The Hamburger
Guest
One thing to remember from Singapore you will have to overnight in Balikpapan, you can't connect anymore. I think! Also you have to be up very early for the return leg.
Sangalaki or Layang Layang in June
- Thread starter JHC
- Start date
Please register or login
Welcome to ScubaBoard, the world's largest scuba diving community. Registration is not required to read the forums, but we encourage you to join. Joining has its benefits and enables you to participate in the discussions.
Benefits of registering include
- Ability to post and comment on topics and discussions.
- A Free photo gallery to share your dive photos with the world.
- You can make this box go away
Actually, I think that is not quite true. Silk Air still has a few early morning flight from Singapore to Balikpapan each week. The problem is that all the days have been changed and I am not sure what day they do have early morning flight anymore. KalStar also changed some flight from Balikpapan to Berau a bit. I think once or twice a week, it should still be possible to fly directly from Singapore to Berau on the same day, I am just not sure which day it is anymore.
The last time I checked in Feb 2004, Kalstar did not operate the Balikpapan - Berau flight on Sunday.
The alternative is Balikpapan to Samarinda by bus or car (not that far away), then catch the flight to Samarinda - Berau flight. There are 2 flights per day I think. If you are wondering if you save any money, the answer is no. It cost more because of the extra land transfer, the flight is the same cost.
If you are having problems with transfers or lodging bookings etc, you can try and contact this guy senomentik@indo.net.id
The alternative is Balikpapan to Samarinda by bus or car (not that far away), then catch the flight to Samarinda - Berau flight. There are 2 flights per day I think. If you are wondering if you save any money, the answer is no. It cost more because of the extra land transfer, the flight is the same cost.
If you are having problems with transfers or lodging bookings etc, you can try and contact this guy senomentik@indo.net.id
The Hamburger
Guest
Good to see up to date, correct, info being disseminated on scubaboard.
I think where ever to Balikpapan and maybe even Berau is not too difficult. Berau to Sangalaki is the more difficult one to arrange. Hence the contact I posted typically makes it smooth sailing for me.
Typically I just get myself to Balikpapan as early in the morning as possible, then with pre-arrangement, the mentioned contact handles the rest of the logistics for me.
If you are daring enough, you can try and get to Berau by your own arrangement. Then try and negotiate a water taxi to Sangalaki, Derawan or maybe even Nabucco. If you cannot speak the local language, this would be quite difficult.
Typically I just get myself to Balikpapan as early in the morning as possible, then with pre-arrangement, the mentioned contact handles the rest of the logistics for me.
If you are daring enough, you can try and get to Berau by your own arrangement. Then try and negotiate a water taxi to Sangalaki, Derawan or maybe even Nabucco. If you cannot speak the local language, this would be quite difficult.
If it's not too late, here's my two cents on this question.
I've been living and working in Jakarta, Indonesia for the last four years, and have dived a number of the areas in the country (Komodo, Sumba, Manado, Java, Bali, Lombok, Donggala in Central Sulawesi). The Sangalaki trip, done last August for a week, was one of the best.
My group stayed at the Sangalaki Dive Lodge. Prices were fair and the island had nesting turtles at night (Mandatory electricity off in most areas of the resort past 6pm as the turtles won't come inland if lights are on). During one of the nights, I got woken up from some serious noises, which turned out to be a huge turtle throwing sand back into the hole it had just used to deposit eggs. We also caught three episodes of turtle hatching, and watched the little tykes scramble out of the sand into the sea.
The mantas were awesome. Sangalaki, I think, is fairly known for its all black, as opposed to the black on top and white below, manta rays. There were plenty of sharks as well, especially around the cleaning stations that the mantas frequented. As it is in East Kalimantan, Sangalaki also has tons of nudibranchs.
A trip to Kakaban is not to be missed. The jelly lake (four different species of non-stinging jellyfish) is pretty interesting, but the best part of Kakaban is definitely the hammerhead dives. Strong sideway currents on a slope that descends to 30 metres, and then drops into a sheer wall. The currents were strong enough on the 4 dives the group did at that site, and we cruised down to the wall areas and caught some hammerheads about 20m to the blue water. It's not a "schooling" experience, but it was still awesome enough to watch the small groups of hammerheads lazily cruising against the current as we humans struggled.
Getting there was a bit of a journey though, as we had to change planes four times from Jakarta, and sit on the small boat to the island for two and a half hours.
