Pulisan

A tip from Renata, whom I happened to meet again on the ferry to Bunaken, was to stay at Jenifer Homestay in Pulisan and to go spearfishing in Bangka with Jendry, the husband of the homestay owner. I originally wanted to dive in Bangka anyway, but I canceled it because I didn't have enough time left. Since a spearfishing trip is less time-consuming than diving, I asked Jendry at short notice and got lucky!

On the trip, besides Jendry and me, there was also a buddy of Jendry and the captain of the boat. It took us about an hour to reach the spearfishing spot in front of Bangka, where I received a brief introduction on how to use the spear gun and some tips for free diving, and then we were off. While Jendry and his buddy pulled one fish after another out of the water, I was not particularly successful (and to be honest, I initially felt quite hesitant to shoot and kill a living creature). After several attempts, during which I admittedly sometimes aimed inaccurately or rather missed intentionally, I actually hit a fish... and then it managed to escape, because my spear gun had no barbs! But shortly after, I caught another fish, and that signaled lunchtime.

Jendry's buddy and I posed for a quick photo with the fish, and then the campfire was already burning, and five of the many caught fish were grilled. That was the best fish I’ve ever eaten!

After lunch, we had a short spearfishing session until we sadly had to vacate the spot for divers. However, I had the opportunity to do a bit of snorkeling before we headed back to Pulisan. There, I relaxed on the beach with Jendry and his buddies, and for the first time, I tried banana fries with spicy fish sauce - it sounds gross, but it tastes amazing!

I talked a lot with Jendry, and he is the first Indonesian I feel understands how tourism works. That you shouldn’t constantly shout things at tourists (preferably in Bahasa), that you shouldn’t ask them how old they are, whether they are married, have children, etc. Apparently, Jendry once had a German sponsor who taught him a lot about these matters. He is involved as a lifeguard on the beach in Pulisan and corrects the locals when he sees that they are not behaving appropriately towards tourists (I even noticed that).

At least somewhat, Jendry understood that you need to protect nature for tourism to be sustainable in the long term, for example, he has worked on a project in which an artificial coral reef was created. However, when I asked him during our lunch why the beach is clean, but there is so much trash in the bushes, he just said that the trash probably comes from people. He is not wrong about that...

I am very glad to have followed this tip, as it was truly a beautiful day!

Fun Fact: The name 'Jenifer Homestay' is a composition of the name JEndry, his wife LaNI, and the word ForevER. That's also why their daughter is called Jenifer - I thought it was really sweet when Jendry told me that he came up with this idea!