Karimunjawa Transportation

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► Fast Boat (Kapal Kartini I)
It’s an air-conditioned fast boat with capacity of 168 passengers. Travel time from Kartini pier, Jepara to Karimun Jawa is 2.5 hours drive, while from the port of Tanjung Emas Semarang is a 3.5 hour drive.
 Type
1. Business Class,: 130,000 IDR/person. Location: at the lower part of the deck. No pillow for your seat.
Note: bring your own small pillow if you want.
2. Executive Class: 150,000 IDR/person. Location: at the upper part of the deck.
 Booking & Information: 024-70400010
 Schedule of Departure:
1. Semarang - Karimunjawa - Semarang
Semarang - Karimunjawa: Saturday, at 09.00
Karimunjawa - Semarang: Sunday, 14:00
2. Jepara - Karimunjawa - Jepara
Jepara - Karimunjawa: Monday 10:00 - 12:30
Karimunjawa - Jepara: Tuesday 11:00 - 13:30
3. Note: you can still return to Semarang, but you would need to wait for 1 hour transit in Jepara and ETA is 17.000

 Ticket Price:
Destination Travel Class Ticket Price
for Adult Ticket Price
for Children
- Semarang - Karimunjawa VIP 150.000 120.000
- Karimunjawa - Semarang VIP 150.000 120.000
- Jepara - Karimunjawa VIP 84.000 68.000
- Karimunjawa - Jepara VIP 84.000 68.000
- Semarang - Karimunjawa BUSINESS 130.000 48.000
- Karimunjawa - Semarang BUSINESS 130.000 48.000
- Jepara - Karimunjawa BUSINESS 69.000 69.000
- Jepara - Semarang BUSINESS 69.000 69.000

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We wanted to take our car to Karimunjawa, so we had to get on the "Muria", the ferry taking trucks, cars, motorcycles and of course pedestrians. The boat is named after Muria mountain, which is the core of the peninsula on which Jepara lies. When the weather is clear one can just see Muria mountain from Karimunjawa (fifth photo).
Last year when we intended to go the "Muria" was docking for maintenance. This year the fast boat "Kartini I" was laid up. So the moral is: be sure to inquire about the latest schedules, because these changes are not published on the Jepara regency website. The phone number of the Jepara office of the shipping company ASDP is listed below.

Another reason for calling on the ASDP before you leave: the number of VIP seats in the AC room is limited (41 seats to be exact). So if you want to avoid the crowded and hot Business deck, you have to make a reservation. Funny thing, one cannot reserve a place for one's car; one has to be on the jetty early - first come first go. And the departure time - 8.30 am according to the website - in practice may vary between 8.00 am and 10.00 am.
For the return voyage make your reservation at the ASDP office in the centre of Karimunjawa village, a few days ahead if possible. Open 18.00 pm till late on the nights after arrival of the "Muria".

The 6 hour crossing itself is pleasurable enough. The hustle and bustle loading and unloading is a sight by itself. All provisions not produced on the islands are carried by the "Muria" and on the return journey the main cargo is coconuts.
As a foreign tourist you may enter the command bridge and have a chat with the captain. There we also made the acquaintance with the principal of a secondary school in Kemujan and with the medical practitioner serving the islands. And about halfway dolphins came playing near the ferry for a short while!
A critical remark on the domestic passengers. When leaving the decks of the Muria are spotlessly clean, when arriving especially the business deck is littered all over. They seem to ignore what the garbage bins are for.

Prices one way (May 2009): Rp 262,500 for a passenger car, Rp 58,250 for a VIP seat.
Some snacks and drinks are available on board, Rp 7,000 for a rather small portion of fried rice. You may bring your own food of course.

you can rent boat from the local for exploring the islands.
we rent a boat for visiting other islands such as pulau menjangan besar, pulau menjangan kecil, pulau cemara, etc.
the other small islands are mostly inhabitant with rich coral reef and white sands. the local can show you which island is the good one and which one can be visited according to weather.

this kind of vehicle is already extinct in jakarta, so we were so excited.
the vehicle is kind of tricycle, environment friendly (no fuel is used) and one becak can take 2 passeger.
try this vehicle to help the local

always take a boat to visit the islands in the chain of karimunjawa archipelago. the owner also can be asked to provided your meals, so you can go with the boat [and crew] full day. from just sailing, snorkeling, diving to fishing. in the time writing, approximately cost rp 300,000/full day inclusive gasoline and crew, exclusive meals.

after your arrival at karimunjawa main harbour [and the only one :)] you can go to your destination islands or guest houses and hotel. take a becak [tricycle cart] who will bring you to the destination in the same island or to the next small harbour before sailing away to further islands.

here i included the time schedule and subject maybe change without notification. check it out in advance before your departure:
- jepara – karimun jawa: monday and wednesday [kmp], 09.00 am
- karimun jawa – semarang: sunday [kmc], 02.00 pm
- karimun jawa – jepara: thursday [kmp], 09.00 am
- semarang – karimun jawa: monday and saturday [kmc] 09.00 am

* marks:
- kmc >> kapal motor cepat [named kartini, appr. 3 hours sailing]
a. idr 95,000/VIP/person/one way
b idr 75,000/business/person/one way
- kmp >> kapal motor perintis [named muria, appr. 5 hours sailing]
a. idr 25,000/VIP/person/one way
b. idr 16,500/deck/person/one way

getting there and away, there are 2 entry points: from semarang [tanjung mas harbour] or jepara [pantai kartini harbour].
* semarang using kapal cepat -- exclusively type of boat provided by pt pal indonesia and takes approximately 3 hours drive from tanjung mas.
* jepara using kapal perintis -- or ferry and slower compared to the exclusive ones from departures semarang. it takes 5 hours drive from pantai kartini.