Carita Beach is a sweet little coastal village that offers the best access to Krakatoa, an active volcano that sits in the Sunda Straight between Java and Sumatra. I'd contacted a few companies to enquire about prices and availability and decided to book with krakautrip.com. Mr Bobo was my contact and was so lovely to me. He suggested that I get a room at the Achipelago Hotel, where I could board the boat mere steps from my room.
Most of my accomodation throughout my trip through Java was coming out at about $10/night. Achipelago is $60/night, but decided to treat myself. I know that $60/night wouldn't get you even a basic room in Australia for the night in the current economy, and I'm absolutely not sorry.
I was having difficulty sending the hotel deposit to Mr Bobo, so he kindly paid this for me and I fixed him up as soon as I arrived in Carita. I really appreciated him trusting and helping me.
Bonsai
The room was absolutely stunning! Watching the sunset from my patio each afternoon, with a Bintang in hand, is exactly what dreams are made of. I spent the first day there relaxing in celebration of crossing Java successfully (and not getting arrested), after having my bike serviced and washed.
Krakatoa has always been on my bucket list. Something about the explosion that boomed across the world (it was heard in Alice Springs) and the resultant 'dark age' that resulted from the sheer amount of dust that was expelled into the sky had caught my imagination even as a child. There was also a 151 foot tsunami that rocked ships as far away as South Africa.
On the day of my Krakatoa trip, Mr Bobo arrived and introduced me to Bonsai, who would be my guide for the day. I was delighted to discover that I was actually getting a private tour. So with our little crew of 4, we launched off to explore the remnants of this ancient volcano and its still active core.
The boat trip took about an hour and a half, and before I knew it, I laid eyes on this famous archiplago. The caldera sits surreound by 4 islands, of which one is still quite active.
Anau Krakatau is a newly formed island that is growing several metres every year and has an active lava dome. Bonsai told me that it was only 3 weeks ago that this island had a bit of a rumble and began throwing huge boulders all over the barren landscape.
The actual island is like a moonscape, with gently rising peaks that we made our way up. We took it quite slowly and I'm so glad I made the trek up. As we came to the top of the first peak, we were treated to a smoking caldera with cooling molten rock all over glistening like jewels in the sun. We kept trekking even higher to get an awesome view but couldn't get any closer due to the sulpher and heat.
It was amazing to be standing there with the ocean surrounding and knowing that I was standing atop of something so powerful and malignant.
The only sad part of the day was seeing all the plastic bottles and other rubbish washed up on all the beaches of the archipelago. People really have no respect. It was heartbreaking seeing the sheer volume of refuse that has crossed the sea from both surrounding islands. I asked Bonsai about it and he told me that the Indonesian government does come and do a clean-up from time to time, but as soon as it rains again the rubbish is back in ever-increasing volumes.
After exploring Anau Krakatau, we headed over to the Mother Island where we stopped for a delicious lunch under the lush foilage that covers the island. Bonsai took a walk along the beach around to where he said he likes to surf. We did stop in the boat over from the volcano island for a little swim and snorkle. The coral and fish were amazing to see, but I started to feel uncomfortable in the open ocean and was happy to get back on the boat. This was not before the silver ring I wear (that I made myself in Ubud last year) just floated off my finger and was lost to the depths and the coral. I consider this my sacrifice to Krakatoa.
As Bonsai and I were walking around and talking, he shared that in 2018 the volcano violently collapsed and caused a deadly tsunami with waves up to 5 metres in height making landfall. He lost everything. He also ended up spending 5 days in hospital recovering from having to swim for his life during the big waves.
Once we returned to the resort, Bonsai and I made plans to meet up again after a little rest to go and get some dinner and enjoy the sunset. Bonsai rode my bike, with me on the back and again I enjoyed having the freedom to look around as we went riding. He took me to this little place hidden from the main road where various stalls were selling delicious food and we had a beautiful view of the beach as the sun set.
We then went for a ride around Carita and filled up my fuel in preparation for my trip to Sumatra the next morning. It was quite funny as Bonsai knows pretty much everyone in the village and the whole trip was spent beeping the horn and waving to his friends who weren't used to seeing westerners very often.
I loved my 3 days in Carita and it was a fitting end to my magnificent ride across Java. Next...on to the wilds of Sumatra!!!
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