Sukamade

Sukamade also known as Turtle Island or Turtle Beach is located south of Banyuwangi, East Java, and is part of the 55,845-hectare Betiri Meru National Park.

The best way to reach this beach from Denpasar, Bali is though Gilimanuk to Ketapang by Ferry and then with public transportation to Jajag-Pesanggaran-Sorogan and Sukamade. Visitors coming from Surabaya can reach the turtle beach through Jember and then Jajag-Pesanggaran-Sorogan and Sukamade.

Either way, the land journey takes about six hours.

Quite difficult to find public transportation to Sukamade. From jajag to Pesanggaran you can find Mini Bus, From Pesanggaran to Sukamade can reached by trucks “taxis”, they are also used for goods and produce. They are the only local vehicles that can negotiate the steep tracks and rugged roads leading to Sukamade.

The last stop before reaching the beach is the Sukamade home stay, from where a 300-meter walk through a mangrove forest and across Gethekan River will lead to the turtle beach.

Here in the vicinity of the home stay, the forest rangers and forest ecosystem staff maintain their offices.

This is also the location of the turtle egg hatchery, and all turtles that are successfully hatched are released back into the sea.

A heavy cloud darkened Sukamade Turtle Beach one evening in Banyuwangi, East Java, in early June. Stars could be glimpsed occasionally, but they soon disappeared as the clouds rolled across the sky and the beach turned black.

In the darkness, two rangers from the Sukamade Forest Reserve were on duty. They watched over the beach continually, because this is where the endangered and protected marine turtles come to lay their eggs.

The beach is the turtles’ maternity ward.

Sukamade Turtle Beach in Banyuwangi and Puger Beach in Jember used to be the two main locations in East Java favored by sea turtles for laying their eggs.

For some years now, however, the turtles have visited only the Sukamade beach, located 239 kilometers from the East Java capital of Surabaya. Almost every night, a turtle lands on the beach to rest or to lay eggs.