GILI KETAPANG ISLAND

Gili Ketapang is an island that is North Sea of Probolinggo. It has beautiful scenery and there are many sands in the east and south of this, unpolluted and bluish. There are many kinds of colorful corals. It is about 5 miles from Ujung Tembaga port and takes 30 minutes by boat. The population is 7.600, the most of them are Madurese and almost 90% are fishermen.

Beside its scenery, there is also “Goa Kucing”. According to historical, this is the rest place of Syech Ishaq, a person who spread Islam from Blambangan, Banyuwangi. At that time, there are thousands cats, but finally the cats are gone everywhere. Up to know, on Friday “Legi”, the sound of those cats is heard from the dark cave and it will lose when we are trying to find it.

The other unique of this island is people believe that this island have a mysterious power, which can move to the middle of sea. According to them, when Semeru Mountain had exploded, there was an earthquake and the land of Ketapang village had separated to middle of sea about 5 miles from Probolinggo. Because of that, people call this island “Gili Ketapang”. Gili comes from Madura language, which means, “Flow” and “Ketapang” is the name of the village.