Depok Beach, Enjoy Seafood Cuisine from Fresh Fish


Among other beaches in Yogyakarta, Depok Beach is apparently the only beach that is designed to become the center of culinary tourism to enjoy various seafood menus. Some of the warongs were intentionally designed to face the ocean so that visitors can enjoy the waves rushing to the shore while having delicious meals.

The warongs and the activities of the fishermen have been improving since 10 years ago. The story tells that around 1997 some fishermen from Cilacap area found Depok Beach to be a good place to put their catches ashore. The fishermen with good catches of fish inspired the local people who made their living as farmers to catch fish.

Some people of the coastal community began to become tekong, local term for fishermen. The tekongs go to sea with their motorboats. Catching fish is done almost throughout the year, except certain days that are considered sacred, namely Tuesday and Friday of Kliwon (one of the five Javanese days of the week). The tekongs make good catches except June to September when fish are rare.

With such big quantity of catches, local people opened a center for fish landing that later was completed with a center for fish trading called Mina Bahari 45. Fishermen from other areas can even sell their catches there. When YogYES paid a visit, this fish trading center was occupied by many visitors.

With the increasing number of visitors to the beach that is located 1.5 kilometers from Parangtritis Beach, seafood warongs were opened accordingly. Generally, the warongs offer traditional nuance. The buildings are simple with traditional shape of roofs called limasan, while the seating is arranged for cross-legged on mats with small tables for eating. Simple, they are clean and comfortable.

Various seafood cuisines are worth trying. The most popular fish dish at reasonable price is tuna, at IDR 8,000 per/kg, consisting of 5-6 fish. Other kinds of fish are white kakap and red kakap that sell around IDR 17,000 - IDR 25,000 per kilogram. Quite expensive fish is bawal that sells at IDR 27,000 - IDR 60,000 per kilogram. In addition to fish, there are also crabs, lobsters and squids.

Seafood is usually served grilled or fried. You can choose fresh fish, other catches yourself, and then you go to one of the warongs to have them cooked. YogYES tried to have half a kilogram of tuna fish cooked and had them with a glass of tea that totally cost IDR 22,000 only.

After having good meals, you may leave Depok Beach for Parangkusumo and Parangtritis Beaches by turning right when you get to the asphalted road. On the way, you will see the amazing sand dunes as the only such a view in South-East Asia and it is rarely found in tropical areas. The wide sandy area looks like desert.

It takes thousands of years for the formation of the sand dunes through unique process. Some forms of them are barchan dune, comb dune, parabolic dune and longitudinal dune. Now, only barchan and longitudinal ones are present. The wind of the sea and the steep mountain slope in the east caused the sands, resulted from the activity of Merapi Mountain, at the bank of the river to blow away to the shore to form the sand dunes.

In order to get the place where you can enjoy having seafood while admiring the sand dunes, you can take the same road leading you from Yogyakarta to Parangtritis. Just before arriving the ticket box to Parangtritis Beach, you turn right through small-asphalted road. The entrance ticket to Depok Beach is IDR 4,000 for two people and one motorcycle. If you go by a car, you pay IDR 5,000 for the car plus additional fare per person. Read More..

SIUNG BEACH.....

Siung beach is located in Purwodadi Village, Tepus district, about 35 kilometers from Wonosari City with asphalt road to the beach. Siung beach lies between Two-step Mountains, which have a specific cliff. It's very suitable for rock climbing and this is heaven for climbers because they have at least 250 climb ways with beautiful sea panorama. It is nice rock climbing with rumbling waves and fresh sea wind blow. In this area ever to organize Asian Climbing Gathering that followed by 80 participants from 15 Asia's Countries, namely Thailand, Japan, China, Malaysia, etc. There are treasuring farmlands that surrounded by a habitat of primates (monkey with long tail).
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Kukup beach.....

Kukup Beach is a white sandy beach lies in Kemadang village, Tanjungsari district, about 1 km away in the east of Baron beach. It has a pathway trough the hill up to Baron beach and also a coral island, which is connected by a senggol bridge. Kukup Beach, grey black sand dunes, treacherous ocean currents and jagged rocks. This beach is located near Baron Beach, only 1 km east.


Krakal beach.....
Go to the next beach, about 6 kilometers from Kukup beach, we will find Krakal beach- a white sand beach stretch along 5 kilometers. Krakal beach the longest beach of the junction is located in Ngestirejo village, Tanjungsari district, about 3 km away in the east of Baron-Kukup-Sepanjang-Drini beach junction, has scratching white hill with blue slopes gently to the sea. The beauty of green lime-scratching hill with blue seawater offers a perfect harmony, which is very natural and ideal for sun bathing. Krakal beach mostly is a white sandy beach in Yogyakarta area. There's a development now because of its beautiful panorama of the southern sea. It should be careful here because it has big wave and the texture of the beach which are rocks meet the sands.
Among all the beaches that stretch along Java beaches, Krakal with its white sandy beach surrounded with mountainous rocky hills is the most beautiful one. Krakal is close to Kukup beach and Baron cove. This cove is in fact an estuary of an underground river that comes up exactly at the waterfront. It is interesting to observe the combination of the beach and the cove from the protruding rocky hills that flank the caves on both sides. Read More..

