One Day Trip to Nusakambangan Island

Have I told you the fact that I was born in Nusakambangan island? My grand father was a prison officer in this island. If you see my birth certificate, it was clearly signed in Nusakambangan :D Nusakambangan is an isolated island located in Cilacap, Central Java. This island is used as detention for serious crimes. And also it’s been famous as execution place as well for drug dealers, terrorists, and also murderers. It’s a bit like Alcatraz, Indonesia’s version.

It’s creepy I know, but this island also has beautiful forests and beaches. Some parts of the island are opened for public, and some parts (the prisons) are closed of course. It was a short trip to one of the beach in Nuskambangan named Pasir Putih Beach (White Sand beach). Don’t be surprised if you find a lot of beaches in Indonesia named Pasir Putih. Because sometimes people here have no clue what to name the beach, so they just name with the color of the sand. But I rarely hear the beach named as Pasir Hitam beach (Black Sand Beach). Because may be black sand is too mainstream :D

I went there with my mom, my brother, and my aunt. My brother drove to Cilacap. It took three hours from Purwokerto to Teluk Penyu jetty. We then rented a boat to go accross Nusakambangan Island. The boat trip took only like 15 minutes. Then we arrived at the gate to Pasir Putih island beach. We paid the tickets and to reach the beach we had to hike for about 15 minutes as well. The hiking was inside the forest. We smelt fresh air and saw some monkeys up on the trees inside the forest. The road to the beach is not well-paved. It’s still muddy. We were lucky it didn’t rain because it would be difficult for us to hike. Then we arrived at the beach. It was a small white-sandy beach. We enjoyed the beach and had some coconut drinks. My aunt looked very happy there. She didn’t seem to want to leave that place.

We went back in the afternoon with the boat. After that, I had a chance to visit a fort in Teluk Penyu. The name is Benteng Pendem (Pendem Fort). Why it’s called Pendem, because some of the fort was underground. The fort was built during Dutch occupation in Indonesia. We have so many forts accross Indonesia because we had been occupied for hundreds of years, by Dutch, English, Japan, Portugal. And now we’re occupied by America. We are never a free country, but who is? May be North Korea. Something to reflect upon.....

Teluk Penyu beach, the jetty to Nusakambangan Island

The road to the beach is still not well-paved

We passed a tunnel too here

Inside the tunnel

This was used for hiding from enemies

This one too

Pasir Putih Beach

Another part of Pasir Putih Beach

A lil bit of pose

Benteng Pendem (Fort Pendem)

The Barracks

Saw some deers

It was a hospital

This well is soo creepy. Reminds me of Sadako