TheJakartaPost

Please Update your browser

Your browser is out of date, and may not be compatible with our website. A list of the most popular web browsers can be found below.
Just click on the icons to get to the download page.

Jakarta Post

Private bliss at Panambungan Island

Trinissa is the 5-year-old daughter of Erwin Aksa, the chairman of the Indonesian Young Entrepreneurs Association and the president director of eastern Indonesia's well-known Bosowa Group of companies, owned by his father, Aksa Mahmud

Arif Suryobuwono (The Jakarta Post)
Makassar
Sun, May 31, 2009

Share This Article

Change Size

Private bliss at Panambungan Island

Trinissa is the 5-year-old daughter of Erwin Aksa, the chairman of the Indonesian Young Entrepreneurs Association and the president director of eastern Indonesia's well-known Bosowa Group of companies, owned by his father, Aksa Mahmud. Erwin's aunt is the wife of Vice President Jusuf Kalla.

This intimate knowledge of the wealthy and well-connected is conveyed to me by Captain Nurdi Cahyo, head of the berthing section of the harbor master department at the Sixth Naval Base, Makassar.

Trinissa is also the name of Erwin's Rp 8 billion Bertram yacht, which he uses to entertain his VIP guests, and transport passengers from Hotel Imperial Aryaduta Makassar, a property owned by the Aksa Mahmud family, to Panambungan, a private island owned by the family.

Departing from the mainland at about 9 am and returning at 4 p.m., it is a 45-minute trip to the island on Trinissa. The trip costs Rp 400,000 per passenger and includes a lunch of fried rice, and if you are quick enough, some snorkeling gear. "We used to have 20 of them," the captain said, unable to explain why the rest had disappeared. I managed to get one after hours of waiting.

Panambungan is a small island about the size of two soccer fields and is one of the 18,110 islands that make up the Indonesian archipelago.

"If you really want, you can dive into the waters off the island, which is now the gravesite of many used cars *former Bosowa taxis*. There are no great diving sites," Nurdi said adding, "For diving, many people from Jakarta go further north to the Kapoposang National Marine Park. The trip from Makassar to Kapoposang is three times as long as the trip to Panambungan."

The water around the island is clean and it was delightful to spend a Saturday there swimming in the afternoon sun, snorkeling, treading on white sand, and admiring casuarinas and other types of pine trees. Big trees with cherry-like fruit that scattered autumnal colored leaves on the ground, and the sweet-smelling jasmine plants, added to the beauty.

Inter-tidal-like pools had formed along some parts of the island. Sprinkled with reefs and some debris, the clear light-blue water is too shallow for swimming. Snorkeling though, you are likely to spot small simple-colored fish, some silvery, swimming here and there around dull-looking coral and equally lackluster anemones.

However, lurking in the clear clean water, are tiny translucent jelly fish locally called "ice jelly fish", which cause severe itchiness if they make contact with the skin. There is also a sort of oval-shaped flat fish camouflaging itself to resemble a thin mound of sand. Perhaps it was a Sting Ray. It seemingly felt my presence and slithered away. Later, after exploring some other parts of the shallow water, I went back to that spot, but this unidentified underwater object had gone.

The structures built on the island are still very rudimentary, including the toilets and the bathrooms. That's why I decided to take a bath when I returned to my hotel in Makassar. Some people decided to stay at the rudimentary bungalows on the island, paying Rp 500,000 per night not including breakfast, according to Mery, the secretary of the hotel's sales department. Nurdi and Mery told me there is a two-year plan to turn the island into a properly built and managed resort with amenities similar to the cluster of resort islands just off Jakarta.

On the way back to Makassar I sat on the second story of the Trinissa in front of the steering wheel. The triangular transparent plastic window in front of me had been rolled up and the open sea before me was like a rhapsody in blue.

Holding the right and the left hand steel bars that make up the triangular window, I stood up. The strong wind and the pace of the yacht made me feel like I was flying. The flying sensation faded away when the contours of Makassar emerged on the horizon. Memories of the island suddenly flashed in my mind, prompting me to turn back.

{

Your Opinion Matters

Share your experiences, suggestions, and any issues you've encountered on The Jakarta Post. We're here to listen.

Enter at least 30 characters
0 / 30

Thank You

Thank you for sharing your thoughts. We appreciate your feedback.