The palace court with its grand and elegant Javanese architecture lies in the center of the city. Prince Mangkubumi founded the palace in 1755. The Prince then was called Sri Sultan Hamengkubuwono I and he chose the right location of the compound between Winongo River and Code River. The palace stretches out from north to south. The front yard is called alun-alun Utara (the North Square), and the back yard is called Alun-alun Selatan (the South Square). The layout of the buildings shows that the Palace, the commemorative column and Mount Merapi lie in one line. The palace meeting hall is called Pagelaran, where formal meetings of palace officials are held, while the "Manguntur Tingkil" hall is the place where the Sultan is seated.
The visitors can enjoy the atmosphere of the kraton in former times by visiting the life-size diorama of wedding ceremonies on the palace meeting hall, performed by puppets, which are intentionally arranged to create such an atmosphere. Sets of Javanese musical instruments, antiques and heirlooms have made the palace of Yogyakarta worth to visit. Many sets of gamelan music instruments, antiques, and heirlooms make the palace of Yogyakarta the most interesting tourist attractions in Yogyakarta. The palace of Ngayogyokarto Hadiningrat is now the dwelling place of Sultan Hamengku Buwono X and the family. Read More..

BARON BEACH
Baron beach lies in Kemandang Village, Tanjungsari district about 23 km in the South of Wonosari city. Baron beach is the first beach that would be found in the junction of Baron, Kukup, Sepanjang, Drini, Krakal and Sundak beaches area. It is a bay with big wave. Baron beach is popular as fish catching area. There is a mouth of Underground River that can be used for bathing after playing in the beach. The visitors can also enjoy various kinds of low prices seafood or fresh fish and Baron's special menu namely Kakap fish soup. There is limestone hill in this area. The visitors can reach that place by passing through a path. The way to go there is very interesting because it passes a place called Pegunungan Seribu (a thousand mountains). Read More..

When you come to Glagah Beach, you will directly find plain coastal land. This gives you an opportunity to get wide view of all directions. Looking straight ahead, you will see the long horizon uniting the ocean and the sky. The beauty of the bending coastal line will satisfy your view when you look either westward or eastward.

Both the plain coastal land and the long coastal line also give you some alternative locations to see the beauty of the coastal scenery. Every location seems to have different nuance even though they are located in the same area. In each location, you can enjoy the overall view of the beautiful beach without boundaries of huge coral reefs.

The first location to get best view of the coastal area is the one that is planned to become a harbor in the future. You will find the place when you follow a 'PP' sign at the fist turn after the ticket post. The full-of-harmony meeting point between the river stream and the ocean waves can be seen by climbing to the view post in the location.

From the first location to some hundreds meters westwards, you can find a loog with the water flowing to the river estuary. This lagoon divides the coastal area into two, the one with coastal plants and weeds and the other place with the sand dune that directly borders on the sea. You can cross to the sand dune area through a connecting bridge that is located close to the river estuary.

Walking further to the west, you can see the activities of local people and some people fishing. When YogYES visited, they are standing in shoulders along the coastal line holding their fishing rods. The slightly sloping area gives much fish for local fishermen. Some kiosks sell seafood with various menus worth trying.

In addition to the beautiful coastal scenery, Glagah Beach also has various beach tourism facilities. One of them is the motocross circuit that is located at the seaside that will satisfy hobbyists of this sport. Meanwhile, the asphalted road connectiong the Glagah Beach and other beaches can be utilized for fun bike activity.

You can even enjoy the agro tourism facility by visiting Kusumo Wanadri plantation. There, you can observe the cultivation process of medication herbs such as dragon fruit and Roselle flower. Besides, you can also hire the bamboo-boat (in Javanese language: gethek), canoe, and rowing duck that you can use to explore the lagoon or you can just cross the wooden bridge to come to the sand dune area at the seaside.

When you feel tired after taking a long walk, you can take arrest in cross-legged sitting hut in the area of Kusumo Wanadri plantation. Some exotic menus and beverages are worth trying. You can try fresh dragon fruit juice and is famous for its efficacy to heal some illnesses, or you may order Roselle flower syrup that will quench your thirst and neutralize various toxins in your body.

In order to enjoy the entire beautiful Glagah scenery, you can take either one of the two alternatives roads. First, go southwards via Bantul road and turn right to Bantul - Purworejo road after you come to Palbapang. Second, go westwards via Yogyakarta - Wates - Purworejo road and turn left after finding a signboard directing to Glagah Beach. You would better drive your own vehicle to reach the access more easily.

