Travelistar: Gili Labak, a Little Paradise in Madura

Gili Labak Island

Travel Ever After

Talking about weekend, our brain will automatically spin around searching for possible destinations that we can spend during the off days. Right now I'm thinking about Bawean Island, an Island lies on the Java Sea that is 120 km away north from Gresik Town in East Java. But this will hopefully be done in the coming long weekend.

Right now I'm not talking about Bawean Island since I haven't been there, instead, I will talk about the trip I recently did last weekend. I didn't have quite long weekend last week, since I had to go to work on Saturday. But this didn't stop me to do my trip to Gili Labak, though it almost canceled.

Gili Labak

I, actually, had been there once before, but the feeling has almost gone. So this time I felt like being there for the first time. I had more joy-able time and more great pictures. I searched for info of open trip to Gili Labak on Instagram, luckily I found this account - @gililabaktrevel - that have open trip during weekend with affordable price. No, I didn't write it wrong, it's written 'trevel' not 'travel' and please don't ask me why.

Spot At Gili Labak

Once we reached the Gili Labak Island, my eyes couldn't blink for a while. I couldn't believe I was here again. The sea, the beach, the Island, everything remains the same, it was as beautiful as it is before. The traveler crowd were more or less the same. But I saw more food shops from the local residents, each with the sign written "Welcome to Gili Labak island".

The Famous Welcome Sign

Gili actually means Island, so the original name of the Island is Labak Island. But people already get use to the name Gili Labak. It is one of 150 small Islands nearby The main Island of Madura, some of them are quite big such Puteran, Sapudi and the Kangean Islands. As I was told by the boat owner after my breakfast, the name might comes from the word "Lambak" wich means a long time in local language, in Indonesian becomes "Lama". So the story goes that people used to feel that to reach this Island takes a long time.

Crystal clear water, white sand beach, and last but not least the bright sunshine, everything about tropical paradise we can see on this truly tropical Island. The best spot I could find was the one with the sign written "Welcome to Hidden Paradise Gili Labak". Unlike my previous visit, there were a lot of Pine Trees planted along the beach here. From this moment I realized that the people started to have the awareness to preserve the Island existence. I didn't see lot of trash across the beach which is good.

Hidden Paradise Sign

There are many activities that we can do on this Island besides tanning or doing sunbathe. We can do snorkeling to see the remaining coral reefs and fishes, I said remaining because most of the coral reefs were damaged. But still, it was fun to play around with the fishes and taking underwater photos or videos. We can also camp here for a night or two as I did before, the locals wouldn't mind to see young people build their camp around the beach. They only have electricity after 18.00 pm to 06.00 am. So need no worry about the night without lights or recharging your mobile phone. Moreover, food shops and public restroom are easy to find.

So I thought I had to go far away from the place I live to find such Tropical Paradise, I was wrong. I haven't explore my own region fully. There are a lot to explore in East Java. Madura, the Island that I thought had nothing worth to visit, has many beautiful places like Gili Labak Island. The only thing I need is more time and more money, so that I can explore more and write more. That's the main point here. I want to be a professional Travel Writer, and write more about Tourism Destinations in Indonesia.