There are at least five astounding destinations around Sorong for tourists to choose from or visit one after another: Doom Island, Soop Island, Yerusel Island, Arar Village, and Sisi Island. Island hopping sessions usually use an engined long-boat or local fishers’ wooden boat to sail along the beautiful waters of Sorong, offering its magnificent landscapes, blue sea and its bright skies.
Doom Island
Doom Island is located quite close and across Sorong city. The 5km square island holds a natural beauty with historical background. The word Doom (or Dum) in Malamooi Tribe means an island with a dense population of fruit trees.
Doom Island is part of the Sorong Islands District. It takes ten to fifteen minutes to reach the island by fishing boat from Sorong port. Within a stretch of line, this island is only about three kilometers from Sorong Harbor.
Incomers have been occupying Doom Island since the Dutch occupation. The island was once part of the Sultanate of Tidore territory; however, the Dutch made Doom Island the capital of the Sorong Government called Onderafdeling in 1935 when Sorong was not even yet a city. Infrastructure and electricity were first installed on Doom Island. The Dutch colonial then used diesel to generate electricity, where we can still see the remnants of the well-preserved old electric substation. The glittering electricity of Doom Island dubbed it the island of stars.
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Doom once again appealed to the Japanese, who turned the island into a defense base in the Hollandia waters during World War II. Japanese soldiers dug many connected caves with underground bunkers; one was built directly facing Jeffman Airport in Sorong.
Apart from the old electric substation, heritage such as historical buildings from the old Dutch colonials, the Bethel Doom Congregational Church and a multipurpose building, are other enchanting tourist attractions on Doom Island. Getting around the island is more convenient by rickshaw as sustainable means of transport.