Kapoposang Island is a popular marine tourism object in Indonesia. This island is one of the small islands group located in the line of Makassar Strait or also known as “spermonde”. Administratively, this island is located in Pangkep Regency, South Sulawesi, Indonesia. From Makassar City, this island is approximately 68 kilometer.

This island has an area of 50.000 hectares and length of 103 km. the geographical coordinates of Kapoposang Island is 118o 54’ 00’’ E – 119o 10’ 00’’ E and 04o 37’00’’ S – 04o 52’ 00’’ S. This area of islands which has a full name, “Taman Wisata Perairan Kepulauan Kapoposang” consists of three habited islands namely, Kapoposang, Papandangan, and Gondong Bali. Besides that, there are also three inhabited islands, Suranti, Pamanggangang, and Tambakhulu which are all have beautiful white sand.

This island is indeed an attractive tropical recreation island. Besides enjoying the beauty of its nature, the tourists could also do diving, snorkeling, and fishing. Many people believe that the fishing spot around Kapoposang Island is one of the best in Indonesia. Besides that, the waters condition around the island is very clean and the coral reefs are also healthy and pretty, so this site is perfect for diving and snorkeling. Besides that, various kinds of colorful fish could also add more beauty for its underwater panorama.

In the holiday seasons, this island will get a lot of visits from both local and foreign tourists. The beauty of this island does not only comprise the “blue” water but also the “green” from the lush trees grow around the island. The usual activities which are done by the tourists in this island are diving, snorkeling, fishing, observing turtles’ life, and enjoying sunset and sunrise panorama. As a mainstay marine destination in South Sulawesi Province, Kapoposang Island offers a lot of underwater potentials which are ready to be explored. There are many diving spots available for you who want to enjoy the beauty of Kapoposang’s underwater panorama such as Cave Point, Shark Point, and Turtle Point. For the turtle point, Kapoposang Island has one special spot which is the natural habitat of the Hawksbill Turtle (Erethmochelys imbricata).

These Hawksbill turtles in Kapoposang Island are very benign because rarely disturbed by the local residents or fishermen. If in the other places you can only see turtles on the shore, here you can swim together with them, take photograph, and even touch them directly inside the ocean. To see this benign animal, you must dive into 500 meter depth for about 1.5 hour. There you will be able to see a lot of Hawksbill Turtles with various sizes swimming free between the beauties of the coral reefs. Besides that, these turtles could also be seen resting between the cave in the coral wall. Some locations in Kapoposang Island are the Hawksbill Turtle’s place for laying eggs. In the spawning seasons starting from December until April, you can see this animal lays egg around the area of Kapoposang Island.

In the southern area, there is a big coral in the middle of the ocean which is called Takabakang. This place is the favorite spot for fishing and spear fishing. The strong current of this area is preferred by the big fish like a group of tuna, schooling grouper, giant trevally, and cod. Similar like Kapoposang Island, this area also has a natural habitat of turtle. If the spawning season is arriving, they will head to the Kapoposang Island’s beach to lay eggs. Tourists could watch the activities of these turtles, but could not disturb them because this animal is endangered and protected by law.

Various kinds of hard coral, soft coral, coral fish, and invertebrate animals which live under the water ecosystem in Kapoposang Island are very completed, even it could represent the whole species in South Sulawesi. For the professional divers, the profile of coral reefs here which are in form of wall with hundred meter depth is a challenge and attraction, especially for them who want to do deep diving.

Facility

For accommodation, this island has already completed with resort. This resort has complete facilities like restaurants, sports facilities, and so on. Tourists could also rent a 20 ton cruise ship for crossing the vast ocean to the favorite diving sites or fishing spots.

Access

There are many routes for heading into Kapoposang Island, for instance from Port Paotere and POPSA Dock in Makassar, Kalibone Dock in Maros Regency, and Tonasa Dock in Pangkep Regency. If you use a traditional boat, the estimated time for cruising is around 6 hours from Makassar, 7 hours from Maros, and 8 hours from Pangkep. However, if you use speed boat that can be rented in POPSA Dock Makassar, you will need only 3 hours trip to go to Kapoposang Island.