Though its beaches is what made the island internationally known, there is a little side of that fresh yet calm aquatic scene that filled our memory of Bali. It is the jukung, a small, wooden Indonesian traditional boat which is generally used for fishing that humbly preserves the island’s true beauty.

The beauty of this 10 meter-long boat is located in its colorful sails; the bamboo-made beams functions also as balancing act that prevented jukung from tipping over. Along with the passing of time, the fishermen equipped their jukung with machine to help jukung sailed when there’s no wind to push the sails.

When seeing a jukung landed, you will find that the tip of the jukung resembles the head of a fish hence the whole ship is the fish. Despite the jukung only sailed as far as several km from the edge of the shoreline, the bad weather and other factors occasionally caused difficulties for the fisherman to read the direction.

When the jukung crossed the ocean, it seems as if we’re seeing the crowd of birds that flew above the calm and shiny ocean. If you have the opportunity to see the jukung armada returned to the mainland at dawn, you may see them giving the impression of a flaming red ball that rose in crimson sky, emerged from over the wave. Then faintly one by one the jukung advanced, increasingly clear as their distance ease with the edge of the coast. With their high maritime skills the fishermen began to direct their jukung to the side of the gulf. Slowly they approached the shoreline. Then one by one the jukung waited for their turn to land in a changing manner.

This is what we call an irreplaceable experience. Since jukung was only used by the fishermen in calm waters, you will not see jukung in the open Indian Ocean, for instance. Jukung also only followed the rhythm of his master - the fisherman.

But at this time, the increasing tourism facilities established in the coast made it difficult for jukung to land in Bali’s own coasts. It is as if jukung can’t be the host in its own home. Hopefully this won’t make jukung extinct and left unheard of.


Courtesy of Bali and Beyond, www.baliandbeyond.co.id