Lingga Islands

Lingga Island was important in the history of Malaysia,it is where the Sultan of Lingga, who ruled Johor, Pahang, Singapore, Riau-Lingga lived. The sultan of Lingga was the sultan of Johor Empire. Only after 1824 Anglo-Dutch Treaty, did the sultan of Lingga only ruled Riau-Lingga of Indonesia. Johor & Pahang formed their sultanates, Singapore under British. Lingga Islands is important in the history of maritime political history of Strait of Malacca, as well as world spices history.


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The Lingga Islands or Lingga Archipelago (Indonesian: Kepulauan Lingga) are a group of islands in Indonesia, located south of Singapore, along both sides of the equator, off the eastern coast of Riau Islands province on Sumatra island. They are south of the populated Riau Archipelago, known for the industrial island of Batam and the tourist-frequented island of Bintan, although the Lingga Islands themselves are rarely visited due to the infrequent local transportation. The equator goes through the northern tip of Lingga, the name of the main island in the archipelago.

The population are mainly Malay, Bugis and Chinese (predominantly Hakka, Teochew and Hokkien).

By size and population the most important islands in the archipelago are Lingga and Singkep, then Sebangka and Bakung.

* Lingga with smaller Pulau (P.) Alut.
* P. Selayar of Riau Islands between Lingga and Singkep.
* Singkep with P. Posik to the west, P. Serak to the SW, P. Lalang to the South.
* Sebangka and Bakung NW of Lingga, with town of Limas, islets Senayang, Kapas, Kentar, Mowang.
* P. Lobam and Cempah to the west of Sebangka.
* Temiang and Mesawak in the north.

Lingga Island is the largest and most populated of the Lingga Islands, Indonesia. It has an area of 889 square kilometres (343 sq mi). It is located south of the Riau Islands off the east coast of Sumatra. The other major island of the archipelago is Singkep.

Transport
Ferry services to the islands from outside the archipelago come from the provincial capital to the north, Tanjung Pinang on Bintan, including from Singapore. These days the main industry is fishing. There are a number of fine beaches with some coral around the Archipelago but there is very little tourism on account of the poor transport links with the outside world.

* Singkep has two ports, Dabo near Dabosingkep and Jago near Sungaibuluh. Service to the port of Muntok on P. Bangka of Sumatera Selatan ceased operating regularly with the demise of the tin mining industry. However, a high-speed ferry continues to connect Tanjung Pinang to Singkep, from where local boats may be chartered to Lingga.

* For Lingga, Diak is the major town and port. It can be reached in a day from Singapore transferring at Tanjung Pinang.

For some picture of Lingga archipelago, please visit blog http://members.ziggo.nl/zoontjes/en/riau/riau_lingga.htm

How to get there

The ferry from Tanjung Pinang (Bintan) leaves at 11AM everyday. There are 3 different ferries making the tour and the trip takes between 3-6 hours depending which one since they make different amount of stops. To get to Tanjung Pinang you may take a ferry from Batam or Singapore with many departures everyday.

Leaving Tanjung Pinang is easy. The national ticket booths are next to the entry to the pier and a ticket to Pulau Lingga is Rp 113,000 (Nov 2009). Add an extra Rp 3,000 for the sea port tax and then board the ferry. Some of the ferries has numbered seats but otherwises just pick a seat; outdoor or indoor. You may even make your way up to sit next to the captain, an area frequently used when the ship is full (i.e. the double amount of people than there are seats).

The ferry steers it way south stopping a couple of times on small islands on the way. Then arriving to Jago on Singkep before its last stop on Lingga. The port on Lingga is callad Tanjung Buton (Tanjung, Tg. means port). In the port you will find motor bike taxis ("ojek") and the ride to Daik is about 10 minutes.

How to get out

Ferry leaves Lingga at 7.00 o'clock but be there at least 30 minutes before to be sure to get a ticket back (at least on sundays which is the main traveling day). 07.00 the ferry docks in Jago (Singkep) and continues afterwards up through the archipelago stopping trice or more on the small islands with the tiny fishing villages.