I'd wanted to go to Karimunjawa island ever since my UMY students told me about it in 2011. A little ocean paradise, they said. A step back in time.

The journey started well, with a ride to the port through a blue, blue Bandengan morning, and the Scorpions' Let me take you far away playing on the taxi sound system.

Then it all went downhill a bit with the ferry ride. Everyone pretty much agrees that the Express Bahari fast ferry is the way to go. (If you're overseas, you have to buy tickets via an agent. This one is pretty efficient.)



But it's not exactly a cruise experience. We started 45 minutes late; it's very hot and cramped in the "executive" cabin; you can't help wondering how we'd all get through the narrow emergency exit if there actually was an emergency; they're playing a graphic war film on the TV; and the motion of these fast boats on a moderately choppy sea is very, very sicky.

So you bounce along, like a cork in a washing machine, with the barfing noises of suffering passengers not quite covering the sounds of slaughter and mayhem from Brad Pitt and his crew.

But this, too, passed...

By 12 noon we were heading, via quiet, rural lanes, to our elevated lodgings, the CocoHuts. This place comes with lovely views, a tasty banana-and-chocolate pancake option for breakfast, and a cafe terrace that is a very pleasant place for a cold beer, especially with a low and tiny red moon to keep you company. They're also very kind people, which we'll come back to later.





Tourism is obviously taking off in Karimunjawa, and I suspect it's changed quite a bit since my students' 2011 experience. (It's only since last year, for example, that there's been 24-hour electricity.) There is quite a bit of building happening in the little town; there's already a smattering of outlets designed to appeal to the Western clientele; and you do wonder where it's all heading. This year, the European population has been notably swollen by divertees from earthquake-stricken Lombok.

But it's not the Bali-in-the-making that I confess I'd feared when I saw the crowds of Europeans waiting for the ferry. There is still a pleasant localness about the little streets, which are lined with greenery, and enlivened by squabbling chickens and scurrying kittens. There's still a shambolic and random quality about many of the services, which is sometimes bewildering but also endearing.

The alun-alun in the late afternoon/early evening is a pleasant place to stop by, as the football players give way to the fish-grillers, and the big mosque marks the changing phases of the day.













The Cafe Amore, despite its less than predictable opening hours, became our favourite hostelry. A combination of lovely garden by the sea and good internet is always going to be a winner. But it's even better when you can also get good kopi Jawa, Prost beer (a pleasantly floral brew from Semarang), and soto Karimunjawa (chicken, veges, and thin noodles in a flavourful, turmeric-infused broth).





Hiring a motorbike for a day is definitely a good idea. (Even better is to hire one without a slow puncture that rapidly needs attention from a tyre fixer...) The roads are quiet, the hills they skirt are thick with forest, and the villages are pretty. It's like riding through a big orchard of banana, coconut, mango, and cashew trees.

Stopping only for a delectable (and very modestly priced) es oyen, we went as far up the island as you can get on a paved road (to a beach that may or may not be called Batu Lawang). There's not much beach, actually, but it's all very picturesque.







On the way back, we stopped briefly at a bridge for mangrove photos (having baulked at paying the enormous sum required for foreigners to enter the mangrove reserve). And then we motored on to Annora Beach, where we very pleasantly put in the rest of the afternoon with a walk along the lovely stretch of sand, a plate of nasi goreng overlooking the water in the shade of an umbrella tree, and a clamber up the headland.









Before breakfast the following day, we headed out to what are probably the three most famous beaches, Tanjung Gelam, Sunset Beach, and Pantai Batu Topeng. All were blissfully quiet at this early hour of the morning, and we walked a nice triangle that took in all three. How fine a thing it is to sit on the sand in the cool of the morning eating coconut biscuits...











Having dropped off the bike, we walked to Pasir Putih, just to the east of the town. This is absolutely stunning: A narrowish strip of dry sand, and a big bay of shallow water, full of those gorgeous turquoise and aquamarine stripes. Glossy green hills around; blue sea beyond; and blue sky above. Picture-perfect.

This is a very new endeavour, with access opened up only a few months ago, so it's very simple: a few hammocks (being erected as we watched), and a bar arrangement offering drinks and simple dishes. We ate yet another nasi goreng, and then took ourselves off to some comfy rocks at the end of the sand strip. We chatted briefly with some sailors from one of the many coal-barge-pulling tugs that we've seen on the horizon. These skirt Karimunjawa en route between Jakarta and Banjarmasin, with sometimes catastrophic effects.









Of course, we did the obligatory boat ride, in the kind of little fishing craft that fills your nose with diesel, and your ears with clamor. First to Pulau Cilik, then on to Pulau Seruni, to the east of Karimunjawa.

There were not massive quantities of fish in the place where we stopped, but it's always a joy to briefly share their world. The unusual thing was the kind of coral: huge, flat flowers, in terracotta, blue, and green, looking for all the world as though they were clay-fired pottery. There was also evidence of attempts to regenerate coral in the sort of big frame arrangements you see in garden centres. Artificial, obviously, but pretty.

As always, an ikan bakar lunch was part of the package.









And so we turn from all these island joys to the Big Nuisancy Bit that happened next. Even before our boat trip lunch, I'd already started to feel feverish, and slept out the second snorkel stop. After that, I went horribly and rapidly downhill.

As we couldn't travel till I recovered, we ended up staying an unplanned extra seven nights on Karimunjawa. Luckily, five of those were still at the CocoHuts, whose administrator was unfailingly kind, checking up on us, bringing supplies, and making me guava leaf tea. For our last two nights we had to ship out to The Escape, which has nice grounds, but little else to recommend it.

It's all been pretty difficult, I have to say. In the interim period when I was starting to feel better but still couldn't travel, work had to be done, and beachside places are not exactly equipped for this requirement, in terms of ergonomics or connectivity.

We are scheduled to catch the ghastly bouncing boat tomorrow. May it be... But of course our original schedule has been completely knocked for six. Jepara will now be just an overnight stop. Our Yogya stay will be reduced by half.

Still, I'm very grateful for recovery. I'm very grateful for Nigel's steadfast support. I'm very grateful that this kind of thing happens to me very, very rarely.

And I'm very grateful to have made the acquaintance of this beautiful little corner of Indonesia. It's less of a step back in time than it was (for which its inhabitants, I'm sure, are very grateful). But it's still a little ocean paradise.