Satonda Island is a beautiful place in Dompu. But it is not well-known for tourism because it is difficult to reach. At that time, Satonda Island was well known only to tourists in the Dompu area. But how lucky I am to visit Satonda Island before climbing Mount Tambora. Do you want to know my experience visiting this beautiful lake? Keep reading.
About Satonda Island
HaveHave you heard about Satonda Island? Satonda Island is located in Nangamiro Village, Dompu Regency, West Nusa Tenggara. It can only be reached by chartered boat from Sumbawa. This beautiful island spans an area of approximately 2,600 hectares, consisting of 453.70 hectares of land and 2,146.3 hectares of water.
Satonda is a volcanic island off the northern coast of Sumbawa, in West Nusa Tenggara. It's beautiful blue lake has helped scientists gain some insight into the formation of organisms. This island is renowned for its uniqueness, featuring a saltwater lake at its center. While local myths surround the lake, fascinating scientific facts have intrigued researchers since 1984.
How to get there?
Satonda Island can be reached from Bima and Sumbawa Airports. It takes about 6 - 7 hours to drive to Nangamiro Port. Lastly, it takes about 1 hour to reach Satonda Island by boat. I visited this island from Pancasila Village before climbing the Mount of Tambora at that time.
Facilities on Satonda Island
Around the beach are also toilets, places of worship, and several gazebos for shelter. But in this place, you can't find a restaurant. So, you have to bring the food and drink from your home.
My Experience of Visiting Satonda Island
How How did my experience visit this beautiful lake?
As I mentioned above, I visited this island from Pancasila Village before climbing the Mount of Tambora at that time. We left Pancasila Village. It takes approximately half an hour to travel from Pancasila Village to Satonda Island.
We rented a pick-up truck, enough for twenty people, and we had to pay Rp 500,000 to go there. This price is for return from and to Pancasila Village. We are ten people.
Coincidentally, we met with other climbers. Five other climbers wanted to go there and asked to join us for shared costs, so we were fifteen people, and the price was even lower. We visited this place in October 2016, coinciding with summer, so the scenery was decorated with blue skies. It was a beautiful view then, but it was very hot.
The road is quite comfortable and paved. In our journey, we enjoyed the moment because in Jakarta, we never use this transportation. Yap, the car was open. We enjoyed the fresh air, even though the season was hot. We could see the green view with the big and small trees. It was fresh. I could see the sun was shiny, too.
Fifteen minutes before we arrived at the dock, we stopped to buy lunch. The driver told us there was no restaurant or food on Satonda Island, so we had to bring our own food and drink. After almost half an hour, the car arrived at a dock. I thought we had arrived, but we still had to cross again using a small boat. You can imagine the weather is so hot, and we still have to cross to the island.
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We saw no tourists after arriving at Satonda Island, it was quiet. Only we tourists were there. And the driver was right, there is no food, drink, or restaurant here. We can see the facilities are limited (at that time). But it's okay because we brought a lot of food and drink. We need to hike to see the beautiful lake, 10 minutes from the dock.
But before we hiked to see Satonda Lake, we had lunch in a gazebo beside the beach. We enjoyed our meal because it was so hot and made us feel hungry. Besides, we brought watermelon, and we really enjoyed it. We finished all our food and drink.
After we finished our food, we continued our journey, hiking to Satonda Lake. When we arrived at the lake, we were wowed. It was beautiful. I could see the real blue lake and beautiful scenery. Do you want to know the best thing to do on Satonda Island?
The best thing to do in Satonda Island
What can you enjoy when visiting Satonda Island in West Nusa Tenggara? Here's a more detailed look at some of the activities.
1. Enjoying the beautiful beach
Then, we crossed the ocean using a small boat for about half an hour to reach Satonda Island, a beautiful island in West Nusa Tenggara. Arriving at the beach, we trekked again for about 5-10 minutes.
Because the air was very hot, we took a short break and cut the watermelon. How delicious it was when it was hot to cut the watermelon. Remember one thing, God will bring us closer to people like us. That's what I feel. The familiarity between us began to be felt on the first day.
After eating watermelon, we relaxed for a while and chatted cheerfully. Here, we met some ladies. They greeted us and asked where we were from. We replied from Jakarta. It turned out that the lady was the head of Dompu's tourism and was very happy to see us visiting the island.
2. Enjoying the Satonda Island Blue Lake
We sat down to enjoy the beautiful scenery, and some of us had lunch there. After a while, the head of Dompu's tourism arrived with some of her team to take pictures, and they chatted with us.
3. Taking picture on the boat
On the shore of the lake, a small boat was tied up. It looked like it had never been used but was in a safe condition. Then, the head of Dompu's tourism offered to ride the boat with them.
Curious, we decided to use the boat to go around the island. We took some pictures, and even one of my friends went down to swim with the head of tourism.
4. Tree of Hope
Here, we can see a tree where everyone can hang a stone by tying it to the tree trunk as a sign that we have been to this place. We can also see this beautiful island from the top of the hills, with a bit of trekking further up.
After almost two hours here, we decided to go home. The journey to the homestay was still quite far, and we were waiting for our rental car.
We said goodbye to see Satonda Island, a beautiful island in West Nusa Tenggara. Despite the heat and a bit of climbing and descending stairs when we arrived, it was all worth it, as the deserted blue island smiled beautifully to greet us. I call it a lake, very blue.
Are you curious to see Satonda Island, a beautiful island in West Nusa Tenggara? My country's beauty is unbeatable. Have you visited this lovely place? If yes, please share in the comments column.
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