The trip to this beach is not as difficult as reaching the beaches in Gunung Kidul area. The road is flat and not much so climbs that you can reach the beaches while relaxing your mind. The road leading to Purworejo city also connects Glagah beach with other beaches in Kulon Progo Regency. In other words, you can kill two birds with one stone. Read More..

The imagination of very wide, white-sand beach that enables you to see different angles of the beach will rise when you hear the mention of Wediombo
(wedi=sand, ombo=wide) Beach. Nonetheless, Wediombo Beach actually does not have such wide spread of sands. The west and east parts of the beach are planked by coral hills so that the spread of the sands is not as wide as the one in Parangtritis, Glagah, and possibly Kuta beaches.

In fact, local people tell that the name of this beach that was given by the predecessors does not represent the real situation. Some people say that more appropriate name for this beach is Teluk Ombo (The Wide Bay), since the beach looks like a wide bay. There are two flanking coral hills with the seawater protrudes to the land but it is wider that common bays.

Apart from the inappropriate name, however, Wediombo still provides extraordinary beach view. The seawater looks clear blue; it is different from other beaches of which seawater looks greenish resulted from water pollution. The white sands with ornaments of the seashells are maintained well. The atmosphere of the beach is quiet so that it becomes the right place to get out of noisiness.

Wediombo is located in Jepitu village of Girisubo Sub-District in Gunung Kidul Regency. If you have come to Siung Beach, you will easily reach this beach. You only have to get back to a T-junction in Tepus before the road leading to Siung Beach, then turn right following the road until you get to a sign board asking you to turn right to get to Wediombo.

The location of this beach is far lower that the surrounding lands. You have to get down by the stairs in order to reach the beach and enjoy the panorama. While descending the stairs, you will be able to see the field, houses and mangrove vegetation on your left and right sides. Some people are seen carrying herbs for their cattle or taking care of the cattle in its stall.

In addition to the enchanting coastal panorama, Wediombo offers a unique tour experience, if not an extreme one, namely fishing from the height of the coral cliff. This kind of tour originating from the fishing habit of local people is popular with fishing hobbyists from Yogyakarta and Wonogiri. The main objective is, according to local people to YogYES, to catch big fish.

It is not easy to reach the fishing location at the top of the coral cliff. We have to walk eastwards through the shore; climbing steep and slippery cliff and sometimes the waves will hit us before arriving at the cliff that directly faces the deep ocean. For those who have been familiar with the route, it will take them one-hour walk.

The difficult way to the cliff, however, is paid well. Big fish are sometimes caught by the hobbyists. At least they will catch fish that local people name it panjo fish. The fish of which size is as big as man's arm are of two kinds, the cylindrical one that exist more during dry season and the flat one during the rainy season.

The baits are small fish that can even be collected at the seashore. We can use either fishing pole or fishnet to catch the small fish. It's cheap and easy, isn't it?

For those who do not dare to get to the top of the cliff, they might just buy the fish they the fishermen catch. They sell the panjo fish at IDR 3,000 one fish, or IDR 20,000 for a string of fish containing 5-6 fish. Some local people are willing to cook them for you if you wish. Otherwise, you can take them home as a gift for your family.

Cooked panjo fish are also available. Served with rice and condiment from chili pepper, fried Panjo fish is sold at IDR 7,000 only. The rice is served in the traditional container called bakul and the condiment is on traditional saucer called cobek. The portion is big enough for two persons. YogYES tried this menu in a warong located close to the parking area. Fried sea urchin that tastes like fried chicken is also available if you want to try.

At certain occasions, you can see Ngalangi ceremony that is held by local people. This ceremony takes place once in a year, just like the labuhan besar ceremony, of which objective is to express the gratitude to God for what have been granted and asking for good fortune for the future. The fortune is mainly good catches in sufficient quantity to fulfill daily needs.

The procession of the ceremony is unique; it begins by spreading gawar - the fishnet made from wawar tree. This kind of fishnet was used to catch fish before the present nylon fishnet. The gawar is spread out from Kedongkowok hill to the area of the rise and fall of the tides in order to trap the fish that are washed away by the waves and that cannot get back to the sea.

When seawater falls, the fish are collected. People are then busy cleaning and cooking the fish. Some of the fish are returned to the sea with some rice ans offerings. Most part of the dish is shared to the families. This ceremony is known as kenduri besar or great shared-meals as the form of local wisdom that fish are livelihood for all people.

In addition to Ngalangi ceremony, the enchantment of the beach can be enjoyed everyday. The entrance fee is only IDR 5,000 for two persons. If you want to spend the night and gather with some of your friends, you can use a small hut located close to the warongs alongside the beach. It is so refreshing to be in this beach. Read More..