Good morning and welcome to beautiful sunny Indonesia
Today we are going to go
and check out the beaches that you can visit from Yogyakarta
I'm starting the day my beach day up on the cliff
yep not starting the beach day
on the beach but on a cliff overlooking the beaches that are close to Jogja
within an hour I got up earlyish this morning, 7, and drove through
the traffic wasn't too bad but it still took me 50 minutes to get to this point
of looking the beaches the idea is to get a nice scenic view of the beach and
oh it's breezy up here
that's lovely
this big view point out here
Wow how beautiful is that there's this concrete area
goes down to the edge of the cliff
there is a red line I think you're not meant to go any further than that
and you see all that beautiful coastline spreading from miles looks like there might be some good
surf down there too
Now just a short ride from the viewpoint down here and welcome to
Parangtritis beach, the most popular beach that is close to Yogyakarta now
some things to note about the beaches along this south stretch here they are
are not your typical white sand calm blue sea water beaches while the sand is
still soft and pleasant to walk on it has a remarkable dark - black coloring
this is because of the volcanic ash which over the years has been liberally
scattered over the whole region by the many local volcanoes also the water is
not that swimming friendly there are Riptide strong swells and
large waves so it's very pretty to look at but not so good for getting into
even if you're a strong swimmer you'll note there's not a lot of people
swimming here and there is nobody surfing so that says something so that
means that most people come here to enjoy their times on the beach leading
to an increase of beach based activities like horse and buggy rides ATVs and
four-wheel driving experiences as well as lying in the sun and sunbathing and
while it may seem chaotic when you first arrive at the beach you only need to
take a short walk either to left or the right and you can find yourself a quiet
patch away from all the busyness
now one more thing to note when coming to
Paringtritis Beach
this is home to the queen of the south
and local folklore warns
visitors not to wear green clothes while visiting her domain or she will entice
you into the ocean where you will drown
good news I'm not wearing anything green
today so I should be able to safely show you around the beautiful and busy at
this point Parangtritis Beach.
Leaving Parangtritis beach behind we move along the coast and there is two
much quieter beaches that are barely developed
there's Parangkusumo Beach
and Pelangi Beach they both have the same soft dark sand and quite rough seas
but there is far less happening on the beach
so is a nice option if you want to
escape all the activities of parangtritis beach and maybe get a bit
of peace and quiet to yourself
Our final beach for the day is Depok Beach and this is becoming famous
because of the delicious fresh seafood you can buy here
again the beach itself
has the dark soft sand and crashing waves and there are numerous activities
to do along the beach but the real reason to visit here is that this is
where many local fishermen land their catch and lots of people come down to
buy the delicious fresh squid fish lobster and crab that is caught along
this coastline most of Yogyakarta fresh seafood comes from this beach.
Local warungs have sprung up amongst the fishing fleet giving you the opportunity
to sample some of these delicacies
Oh well it seems fitting that I'm ending the day in the same place as I started
the day at this beautiful viewpoint looking down the coast over the beaches
that we've been exploring today and that's been a bit of a surprise I must
admit or a shock. The scenery is stunning, amazing coast and we really only
explored three beaches which are really three parts of one very very long
beach that stretches up this coast now I must admit the first beach I went
to I was a bit shocked with all that was going on on the beach the
quadbikes the motorbikes the cars driving up on the beach can't say I
approve of that you come to a beautiful place and then you destroy the
environment not my idea
anyway and people still throwing litter down
cigarette butts, not taking it home, whatever you take with you
please take home leaving the environment beautiful for all the other people who want to
come and see it
so that was a bit shocking went further
down further I got away from the area and away from the coach parties in the
groups did find some beautiful isolated stretches of beach the coast long here
is quite wild so it's not exactly swimming territory there is some good
surf spots to be had along here though I didn't have a surfboard with me I did
see one surfer but yes it is a beautiful scenery is it worth driving
from Jogja down here for the beach?
If you want to sit on the beach relaxing
the peaceful quiet under a palm tree
No, I have to say no.
If you're going to
come down with a family enjoy a nice fish meal on the beach and then Depak
where the fishing village is, they specialize in the seafood then yes it
is worth the drive, it's a little bit cooler the scenery is beautiful if
you're expecting quiet and white sandy beaches no the beach here is while it's
very very soft is the dark volcanic kind it's a very very beautiful good for
sunbathing on and even though there's those three main
points where people tend to converge on the beach just walk a little bit along
the beach or drive a little further on go on you will find a quiet spot there
is 70 kilometers of beach here most people stay in those like three little
spots so you will find yourself a bit of space there isn't a great deal of shade
along the beach, n the first beach we went to there were some umbrellas we
could sit under and see out, but there's no trees right along the beach this coast
can get quite wild with both high waves and high winds coming in so there's no
real shade so bring your own shade these are just as the main beaches that
are close within an hour's ride of Yogyakarta, apparently there is dozens
I've saw a listing of 43 other beaches that along this coast most of them like
an hour and a half two hours away from Jogja so they will be quieter and
quite different hopefully more environmentally sensitive protected
beaches I hope so, but I've enjoyed my day it's really great everybody's very
happy and enjoying it I just wish people if you come down here please please
please don't leave your rubbish take it home
don't drive on the beach or use any motor vehicle on the beach polluting the
beauty that we want to leave for other people and come down and enjoy