" Are you guys sure you want to go to the beach?"

Why is Prigi beach underrated?

To me, an actual tropical beach would be filled with coconut and palm trees, still virgin and not much of improvement here and there.It's as raw as it gets and not overrun by beach clubs or even shades. I got this experience only the other day when I visited an area called " Trenggalek," a city on the southern part of East Java from Surabaya. The beaches around here are facing the indian ocean but they are not directly to it instead it is actually a bay that leads to the Indian ocean. There are several beaches around this area that offer various water sports activities including paddle boarding, snorkeling, and fishing. I went there just because I want to do snorkeling but I was not lucky.

From my hometown, the beach is about 4 hours drive which actually makes it about 6 hours drive from the capital of east java, Surabaya. I would say it's really better to stay around this area. The homestays and hotels are decent enough with basic needs and the internet is pretty fast. In fact, I was considering staying around this area for more than a day just because the scenery and overall view were heavenly. I am not huge into surfing but snorkeling, paddle boarding, exploring the little islands around the area would be something I am down to. This is the place if you want to actually get away from urban life. Not to mention, it's not overrun by tourists especially during weekdays.

During this trip, I was very unlucky with the weather. It was raining intermittently and there were also thunderstorms in between. But since I came all the way to enjoy the beach, I made the most of it. Have you ever visited the beach during rain or heavy storms?

What can you do there?

When we got into the ticketing booth, the staff asked us if we really wanted to go to the beach. " Are you sure? will you not regret it?" but my mom just convinced him that we'd be fine. I mean, previously, my mom and I were walking through thunderstorms just to take pictures. So, what's the difference with this one? We are also already familiar with the beach landscape since I went there a lot as a kid. We know that this won't be too terrible for actual swimming and sitting on the beach even during rain.

So, we got the ticket which cost 15000 IDR for each person and drove into the hill and down to the beach area. As soon as my eyes saw, there were plenty of traditional wooden boats parked. It got me thinking about some beaches in Thailand. I haven't been there but I just saw it from pictures and it all looked too familiar. There were also no beach clubs, and no umbrellas, it was just the beach. But before I had fun swimming at the beach, we stopped by a seafood stall selling smoked fresh tuna.

Seafood is fresh in this area as it's also a fishing town and a famous fishing spot in the province. We got ourselves smoked tuna with spicy soy sauce sambal before going to have more fun at the beach. While the seller was preparing the food, I had a chit chat with her and asked about the fish and stuff around. The woman was also using special wood to give more aroma to the fish and extra smokiness. For a smoked tuna and rice it cost less than $3 which and the size was no joke. It was a whole fish that I rarely had back home as such fish would cost me more than $10 at modern supermarkets and raw. But for $3 at the time, I already got it cooked, fresh, and came with rice. After she finished preparing the food, I left my phone, and my camera with my mom who was staying at the food stall while I walked to the beach area.

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The beach was all mine, that's what I thought. I couldn't really express the feeling in words being on the beach while the rain was pouring. It was thrilling. I was alone with my thoughts —feeling so overjoyed while I closed my eyes and just felt the rain falling down on me.

As the rain was about to stop, I started seeing boat owners come to take the water out of their boats. For a split second, I thought of approaching them and offered help but "hey isn't this supposed to be just for relaxing?". So I just stood from a distance and observed what they did. Then from a distance on my left side, I saw a middle aged man walking towards me.

What would you do if a stranger approached you?

" Do you want to ride on a boat?" he asked.
" to where?"
" Wait here" he ran towards his motorbike and back with a sign.

He offered me a service for the boat ride to the snorkeling spot and some other tiny rocks and islands. " is it okay even during times like this and can I get to the snorkeling spot" I asked hesitated because it was still raining and what if there was a huge wave coming at us or some other stuff happening. Not to mention, I was alone and was honestly ready to run.

" yes yes, it's fine. It's actually calm in the middle" he convinced me.
" I give you discount"
" Okay, wait a moment. I have to call my mom"

As you can see it started raining again and the water got into my camera lens

Eventually, once I was with my mom, he increased the price even to the snorkeling spot. Although, I also thought twice since it wasn't a great time to do that. So, we just opt for the boat ride around some tiny islands and seeing rocks as we both never did that in the past, especially on this beach.

I uploaded this on youtube and it's not a long clip, just enough to give you a picture about the boat ride.

The man told us that boat belongs to a famous indonesian celebrity

Looking back, it was like having a private boat ride. We asked around about the place but it seemed like he didn't speak Indonesian well nor even javanese. At some point, I think he couldn't even hear us properly during the boat ride. Also, to be fair, I was really skeptical with the price. " is he going to just abandon us in the middle of floating house or something?" but apparently it was all covered and we got back safely. The man also told us to take as many pictures as we like. Finally, at the end of the trip, he thanked us and said, " I will give you a ride for free if you bring more people next time. Just remember our boat name". We just smiled and left while I took pictures of the boats and also wondered if the people around here spoke a different javanese dialect or something since they hardly understood me and my mom or is it because we are coming off too friendly and asking too much?

