A journey to Gili Genting: An undiscovered splendour of Madura

The name is not familiar even among local Indonesians, but this island, surrounded by white sand beaches, is a hidden beauty. Gili Genting is an isolated island outside Madura that the only way to get there is by a boat, which departs every hour or two. During the day, this low-populated island is quiet because the heat keeps people inside their houses, but that will make you the only wanderer in the beach. Also, the dusk is stunning. As you hear the sound from the mosque, calling people to pray, you could see the sun setting at the horizon, leaving a trace of its golden ray on the sea.

A plane flight to Surabaya is the first thing you need to do to get closer to this island. Then, for about 4-5 hours, drive your car to Sumenep, Madura to get on a boat that will take you for 45 minutes trip to the Gili Genting. Because there is only one boat every hour, people bring everything, including their motorbikes or livestock, into the boat. I even have shared a boat with ducks and cows one time!

One thing to note down: the boat trip is shaky. It may be a bit scary, as people could get seasick or, as sometimes the water splashed into the boat, you might think you will drown anytime. However, the scenery, the clear blue view of Java Sea, and the sight of fishermen sailing their colourful boats will get you very excited and wondering what is waiting for you at the other side.

For people who expect luxury, this is not the place, but for those who expect local atmosphere, Gili Genting offers you its bests. Gili, coming from Maduranese word "Agili" means "to be floated" and genting is Indonesian for "roof". This island, looking like a floating roof, has a mosque, small shops, markets, and houses of its people with wide sandy front yard. It really reminds you to a typical fishermen village.

The port where the boat stops is a rather small port, filled by couple of boats and people who are waiting. You can listen to them talking in the local Maduranese dialect as soon as you get off the boat. Indonesian is a foreign language here, but I soon found myself emerged to the crowd. The people are very friendly, although they might sound like they are angry. Don't worry, Maduranese dialect does that all the time haha.  

However, the highlight of the trip surely is the beaches. Wait, which one? All of them! There are many beaches around the island. There is one where the water is so shallow that you can keep walking for 100 meters from the shore to the sea. There is also a beach filled by many starfish, that you can pick them at dusk when the tide is low.

I have been to the island twice and I could not finish exploring them all. All of them are very clean and clear as if you could see the bottom of the sea. They are also not crowded; I guess the locals have had enough of them already. So you definitely can feel like the sole-owner of the beach.

The first trip I took there was the most memorable. I hired a local fishermen’ boat to show me a snorkelling spot, if they have any. I was not expecting anything because Gili Genting was not famous for its snorkel; in fact it is not a famous place at all. But I was lucky that this place is not famous. It gives the island untouched marine life splendour. I had a chance to see colourful corals and fishes. I saw a blue starfish, greatly contrasted with a big green coral it rested on. Also, couple of rainbow fish, or so I called them, because their bodies reflect rainbow colour under the sun, liked to come around and checking on my pink swimming fins.

After the snorkelling, the fishermen took me to the other part of the island. It has a sea-cave that is very famous among the locals because of the myth. People belief that the cave connects the whole island, so if you are going in from the north, you would end up at the south of the island. Our boat sailed passes it. The waves were very high and the surrounding was full of rocks. It is actually quite scary to think as if someone would want to get in there and risking their lives.

Nevertheless, the island never ceased to amaze me. Behind the cave, there is a small beach that I can say is one of the most beautiful beaches in my life. The water was a gradient of green to blue, the sand was crystal white and the depth of the water was perfect. Not too deep to swim but not too shallow to jump into from a high rocky hill. Yes, there was a quite high rocky hill that we could climb up to. The climb was hard and exhausting, but the effort is nothing compared to what I could get at the end. As soon as I reached the top, this full view of the beach greeted my eyes and it was breathtaking.

        

As I was very astonished by the beauty, I decided to take a jump and dived into the clear water. That was my first dive ever and I am proud that I did it in Gili Genting.