Gondola your way to the lobsters at Timang Beach

Timang Beach is located to the southeast of Yogyakarta city. It is not a beach for swimming, due to the strong currents, high waves, and steep rocks. What makes it special is the island across the beach called Panjang Island, which is a lobster habitat. Since 1997, the villagers have been collecting lobsters around the island by riding a gondola that is manually pulled by humans. It became very popular commercially in 2017 after the Korean TV series ‘Running Man' used the location for shooting. 

 

Since it’s lobster heaven, I had lunch at Kedai Lobster Pak Sis first. For USD45, you will get a package enough for 4 persons, consisting of a 1kg lobster with steamed rice, fried tofu and tempeh, vegetable and sambal. They cook the lobster in 2 sauces; garlic butter or Timang sauce. I prefer Timang sauce because it is sweet and spicy. The lobster tastes sweet because of its freshness. 

 

The adventure starts at the parking area and you must take a local jeep ride to the beach due to the rough road conditions. Then, you walk down to the gondola station to take a ride to Panjang Island. The gondola ride is only about 200 metres, but sitting in a small frail wooden gondola that hangs on the rope is a bit scary because it is right above the rough sea! Sometimes, you might even get wet due to the splashing of the waves below. 

 

While on Panjang Island, you can just sit on the rocks and chill. I suggest you arrive there just before sunset to enjoy the spectacular view.