Tour module 8 days diving or snorkeling Maratua, Kakaban and Sangalaki

Dive spots Derawan Archipelago

Derawan archipel sive spots

Dive Season: The best months for diving are September to December and March to April but also the months between. The Moluccan islands have the seasons reversed from the rest of Indonesia, when they have the dry season, its rainy season in Indonesia.
Visibility: Usually is good (20-30m) except some muck sites close to the harbour or where sand is easily stirred up.
Water Temperature: 20C/68F – 27C/80F
Skill Levels: Dive sites are available from beginner through advanced.
Dive Access: Land based diving, boat diving and shore diving. Many live-aboard start and end their itinerary in Ambon. Good option to add land based diving at the beginning or ending end of you live-aboard trip.

North Maratua - Big Fish Country

Our famous channel with very strong currents opposite of Nabucco. Diving is only possible during incoming current. A reef hook is a must as the channel entry will be crossed. A huge school of barracudas, white and black tip reef sharks as well as eagle rays are the big attraction here. This is not an easy dive site, but definitely worth the effort! Before diving here you should have gained some experience with currents.

North Maratua - Small Fish Country

Juste à côté de BFC, vous pourrez profiter de ce récif de corail bien conservé et coloré. Beaucoup de fusiliers et une grande variété de poissons de récif vivent ici. Des rencontres surprenantes avec des poissons perroquets à bosse, les thons ou les raies aigles qui sont souvent de passage.

North Maratua - East Wall

Located between Nunukan and Nabucco this beautiful steep wall is worth a trip. Nurse sharks, leopard sharks, grey reef sharks or stingrays are quite common here.

North Maratua - Leos`s Point

South of BFC this sloping reef with sandy plateau on 27-30m is known for good sightings of big stingrays or leopard sharks. Next to colorful reeffish you can also find many different macro creatures.

North Maratua - Leo's Wall

Leo’s Wall starts on a slope and ends on a beautiful wall with overhangs. In the shallows you will find lobster, often banded sea snake or octopus. There is usually no strong current, so it is a good dive site to search for macro creatures.

South Maratua - Bantukan

Untouched colorful coral reef west of Nunukan. Many fish schools, sting rays or eagle rays can often be seen. As a nice change to the usual walls you dive here on a gentle slope from 5-15m depth with a sandy plateau at the bottom that shows plenty of coral blocks in between.

South Maratua - Ujung Karang Tinggi

This reef also starts with a gentle slope and continues with a steep wall. The huge variety of soft and hard corals is outstanding and gives many macro creatures good opportunities to hide. Often bumbhead parrotfish, travellies or tunas are passing by.

South Maratua - Pala Pala

A completely unexplored reef south of Nunukan. A fantastic wall until 30m with huge fan corals welcomes you here. Lots of small caves and overhangs provide spots for sleeping rays or nurse sharks. On the sandy bottom mantis shrimps, nudi branches and garden eels can be found.

South Maratua - Buli Gusungang

Here we also start the dive on a beautiful steep wall which is covered on colorful soft corals. An easy slope follows where on single coral blocks macro creatures can be watched. Don’t forget to look into the blue from time to time, sharks or dolphins like to pass by here!

Kakaban - Baraccuda Point

Spectacular dive site with strong currents where encounters with eagle rays, white and black tip reef sharks are not uncommon. A reef hook is a must as on the slope sometimes the current can push downwards. Towards the end of the dive a colorful steep wall with fantastic soft corals can be enjoyed. We recommend this dive site to advanced divers with experience in currents.

Kakaban Wall

A beautifully overgrown steep wall just next to the jetty of the famous jelly fish lake with a lot of macro creatures. The wall shows some holes and craters that invite you for exploring. Here is usually not much current to be expected.

Sangalaki - Manta Point

THE place to have an encounter with manta rays. The easy slope in front of Sangalaki is the feeding place for these elegant creatures. Next to the manta rays you find a sandy area on 5-15m with many coral blocks to discover macro creatures. Fusiliers, nudi branches, scorpionfish or sepia can be seen here.

Talisayan

Absolute hoogtepunt in Talisayan is zwemmen met de walvishaaien. Het hele jaar door, behalve rondom volle maan, komen de vissen van 5 tot wel 10 meter naar de bagans, drijvende vissersplatforms, om zich te goed te doen aan de restjes sprot. Talisayan ligt op een uur varen vanaf Derawan en Sangalaki en circa 1,5 uur van Maratua en Nabucco.

Maratua

Maratua is a small island in the Derawan archipelago. The island of Maratua has three small villages. Since 2016, a small airport has been used for a weekly charter flight to Balikpapan.

Around Maratua it is of course fantastic snorkeling and diving. Within 20 minutes of sailing you will find about 20 dive sites, each with its specific character.

Climate

Berau

Berau (Tanjung Redeb)

Berau is the area in East Kalimantan, which also includes the Derawan archipelago. The capital Tanjung Redeb has an airport with several daily flights to Balikpapan and daily to Samarinda and Jakarta.
Berau is both the base for the Mystic Kalimantan tour of the east coast and to the Derawan archipelago. The city itself has little to offer.

Talisayan

The absolute highlight in Talisayan is swimming with the whale sharks. All year round, except around the full moon, fish from 5 to 10 meters come to the bagans, floating fishing platforms, to feast on the scraps of sprat.

A colorful Bajo (sea gypsies) village is located near Talisayan. A little further you will find the Labuan Cermin mirror lake with salt water on the surface and fresh water in the depth.