Saparua

Saparua is one of the Lease Islands in the Maluku archipelago in Indonesia. Saparua is a popular getaway from nearby Ambon. pleasant beaches, coral reefs and historic Dutch fort all the time. This island -the largest of the Lease Islands- is restoring its former tourist facilities and is being rediscovered as a fun destination in this part of Indonesia.

Understand


Political unrest caused a dramatic drop in tourism in all of the Maluku islands, but before that, visitors found their way to Saparua

This is a mostly Christian island with some 17 villages and about 32.000 inhabitants, making it the most populous of the Lease Islands. The most notable towns include Haria and Saparua city.

Get in
The typical way in is (unsurprisingly) by boat. Starting in the early morning, several speed boats normally leave from Port of Tulehu on the east side of the Leihitu peninsula of Ambon. They usually arrive at the village of Haria on Saparua. Around noon there's a daily connection by wooden boat, stopping in Haria as well. This is also your only rather secure option when getting out, but to go back you'll need to catch the wooden boat as early as 06:30 in Haria. There are no guarantees for speed boat connections and you may have to wait for a while or pay up and charter one if you're in a hurry.

From Tulehu, a slow car-passenger ferry heads to the port close to Kulur, which is in the northwest of Saparua and most useful if you want to get to the beach there. The villages of Itawaka and Mahu also have irregular speedboat connections to Tulehu.

Get around
There are fairly good roads on the island, and share taxis and motorcycle taxis are a good way to get around.

Do
There are some good beaches in Saparua. If you're up for a day of swimming and sunbathing and you don't mind going through some trouble to get there, try the sandy beaches near Kulur or Laino Beach (beyond Haria). The village of Paperu has a dive resort, but there are diving opportunities elsewhere as well.

If you have an extra day or so, head to the tiny and almost deserted island of Pulau Molana (Molana Island), just off the coast of Saparua. Apart from some newly established bungalows, there's almost no one here and the island has some fabulous beaches.

Buy
Pottery is the main handicraft here, with the village of Ouw as the main centre.

Connect
The dialing code for Saparua is 0931.

Go next
Much smaller but pretty and intimate is the nearby island of Nusalaut, also visit an island west of Saparua, Haruku.