Waiting for the newly arrived fishermen at Tanjong Pandan

Tanjong Pandan is the largest city in Belitong, an island located on the east coast of Sumatra, Indonesia. It is also the main entrance gate to come to Belitong. The city can be reached with only 50 minutes flight from Jakarta. As for them who do not want to fly, they can come to Belitong by sea, as Tanjong Pandan is a harbor city too.

Last April, when I visited the Island, like others, I used Tanjong Pandan as the entrance gate as well as the base where I recharged my energy at night after visiting many places in Belitong. Travelers usually use the city as the base because many interesting places in Belitong can be reached within two to three hours drive from there. So, they can start their journey exploring the island in the morning and be back to the city in the evening. Besides that, there are many good hotels with reasonable price in Tanjong Pandan.

Tanjong Pandan is also a fishing port. The port is located at the estuary of Cerucuk River, and facing the Malacca strait. Every morning, usually at an early hour, before the sun rises, boats carrying newly captured salt-water fishes arrive at the port, and unload their captures. They, then, bring the captures to a nearby fish auction center to be sold or to cold storage facilities in the area to be processed for export.

For them who want to see the hustle bustle of Tanjong Pandan’s fishing port can come to the place at around 05.00 AM, when the fishermen come in their fishing boats, like what I did at that time. Aside of seeing the racket in the port, travelers can also buy any kind of fresh ingredients to make delicious sea-foods directly from the fishermen, with a better price compared to that in the supermarket of course  🙂