On with the journey around West Sumatra ^_^ It’s time to set your foot on a creamy sandy beach with beautiful sea blue water and enjoy the sea breeze from a hammock. Welcome to Sikuai Island…
Sikuai Island is one of the islands scattered around coast line of West Sumatra. It only takes 15 minutes ride using speed boat from the tourism port. Be careful with the boat ride because after about 5 minutes steady and cozy ride, the boat will hit high speed which will make novice tourist has to hold on to something to prevent from being thrown out of the seat. However, have no worry because you’ll take no time to enjoy the speed. The view along the ride is breathtaking, trees and greenery fill the islands around Sikuai. It feels like being in the Honolulu with all the clean sea and green lands. The sea wind blows quite strongly due to the boat’s speed so for you who easily get sick, better wear windbreaker or jacket.
The first scenery in Sikuai Island that will greet you once the boat is near the port is lines of coconut trees along the beach, one main resort hall, creamy clean sand, and beautiful sea blue water. Hop off the boat and you can practically hear the sand is calling you to take off your shoes and walk barefoot on the sand. It’s really beautiful and since it was Monday when my friends and I came to Sikuai Island, there was no other guest so it was practically private beach for us. Sikuai Island has no native resident. It only has the resort and people who work for the resort. That is why they able to maintain the cleanliness of the beach. The beach is free from any merchants whatsoever beside the resort’s store and restaurant. Five hammocks are available under the coconut trees, creating a perfect shade from the sun with beautiful view of the blue sea in front.
Since Sikuai Island is basically a resort, there is swimming pool available near a patio. Too bad upon closer look, the swimming pool is filled with moss and the water is dirty. The dressing room and toilets are really horrible that you don’t even want to be near them. You better use the toilets at the restaurant, they are clean. There is also a pathway circling the island where you can stroll around the whole island within an hour. Once again, too bad the pathway is unkempt with many cracks and even holes. There are logs stacked above the holes to replace the missing pathway though. And since the island still has naturanlforest, many dry leaves scattered on the pathway that crosses the forest plus moss covers some of the pathway so you have to watch your step to avoid stepping the moss and slipped. It is as clear as the sea water that the resort has lousy maintenance and it is not designed for one day tourist even though the advertisement said it is a great destination for one day trip.
Since there is only one restaurant in Sikuai, it is advised to bring your own snacks and drinks to avoid buying them with high price there. We had lunchbox as a part of the tour which consisted of rice, fried fish in flour, chicken in chilli, vegetables stir fry (carrot + bean), plus cracker. I don’t know whether the chef is not really good with seasoning or perhaps since it is low budget lunchbox, the meal was tasteless and has really low quality. Luckily we brought many crackers so we stuffed ourselves with them. One amusing incident is when we ordered coconut before we started eating our lunchbox. Our order hadn’t been delivered even until we have finished our lunch. We joked around saying that they still hunting for the coconut, but then we saw two of the resort staffs rode a bike and stopped near the coconut trees where the hammocks are suspended. One of them said that they could pick the coconut from those trees. We looked at each other and instantly bursting with laugh. It seems the staff realized that we were there so they drove away without picking the coconut. It seems that they really picked the coconut from the trees in the island, they didn’t keep any stock. That explains why our order came hours later. Oh, well, the waiting was paid off with the delicious fresh-from-tree coconut.
There are some attractions offered by the resort. They offer bicycle rental for 50k rupiah per hour, but they only has two bicycles. They also rent snorkelling equipments. However, the bottom of the sea near the beach doesn’t has any beautiful corals or fishes, so I’m not sure what can be seen while snorkelling. There is canoe rental as well if you want to paddle from Sikuai to the nearest island. The distance between them seems pretty short but it is not within swimming distance no matter how tempting the clear sea blue water is. Another attraction they offer is banana boat with 375k rupiah for max 5 people. Too bad the boat that pull the banana boat is not sa peed boat so it’s less challenging. The water where we play banana boat smells thickly of gasoline or whatever fuel the boat is using. Nonetheless, we had fun being thrown off the banana boat twice.
The ride home takes around an hour. The boat is not a speed boat and it departs from Sikuai at 4 pm. It is strongly recommended to change your wet clothes into dry ones or else you will get sick. The ride is constant and cozy with cool breeze which acts like a lullaby. It is a perfect opportunity to catch some sleep.
All in all, what I can say about Sikuai Island is it has really beautiful beach and view but with horrible facilities from the resort. Hope the resort management can improve the facilities.
I’m not quite done with the journey yet, so be sure to stay tune for part 4, Padang Beach and Culinary part ^_^
Mayz' Eyez 