On the morning of 8/18 we shook off our hangovers and set sail for Krakatoa. It was a relatively easy day sail to get there and the anchorage was amazing. There are 4 islands sticking up from the middle of the water surrounding what was once a giant volcano. One of the islands, Anat Krakatoa, only resurfaced above sea level in 1927 and is 2000 feet high today and is active; it was smoldering when we pulled in to anchor.
Sunset over Krakatoa
We made some dinner, went to sleep early, and woke up around 6:30 to climb Anat Krakatoa before it got to hot. On the beach at the base of the mountain there was a ranger station with around 6 Indonesian staff. They asked if we have a permit to climb the mountain, which of course we didnt, so they charged us 900,000rb ($65). We tried talking them down but they werent budging. They also wouldnt give us a receipt or any actual permit, the fee was apparently for the mandatory’ guide. It was a 30 minute hike up to the the midpoint of the mountain, a few hundred feet below the smoldering caldera. The view was amazing; you could see all the surrounding islands below, and the sulfury, smoldering volcano above. Jesse and I brought baseball gloves and a ball and tossed it around on top of the mountain, definitely the coolest place Ive ever thrown.
Tossing the baseball on top of Krakatoa
Don’t miss it!
We spent the rest of the afternoon swimming and spearfishing, but the visibility was terrible and we didnt catch anything. We anchored at a different island directly below a dramatic, vertical rock face. Jesse studied geology in school and he was geeking out pretty hard about all the cool rock formations. We had an easy, relaxing night, in the morning we were setting off across the Indian Ocean for Cocos Keeling, a small island roughly 600 miles to the southwest.