarta. The famous guest house there are the house of Pak Hasyim or Wisma Gobel and Hotel Berkah. By land Muara Binuangeun can be reached around 4 hours from Jakarta.
The photo was taken on the 29Th of December 2008.

Year End Cruising

Stella left berth number 63 of Jakarta's Pantai Mutiara Marina on the Christmas Day of 2008 to Saberro Marina in Carita with Imam as skipper and Yanto as deck hand. We joined at Carita on the 26Th of December 2008 to Pulau Peucang, Ujung Kulon National Park.

This time, I was accompanied by Amir, Chandra, Edo, James and Albert. The sea was very rough with strong westerly wind and easterly current. We reached Pulau Peucang after 7 hours instead of the usual 5 hours in a bumpy and unpleasant ride. Most of us got sea sick and emptied our stomach to the sea. We stayed 2 nights at the straits across the jetty of Pulau Peucang in a calm mirror-like water. What a wonderful stay. We did some walking to Karang Copong, but mostly having fun on the beach and swimming. Lots of rains. We had cold Japanese noodles (zaru soba) and tempura for lunch on one occasion, Korean noodles and fried rice for dinner on other days.

On the 29Th we cruised 5 hours to Muara Binuangeun. Bumpy ride to Karang Kereta but pleasant ride to Muara Binuangeun. We trolled the water on the way but caught nothing. Milky water and the fishes lost the appetite to bite our baits. We spent over night at Muara Binuangeun and had grilled and fried fish for lunch and lobsters and pasta for dinner from the fish market nearby.

The next day on the 30Th of December 2008 we cruised 10 hours from Muara Binuangeuen to Ujung Genteng and back to Pelabuhan Ratu around 5 pm that day. What a ride. We thought Ujung Genteng was near from Pelabuhan Ratu, so when we almost reached Pelabuhan Ratu we continued our journey to Ujung Genteng, where we thought already on sight. Ujung Genteng actually was 28 NM away. It took us 3 hours to go and another 3 hours to go back to Pelabuhan Ratu after worrying to get hit by severe southerly winds. Finally, we stayed 4 nights at Pelabuhan Ratu with local fishermen. Quite an experience.

We met our long time fishing guide, Herry and Wewen. Last time we met it was about 15 years ago. We were about to brought in a big marlin but after 6 hours fight by everybody on board, I mean everybody, we lost the fish and we had to rent a beaten minibus to Pelabuhan Ratu at a raining night, wet and cold. Not easy to forget that kind of experience.

Krakatau 2005

After we stayed in Ujung Kulon we proceed to Karakatau National Park, it was like 4 hours journey. The view of Krakatau from short distance was awesome. The Anak Krakatau is bigger than the Krakatau itself. The sea was choppy in the late afternoon when we anchoring off shore in front of Anak Krakatau. The story of Krakatau according to Wikipedia is as follows :"Krakatoa (Indonesian: Krakatau), also spelled Krakatao or Krakatowa, is a volcanic island in the Sunda Strait between Java and Sumatra in Indonesia. The name is used for the island group, the main island (also called Rakata), and the volcano as a whole. It has erupted repeatedly, massively, and with disastrous consequences throughout recorded history. The best known eruption culminated in a series of massive explosions on August 26 - 27, 1883, which was among the most violent volcanic events in modern times. With a Volcanic Explosivity Index of 6, it was equivalent to 200 megatons of TNT — about 13,000 times the yield of the Little Boy bomb (13 to 16 KT) that devastated Hiroshima, Japan.
The 1883 eruption ejected more than 25 cubic kilometres of rock, ash, and pumice,[2] and generated the loudest sound historically reported: the cataclysmic explosion was distinctly heard as far away as Perth in Australia approx. 1,930 miles (3,110 km), and the island of Rodrigues near Mauritius approx. 3,000 miles (5,000 km). Near Krakatoa, according to official records, 165 villages and towns were destroyed and 132 seriously damaged, at least 36,417 (official toll) people died, and many thousands were injured by the eruption, mostly from the tsunamis that followed the explosion.
The eruption destroyed two-thirds of the island of Krakatoa. Eruptions at the volcano since 1927 have built a new island in the same location, called Anak Krakatau (child of Krakatoa).[1]This island has a radius of roughly 2 kilometers and a high point around 200 meters above sea level. The original island of Krakatoa had a high point at an estimated 2000 meters above sea level and had a radius of 9 kilometers".

