Banyuwangi 2022 2/4 : Tabuhan Island & Menjangan Island

"Treat people the way you want to be treated. Talk to people the way you want to be talked to. Respect is earned, not given." -Unknown

Tabuhan Island, Banyuwangi

Day 2 - Saturday, August 13, 2022

We didn't choose a room with breakfast at El Hotel Royale because we thought we won't have enough time to enjoy our breakfast. For this second day trip to Tabuhan Island, we need to gather at meeting point, Grand Watu Dodol at 8 AM. We checked out earlier and waited for the car to GWD. We put our luggage on the back. Actually there is taxi by online but we were afraid if it's hard to find one in the morning. So we asked our travel agent to pick us up at the hotel (add Rp 400k - pick up & drop off return trip).

Pecel Rawon (Pecel Ayu)

Before we heading to GWD, we tried this local dish called Pecel Rawon. Basically it's the same Pecel that we know at Jakarta but they served Pecel with rice then pour Rawon on top of it. To be honest, it's not my favorite maybe because of the meat was quite hard to chew. Three pax Pecel Rawon and Three Tea {Rp 80k)

Swimming Pool at el Royale Hotel

Pecel Rawon for breakfast

Pecel Rawon

Grand Watu Dodol

Arrived earlier at GWD around 7.30 AM, the boat will depart around 8.30 AM and we will have briefing before heading to the island. This GWD looks organized even I heard the government taking care this place, to enter this place you need to pay for entrance fee via scan barcode so they will have record for how many people going inside. So many benches by the beach to wait, tidy and clean except the toilet, but I think they also on progress to fix the toilet, I saw many worker in progress to build something near the toilet area. From there we can see Bali Island on the opposite since it was so close from Banyuwangi. We gathered around 8.30 to have briefing before heading to the island, ohh we also need to fill our data in guest book for insurance. There were 18 people therefore we will use 2 boats.

at GWD, waiting for briefing

Briefing before going to Tabuhan Island

Tabuhan Island

Apparently our group is from different travel agent. I think it's just really nice to know that most of them are work together. It took around 40 minutes to arrive on this island. What a beautiful island with white sand and blue emerald sea color. We spent a while there and of course we took lot of pictures there. I saw a group before us already took their pictures and have picnic together. There were only 3 boats when we arrived, not so crowded. I bought Coconut Ice (Rp15k) for me and Ice Coffee (Rp 10k) for my friend. 

on the way to Tabuhan Island

beautiful Tabuhan Island

From here we will go snorkeling, so we went back on boat and went to the snorkeling spot probably around 10 - 15 minutes ride. First spot was full of fish, colorful fish, so pretty, the crews ensure we got our picture and video underwater. Such a fun experience and they also have a good quality picture, they use GoPro 9. I only snorkeling for a while since I thought I am going to Ijen tonight so I need to save my energy. On the second snorkeling spot, there were so many colorful coral reefs and that's so beautiful, I never knew that coral reefs could be this colorful.

on the way to snorkeling

nice view underwater on the first spot of snorkeling (cr. sunrise.boat)

2nd spot was so clear & beautiful corals (cr. sunrise.boat)

It's been so long since I saw Starfish when snorkeling (no worries, we put it back to the sea)

Menjangan Island

Another boat ride to this final destination, Menjangan Island, there is Menjangan (Deer) on this island so it called Menjangan Island. It's part of protected West Bali National Park, so it's actually part of Bali. We also saw a lot of travel agents from Bali. I haven't go to Bali again yet so yeah during this trip I went to part of Bali even just for a while because this island is so close to Bali than Banyuwangi. We had our lunch there and just take some rest there, I didn't go to explore that much on this island. 

Anyway there was accident, I fall from the stairs like I missed steps on the stairs that made me fall. The bad thing was I sprained my right ankle and got hurt on the left knee. The knee was fine but the right ankle was not. It got swollen more and more if I walk too much. Thinking that tonight I am going to Ijen Crater made me worry and finally decided that we will take trolley taxi (ojek troli).

Menjangan Island

spotted, a deer

lunch at Menjangan Island

me & Anggie

Back to the GWD by an hour boat ride, we arrived at GWD around 3 PM. While waiting for our guide, we had Nutri Sari Ice (Rp 4k), so freshh. My guide said it's rare that we already back around 3 PM, usually the trip finish around 4 PM. But since that time the waves were quite high so our boat guide said we need to go back immediately to avoid the high waves.

I asked the guide to make a stop at this shop that selling local fabric or clothes, Osing Ningrat but apparently the staff was having a break so they close the shop for a while. Then I went to another store, Osing Deles, there we shopped for some fabrics, they also sell local snacks but I didn't buy anymore snacks because we bought some before. 

Art Doorz Homestay Istana Gandrung

For our second night, we stayed at different hotel, the location was actually just across our previous Hotel, Art Doorz Homestay Istana Gandrung (Rp 160k/night), we choose this hotel since we thought we only stayed for few hours since we will go to Ijen tonight and the travel agent will pick us up at 00.00 at our hotel.

move to another hotel and stayed for few hours

We checked in, put our bags in the room, take shower and along the way, we saw interesting restaurant just across our hotel, next to El Hotel Royale, it's called Bale Saji. We were hungry and after some research on Google, we went to that restaurant. The restaurant interior was nice, clean, spacious and the price was reasonable. We had their favorites menu, Tahu Walik, Iga Bakar, Sop Buntut, Es Teler, Wedang and Es Kacang Hijau (Rp 180k). Everything was soooo delicious, I think I ate a lot on that restaurant, what a happy tummy.

Back to our hotel and we tried to sleep before driver pick us up at 00.00. See you on my next travel diaries.

MJ