Tour Guide, Pekan Baru, Indonesia
| 2 mins read
Sikuai Island was once a famous island located in the west coast of Sumatra, Bungus Teluk Kabung, Padang the capital city of West Sumatra. It is one of the closest island to the city center which can be reached by using marine transportation such as ships or boat, through the Port of Muaro in a travel time of about 45 minutes. Sikuai island covers a natural tropical forests and an island with white sand beaches which has an area of approximately 44.4 hectares.
Now this beautiful island seems to be ignored because a few conflicts between stakeholders, as it was officially announced as closed on their official facebook fanspage "New Sikuai Island Resort" since April 5th, 2013. From our observations not long before this article was written, Sikuai is nothing more than an abandoned island. but the beauty of the island is still very visible, tragic indeed when we walk around the island, the former star hotel buildings which was standing magnificently now looks lopsided and almost collapsed, unable to imagined how much the cost of development wasted just to see the self destruction of all this luxury buildings. In some cottage's rooms there are still some expensive beds that are not very well organized anymore because occasionally visited by fishermen to simply rest and relax.
Nevertheless the white sand beaches of Sikuai Island, forests, coral reefs, colorful sea creatures and its underwater life occasionally attracts foreign and local tourists who love adventure. There is still a bicycle track and bridge to facilitate walking around the island, although part of which is broken. We can climb to the highest peak of the island to enjoy the view from the heights. We don't recommend the visit without bringing local guide to stay on Sikuai Island, because there is no source of clean water and electrical power source.