Ujung Kulon 2005

It was the weekend of May 21 to 23, 2005. I visited Ujung Kulon National Park and Krakatau National Park with Amir, my school mate from the Law School of University of Indonesia, from 1975 and Nanny Budiman, my school mate from elementary to high school at BPK Penabur, 1968 to 1974. I remember that the journey was so fine, the sea was as flat as a mirror. We stay and sleep on board Stella all the time. We went to Peucang Island and walked to Karang Copong, about 3 hours from the ranger station and jetty. Stella anchored in the middle of the straits as usual. We also caught two yellow fin tuna (Thunnus Albacares) and had sashimi for dinner and barbeque tuna for lunch the next day in Krakatau, and sashimi again for dinner, and barbeque again for lunch, and barbeque again for dinner, gosh, I wish we did not catch the tuna.

The Eagle Lady From Kotok Timur Island

We first met Femke Den Haas a couple months ago when we were on the island to pick up Kiki Adjie the owner of the island. I was amazed to know that a Dutch Lady cares so much about the eagles while the Indonesian do not know much about eagles. She is married to an Indonesian and has been in Indonesia for more than 7 years, she speaks relatively good bahasa. She works hard to take care of the eagles (Brahminy Kites and Sea Eagles) and teach them to catch fish from the sea and be able to feed themselves, cured the raptors from inability to live in the wild resulted from long stay in captivity, then, they will be released to the wild again. She and her crews stayed on the island with very basic facility, most of the time, without electricity. She is very active supporting Jakarta Animal Aid Network, a non governmental organization focusing on the welfare of animals http://www.jakartaanimalaid.com/.

On the picture she is second from the right. On her right is Beth Rivin and on her left is Geni Achnas from UpLift International, a non governmental organization focusing on the health issues of women and children http://www.upliftinternational.org/. On the left, Amir and the writer next to him. Picture was taken on the jetty of Kotok Timur Island on May 31, 2008.

The Children of Labuan Bajo

While we were in Labuan Bajo, Flores, we were denied from getting the sailing permit for bad weather reason. The public sea transportation had been halted for the last 3 days. So we have no where to go except going to the shore and finally we were surrounded by children at a modest village called Gorontalo. It was about 3 Km from the harbor where we jumped out our rubber boat after taking us from Stella. The children were catching the lobster larvae to be sold to the people who worked collecting lobster larvae from the children and later sell them to the hatchery. The children were doing it after school time to help in supporting their parents earnings. They were so enthusiastic in posing for the camera. We were so touched by their simple ways of living, originality of their acts, the joy on their faces and the hope gleaming from their eyes.

Ujung Kulon Fishing 2007

We try fishing the area while we were in Ujung Kulon and we caught 3 good size of skipjacks (Katsuwonus pelamis) enough for our meals. The skipjacks ended up in our barbeque pits and enjoyed by everybody on board.

We were fishing for a short period only, the sea was so unpleasant to fish, windy and choppy. I remember the time where we use to fish all day in the area doing trolling and bottom fishing at night. The time when the corals were so pristine and spear fishing was so enjoyable. Diving the area now only to find dead corals and almost no big fishes. The area use to be abundant with trevallies and lobsters. Yellow fin tunas when in season come in big school. Well, it was 10 years ago. The time has passed. Commercial fishing fleets entering the area everyday without any supervision from coast guards or National Park Guards to regulate them. Ujung Kulon National Park are not preserved as it deserved.

On the picture, Chandra and James holding the skipjacks.