Bahuluang Island, Tambolongan and Polassi: Selayar's smaller islets

By Selayar Island Editorial Desk

Bahuluang Island is a small islet in the Selayar group that Tempo describes as formed from broken coral carried by currents, with rocks and white sand. The regency's 2024 list puts it 20 minutes by car and local joloro boat from Bone Taringan, and lists a villa, a restaurant, the Liang Lipang cave, fishing, diving and snorkelling.

What is Bahuluang Island?

Britannica names Bahuluang as one of the other islands of the Selayar group, alongside Pasi, Pulasi and Tambulongang. Tempo, citing the regency agency in January 2022, includes it among ten marine destinations for the regency. That puts it on the official list of destinations. For Bahuluang, Tambolongan and Polassi you are working from short listings and not a detailed guide.

How many islands surround them depends on who is counting: Wikipedia gives 73 for the archipelago, while the regency plan says about 130. Do not be surprised to find local names for islets that appear on no list here.

How do you get to Bahuluang?

The regency list gives one start, Bone Taringan, with 20 minutes by car and joloro. A traveller's boat from Appatanah may or may not be the same trip: the TurtlePhD blog describes a day trip to an island made entirely of dried coral and gives Appatanah as a place to charter a boat from the west side, without naming Bahuluang. Do not treat one traveller's trip as the established route.

Here is what is published about each of those two places:

• Appatana (also written Appatanah). The regency plan puts it 52 km from Benteng, and the regency list shows it as reachable by road. The plan also says Bone Tappalang is about 20 minutes by jolloro from Pattumbukang or Appatana, so boats do work from here.
• Bone Taringan. Named by the regency list for Bahuluang. No road distance is given, so ask a driver in Benteng to place it for you before you commit a day.

The list spells the boat joloro and the plan spells it jolloro. Either way it is a local boat, and neither entry gives departure times for a public service. Plan on arranging one locally, face to face or through your lodging. This site runs no boats and cannot promise that one will be free on your day.

What does a boat day to Bahuluang involve?

Journey Beyond the Horizon, a travel blog dated October 2025, went by hired car and driver from Benteng to Lantibongan village and took a local captain's boat from there, which it says costs less than a boat from Benteng. The trip took five to six hours. Stops were Makam Karang, or Coral Grave, a shoal of dead coral north of Bahuluang that the blog says shifts shape each year with the currents and can almost disappear; Liang Lipang, a cave with a sand floor and stalactites; and Bonekidi Beach. Makam Karang may be the dried-coral island TurtlePhD describes, though neither source says so. The blog says to bring food, while the regency list gives Bahuluang a restaurant, so ask before relying on either. It also names Malimbu and Guang, uninhabited islets off the west coast reached from Binanga Sombaya village.

What can you do on Tambolongan?

The regency list gives Tambolongan as joloro access with snorkelling, diving and fishing. Unlike Bahuluang, no villa or restaurant is listed, so bring your own water and food and bring everything home again. If your main interest is reef time, compare it with the other options in our Selayar snorkeling guide, some of which are easier to reach.

What is on Polassi?

Polassi has the same joloro access and water activities, and the list adds trekking at Buki Nane. That is the only trek listed for these three islands, which makes Polassi the choice if you want more than a swim. The length, difficulty and start of that walk are unpublished, so ask locally before you go, wear real shoes and carry plenty of water.

What do these islands have in common?

Three things. All are reached by small local boat, all depend on the sea of the day, and all are thinly documented. A 2018 Universitas Negeri Makassar study found 16 marine sites in the regency unmanaged, naming others such as Liang Kareta and Bone Malea. Do not assume staff, rescue cover or a ticket booth at a small site. Even at Bahuluang, the villa and restaurant come from a government table, so check they are running.

We found no published answer on these points:

• The fare for a boat.
• A timetable or a daily service.
• Whether Appatanah works as a start for Bahuluang at all.
• Whether visitors can enter Liang Lipang, which the list names as a cave without further detail.

Also keep Bahuluang apart from similar names nearby. Karang Indah is a road-access spot in the regency list, 17 km from Benteng in the plan, and Selayar Dive Resort names a dive site called Appatanah Cave, a separate name from Liang Lipang. For an islet about 30 minutes by lepa boat from Benteng, in a 2016 report, read about Pasi Gusung island, and for sand you can drive to, see our Selayar Island beaches page.

How should you plan a boat day?

Treat a trip here as a full day that may not happen, and keep it away from the last day of your stay. Wikipedia notes that big waves shift from one side of the island to the other with the season, and its airport article says waves around Selayar can reach 4 to 5 m. Before you go, work through the list below. This is our advice, based on the lack of published safety detail, rather than a published requirement.

• Read the BMKG marine forecast for Selayar waters the evening before and again that morning. It covers wind, gusts, waves and warnings.
• Start early, and ask in Benteng how long the road to Bone Taringan takes.
• Ask the boat owner how many life jackets are aboard, when the engine was last serviced, and how the crew would call for help.
• Agree the price, the return time and what happens if the weather turns, before anyone starts the engine.
• Carry cash, water, food, sun cover and a dry bag. Leave a note of your plan with your lodging.
• Go by the boatman's judgement if he says no, even when the sky looks fine.

Our Selayar Island itinerary shows how to fit a boat day into a longer stay with room to move it.

What else do people ask about Bahuluang?

Can you reach Bahuluang from Appatana?

The regency list gives Bone Taringan as the start. A traveller names Appatanah as a place to charter a boat without naming Bahuluang as the destination, so ask boatmen there before you rely on it.

Which of these islets has a listed trek?

Polassi. The regency list adds trekking at Buki Nane to the snorkelling, diving and fishing it gives for that island.

What is Liang Lipang on Bahuluang?

It is a cave named at Bahuluang in the regency list. Ask locally whether and how visitors may enter.

Can you snorkel around Bahuluang Island?

The regency list includes snorkelling and diving at Bahuluang, without naming reefs, so ask your boatman where it is sensible on the day.

Is there a fixed boat schedule for Bahuluang?

Not that we found. Expect to arrange a local boat yourself, and allow for it not going if the sea is rough.

What boat reaches these islets?

A joloro, a small local boat that the regency plan spells jolloro. The regency list gives it for Tambolongan and Polassi, and a car and joloro for Bahuluang. Agree the amount, the return time and the plan for bad weather before you board.

Which sources support this page?

• Britannica: Selayar
• Tempo: Selayar Islands offer 10 marine destinations, January 2022
• Selayar regency list of leading attractions, 2024
• Selayar regency tourism master plan (RIPPARKAB 2023-2025)
• TurtlePhD: traveller's guide to Selayar
• Wikipedia: Selayar Islands
• Wikipedia: Selayar Island
• Wikipedia: H. Aroeppala Airport
• Universitas Negeri Makassar, 2018 study of marine tourism sites
• Selayar Dive Resort: dive sites
• BMKG marine forecast: Selayar waters
• Journey Beyond the Horizon (travel blog, October 2025): Selayar Island guide

How do I reach the desk?

Know a boatman's route or a better source on these islands? Tell the desk on WhatsApp at +62 811-3941-4563 or by email at bd@juaraholding.com. The desk can look into a question, and it cannot promise a boat. Requests can lead to a paid booking, so we have a commercial interest; see the disclaimer.