PELABUHAN RATU

Pelabuhan Ratu or Palabuhan Ratu (Sundanese for: "Queen's harbour") is an isolated fishing village at the south coast of West Java facing Indian Ocean, and is a district within Sukabumi Regency. It is four hours drive from Bandung and up to 12 hours drive from Indonesia's capital Jakarta due to traffic jam in Ciawi, Cicurug, Cibadak and Pelabuhan Ratu gate, whose residents love to visit Teluk Palabuhanratu Bay, once named "Wijnkoopsbaai" by the Dutch. The bay is shaped like a large horseshoe and has enormous waves that can be very treacherous. The Sundanese locals tell that the Indian Ocean is the home of Nyai Loro Kidul who reigns along the south-coast of all Java.

The Pelabuhan Ratu white sands beach is also a popular vacation destination for local visitors from Sukabumi, Bogor, Bandung and Jakarta. However because of high rolling waves, some spots on the beach are considered too dangerous for swimming. Together with Pangandaran, the beach are the popular beach in West Java both facing south towards Indian Ocean. Several hotels, restaurants, resorts, and tourism facilities were built in the vicinity. Among the oldest is The Samudra Beach Hotel, established in 1966 commissioned by then Indonesian president Sukarno. The hotel keeps room 308 furnished with green colours & reserved for Nyai Loro Kidul. Sukarno was involved with the exact location and the idea for the Samudra Beach Hotel. The painting of Nyai Rara Kidul by Basuki Abdullah, a famous Indonesian painter, is displayed in this room.

Palabuhanratu has become a popular location for surfers in recent years, with its Indian Ocean location providing good waves for surfing. Several spots that are popular with for surfers are Cimaja Beach, Sunset Beach, Karang Sari Beach and Karang Aji Beach.

From June 12 to 18, 2011 the second event of West Java Surfing Championship has been initialized at Cimaja Beach which has 750 meter beach and wave about 1 to 2 meters height. The competition got 6 stars surfing premium (the highest rank) as a part of Indonesian Surfing Championship and also Asian Surfing Championship Tours. Cimaja Beach has many rocks, so sometimes it is called as Beach Without Sand.

SOURCE : http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pelabuhan_Ratu