After getting off the boat, my mom and I explored the rocky part of the beach. Apparently, I found some trash here and there. " What's wrong with people?!" I got angry and picked up the trash I found and put them where they belong. These plastics should not be here and despite the sign, some ignorant people still do it.

As we were about to go back, The water was also moving away and I started seeing rocks and more seaweed. Not to mention, the rain stopped too. Well, maybe next time for that snorkeling trip.

Fun fact : I did this trip while I hadn't sleep for over 28 hours. I was wide awake and didn't feel tired despite everything I did on this trip. Even now after waking up, everything felt surreal. But yeah, going on a trip without sleeping isn't something I recommend but often guilty of.

See you in my next one!

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	𝘔𝘢𝘤 𝘪𝘴 𝘢 𝘴𝘦𝘭𝘧-𝘦𝘮𝘱𝘭𝘰𝘺𝘦𝘥 𝘯𝘪𝘯𝘫𝘢. 𝘈 𝘵𝘺𝘱𝘪𝘤𝘢𝘭 𝘪𝘯𝘵𝘳𝘰𝘷𝘦𝘳𝘵 𝘪𝘯 𝘭𝘰𝘷𝘦 𝘸𝘪𝘵𝘩 𝘭𝘪𝘵𝘦𝘳𝘢𝘵𝘶𝘳𝘦, 𝘣𝘰𝘰𝘬𝘴, 𝘵𝘦𝘤𝘩𝘯𝘰𝘭𝘰𝘨𝘺 𝘢𝘯𝘥 𝘱𝘩𝘪𝘭𝘰𝘴𝘰𝘱𝘩𝘺. 𝘛𝘩𝘪𝘴 𝘪𝘴 𝘩𝘦𝘳 𝘱𝘦𝘳𝘴𝘰𝘯𝘢𝘭 𝘣𝘭𝘰𝘨 𝘵𝘩𝘢𝘵 𝘤𝘰𝘷𝘦𝘳𝘴 𝘩𝘦𝘳 𝘫𝘰𝘶𝘳𝘯𝘦𝘺 𝘥𝘦𝘭𝘷𝘪𝘯𝘨 𝘪𝘯𝘵𝘰 𝘱𝘩𝘰𝘵𝘰𝘨𝘳𝘢𝘱𝘩𝘺, 𝘵𝘳𝘢𝘷𝘦𝘭, 𝘯𝘰𝘰𝘵𝘳𝘰𝘱𝘪𝘤𝘴, 𝘱𝘳𝘰𝘥𝘶𝘤𝘵𝘪𝘷𝘪𝘵𝘺, 𝘮𝘪𝘯𝘪𝘮𝘢𝘭𝘪𝘴𝘵 𝘭𝘪𝘧𝘦𝘴𝘵𝘺𝘭𝘦, 𝘤𝘺𝘣𝘦𝘳𝘴𝘦𝘤𝘶𝘳𝘪𝘵𝘺, 𝘢𝘯𝘥 𝘭𝘢𝘯𝘨𝘶𝘢𝘨𝘦𝘴. 𝘐𝘯 𝘩𝘦𝘳 𝘧𝘳𝘦𝘦 𝘵𝘪𝘮𝘦, 𝘴𝘩𝘦 𝘦𝘯𝘫𝘰𝘺𝘴 𝘭𝘦𝘢𝘳𝘯𝘪𝘯𝘨 𝘷𝘢𝘳𝘪𝘰𝘶𝘴 𝘵𝘩𝘪𝘯𝘨𝘴. 𝘐𝘧 𝘺𝘰𝘶 𝘭𝘪𝘬𝘦 𝘩𝘦𝘳 𝘤𝘰𝘯𝘵𝘦𝘯𝘵, 𝘥𝘰𝘯'𝘵 𝘩𝘦𝘴𝘪𝘵𝘢𝘵𝘦 𝘵𝘰 𝘶𝘱𝘷𝘰𝘵𝘦, 𝘭𝘦𝘢𝘷𝘦 𝘢 𝘤𝘰𝘮𝘮𝘦𝘯𝘵 𝘰𝘳 𝘢 𝘧𝘦𝘦𝘥𝘣𝘢𝘤𝘬. 𝘈 𝘳𝘦-𝘣𝘭𝘰𝘨 𝘪𝘴 𝘢𝘭𝘴𝘰 𝘢𝘱𝘱𝘳𝘦𝘤𝘪𝘢𝘵𝘦𝘥.