Diving at Maratua/Derawan

[asiafan]

Hi,
we like to spend our holiday next year in Maratua/Derawan for diving.
We found 2 possibilities:
-Nabocco Island Resort (very expensive one person in a triple room 70€)
-Derawan Dive Resort (less expensive, but they don't answer)

There are also some small homestays on Derawan, but they don't have an email adress.

Has somebody been in this area? Do you know another good place to stay? How much is the flight Balikpapan - Berau and is there a cheaper possibility to get to the island than the hotel transfer?
And what about the diving? Is it really one of the best in the world?

I would be really happy, if somebody can post his experiences.
Thank you!

 

[NickLongfellow]

I stayed in one of the homestays on Derawan, very basic 15 usd a night if i remember correctly. Built right out over the water, turtles coming to eat the banana leaves right off the jetty which the locals tie to rope and throw in for them. Mostly did snorkeling with the turtles around derawan, supposedly good macro diving though. Be sure to make it out to barracuda point and jellyfish lake in Kakaban for some sharks and rays (not to mention ripping currents). Also, cant beat the mantas of Sangalaki though the reef was ravaged by crown of thorns (hope it's improving, was there over a year and a half ago now...)

For rooms, I would give Derawan resort a miss. Totally empty, staff is not interested in having customers as they get paid the same either way. Dirty, musky rooms and unfriendly staff. If you're looking for cheap, the homestays are nice and chill. Clean sheets and whatnot. For tippity top accommodation give the resorts on Maratua a go, they seem to have good reviews and are quite posh. Diving in Maratua channel is big fish country too, doesnt hurt to have that on your doorstep.
Hope it helps!
-Nick

 

[NickLongfellow]

I have a few photos from the trip on my website, at this point I only had a G9 compact, so nothing spectacular, but to give you an idea. www.nicklongfellow.com

 

[Richard.Ladeby]

Hello, we just got back from Maratua last week Oct 20, 2011. We had a wonderful time diving and enjoying the resort. The water was between 82 and 84 degrees. Vis was about 100 to 125. The wild life was amazing and coral very colorful. The dive master told us several years ago, it was much better, but we enjoyed it very much. The staff were very helpful and rooms/water villa were very clean and nice. The food was fresh and very good. We had two storms that moved through for a short period of time, but really did not effect our vacation. We did walk through town and the local folks did not seem to mind us there. Over-all I would it was a great trip and highly recommend it to anyone. The one big draw back it the time it takes to get there. For us living in Oregon USA was 45 hours. 41 hours on five different airlines and the 4 hour boat ride. The cost for my wife and I for our trip was $9,500.00 for 7 days at Maratua Resort, but this included two days in Samboga in Indoneia and over night in Singapore. So I really don't know what it would be just for Maratua. I was told that in five years, Maratua wants to put in an airport, making it much easier to get there. For us, it was very lay back and relaxing. Hope this helps. Richard Ladeby Oregon