Diving Kalimantan, Indonesia - Maratua | Sangalaki | Kakaban

DESTINATION OVERVIEW | Indonesian Kalimantan covers part of the better known island of Borneo. It is home to one of the countries richest and most biodiverse marine environments, the Derawan Island chain, which stretches along the coast opposite the Berau River delta. A few years ago, marine surveys concluded this area had the world’s second highest hard coral diversity (after the Raja Ampat Islands) and was submitted to the World Heritage Organisation for consideration as a site of special interest.

The best known islands for scuba diving include Sangalaki, the largest Indonesian nesting site for green turtles and with a resident manta population; Derawan, known for a high level of critters; Kakaban, the world’s largest and most diverse jellyfish lake, with four unique stingless species and the largest island in the group, Maratua, which sees large populations of pelagic species like barracuda, turtles and thresher sharks.

PROS AND CONS | Flying into Balikpapan, the largest city on Kalimantan, is straightfoward as Singapore Airines subsidiary, Silk Air have a direct daily flight. However, from there to the offshore islands is a bit of a haul (see left). If you like to explore new destinations and aren't looking for top level luxury, then this area is really worth trying especially as it is now possible to explore this region by liveaboard. That has recently become an even better option as the resort of Sangalaki has been closed for some time.

SCUBA DIVING | All the islands are ringed by coral reefs with varying geographical features. There are steep walls on Maratua and Kakaban while Sangalaki has gentle slopes. The diving is year-round with typically tropical weather. Water temperatures when we visited were consistently higher than expected, often reaching over 28ºC. Visibility could be low due to run off from the Berau River. The further offshore you go, the better it gets. Maratua tends to have the best visibility. Currents can be strong too.

OPINION | Once diving on Sipadan was restricted, the Derawan Islands started to get a bit more notice. Not far south of the Sipadan-Mabul-Kapalai triangle, we found the diving around Maratua-Sangalaki-Kakaban equally rewarding. The big animals seen at Sipadan's Barracuda Point are reflected by Maratua's The Channel, and so on. We stayed on Maratua and really enjoyed it, although from there you cannot dive on Derawan as the distance between islands is too far. We never saw the famed mantas at Sangalaki but we saw thresher sharks several times and more turtles than we have seen anywhere else.

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