Our History
Welcome to our story
Karimunjawa Dive Resort.
Hello we are Ernest and Vreni
Waltenspuel from Switzerland.
Our story began in October 2013 when we spent our diving holidays in Raja Ampat, Papua Indonesia. There we met Masto Parnoto as our dive guide, and we closed him into our heart. We build up a very close and deep friendship that connects us since. From there on Masto calls us Mama and Papa Swiss.
In February 2014 they had a flood in his home village Kudus in Jawa, he and his family lost almost everything. Since then we started to support Masto and his family financially. With the money we gave, the brother in law could renovate the old house and build additionally a new small house next to it. He also built a second floor on top of the new house, so when there is another flood they can bring everything in safety to the upper floor.
In October 2014 we wanted to visit Masto and get to know his family. When we told our travel plans in the summer, they quickly prepared a bedroom and bathroom for us, the rest of the upper floor was still in raw construction and was completed later. Since then we have a small apartment for us, and we spend our holidays in Kudus with Masto and his family.
On our first visit to Jawa, we also wanted to go to the ocean, so we went to the island of Karimunjawa. There we stayed in a simple Homestay and spent a few days together. On the island, we met Rene, a German guy who has a house in Kemojan. He lives there with his wife Rini and their daughter Emma. He gave us the first impression of the beautiful Island.
We wanted to go diving on the island of Karimunjawa, but that had proved to be very difficult to almost impossible because there was no proper diving base on the island. Rene made a remark and said, "Come here and build your own diving base on the island", there are many families who would like to sell land by the sea. On the return trip to Kudus, we started to discuss it, and so our dream started. Two months later, Rene informed us that he knew about 10 places that are for sale. With that information, we sent Masto and his two brothers who also work in the construction busyness to Karimunjawa, with the mission to explore the estates.
In February 2015 we went to Jawa and Karimunjawa for a second time to get a look for ourselves. Very quickly we found a suitable property by the ocean and began to negotiate. On the first evening, the deal was done by hand. With a preliminary contract and a small deposit, we reserved the land by the owner. With the agreement, that we only pay the land, when everything is measured and written in the land register. The contracts were concluded with a notary. In the summer, the pice of land was surveyed by the government and in September also by the nature conservation authorities. In November everything was certified and recorded in the land register. So we purchased the Estate for Masto and made him a proud landowner of a wonderful place in Karimunjawa.
Our dream became reality
And now the work can begin.