Carita · West Java
A big yellow house at the edge of the jungle, four hundred metres from the sand. Rooms come with a board.
Carita sits on the west coast of Java, three hours from Jakarta and ninety minutes by boat from an active volcano. The waves break over sand. The national park behind it holds the last sixty Javan rhinos on earth. Almost nobody comes here, which is rather the point.
A sand-bottom break that forgives beginners, and a board included with every room.
→Ninety minutes across the strait to the volcano that was heard in Australia.
→The last lowland rainforest of Java, reached by canoe up the Cigenter river.
→A hammock on the upstairs terrace, a bar looking into the banana trees, and no schedule.
→Room only is fine. But the reason to book here rather than anywhere else is that the volcano, the park and the surf are all arranged from the same kitchen table.
Three mornings in the water, three afternoons in the hammock.
Three nights and two lessons, with a board yours to use whenever you want in between. The pace is deliberately slow: surf at dawn, sleep through the heat, paddle out again at four.
Most booked
Climb an active volcano on Tuesday, snorkel its reefs on Thursday.
Four nights, and the two things people come to this coast for: Anak Krakatau rising out of the strait, and the water around it. A surf lesson on the first morning to get your bearings.
Carita, Pandeglang regency, Banten. Three to four hours by car from Jakarta, depending on how the traffic feels about you.