If you choose Sangalaki Dive Lodge, ask for Andreas for dm, and say hi to Kadek.
I booked through www.sangalaki.net
Office Address: Wisma Sabah, Grd Floor Lot 28
Postal Address: P.O Box 16360, 88000 Kota Kinabalu, Sabah, Malaysia
E-mail: nadia@sangalaki.net, azmi@sangalaki.net, info@sangalaki.net
Tel: 60-88-242336
Fax: 60-88-238336
I've been living and working in Jakarta, Indonesia for the last four years, and have dived a number of the areas in the country (Komodo, Sumba, Manado, Java, Bali, Lombok, Donggala in Central Sulawesi). The Sangalaki trip, done last August for a week, was one of the best.
My group stayed at the Sangalaki Dive Lodge. Prices were fair and the island had nesting turtles at night (Mandatory electricity off in most areas of the resort past 6pm as the turtles won't come inland if lights are on). During one of the nights, I got woken up from some serious noises, which turned out to be a huge turtle throwing sand back into the hole it had just used to deposit eggs. We also caught three episodes of turtle hatching, and watched the little tykes scramble out of the sand into the sea.
The mantas were awesome. Sangalaki, I think, is fairly known for its all black, as opposed to the black on top and white below, manta rays. There were plenty of sharks as well, especially around the cleaning stations that the mantas frequented. As it is in East Kalimantan, Sangalaki also has tons of nudibranchs.
A trip to Kakaban is not to be missed. The jelly lake (four different species of non-stinging jellyfish) is pretty interesting, but the best part of Kakaban is definitely the hammerhead dives. Strong sideway currents on a slope that descends to 30 metres, and then drops into a sheer wall. The currents were strong enough on the 4 dives the group did at that site, and we cruised down to the wall areas and caught some hammerheads about 20m to the blue water. It's not a "schooling" experience, but it was still awesome enough to watch the small groups of hammerheads lazily cruising against the current as we humans struggled.
Getting there was a bit of a journey though, as we had to change planes four times from Jakarta, and sit on the small boat to the island for two and a half hours.
If you choose Sangalaki Dive Lodge, ask for Andreas for dm, and say hi to Kadek.
I booked through www.sangalaki.net
Office Address: Wisma Sabah, Grd Floor Lot 28
Postal Address: P.O Box 16360, 88000 Kota Kinabalu, Sabah, Malaysia
E-mail: nadia@sangalaki.net, azmi@sangalaki.net, info@sangalaki.net
Tel: 60-88-242336
Fax: 60-88-238336
One more thing:
Sangalaki is great for beginners. Shallow dives (20m or less) and little current around Sangalaki itself. If you stay on the slope in Kakaban, you get currents but within some safe levels.
I just looked at my logs for that week, and we got three leopard sharks, 12 white tips, mantas on almost every dive off Sangalaki itself. Small stuff included leaf fish, frog fish and tons of nudis. Night dives were also very good, with mandarinfish highlights.
Sangalaki is great for beginners. Shallow dives (20m or less) and little current around Sangalaki itself. If you stay on the slope in Kakaban, you get currents but within some safe levels.
I just looked at my logs for that week, and we got three leopard sharks, 12 white tips, mantas on almost every dive off Sangalaki itself. Small stuff included leaf fish, frog fish and tons of nudis. Night dives were also very good, with mandarinfish highlights.
Rickg
Contributor
JHC,
From San Diego, my wife and I found it cheapest to fly into Tawau, Malayasia (in northern Borneo) remain overnight, take the high speed ferry in the morning from Tawau to Tarakan (3.0 hours), remain overnight in Tarakan, take smaller high speed ferry from Tarakan to Tanjung Batu (2.5 hours) where the Sangalaki Dive Lodge had a boat waiting to take us to the island (1 hour).
This is a good option if you have lots of luggage (i.e. photo equipment, etc) because there are no weight restrictions. The ferry between Tawau is very nice and fast with A/C, aircraft like seats and a movie. The smaller ferry between Tarakan and Tanjung Batu is also fast but not so nice
We made our own arrangements for the ferry between Tawau and Tarakan and back the morning we left from Tawau. The hotel arrangements in Tarakan, transportation to and from ferry landings in Tarakan and the ferry arrangements between Tarakan and Tanjung Batu were all taken care of by a Sangalaki Dive Lodge agent in Tarakan.
It saved us about $500 each on our R/T airfare from San Diego to Tawau.
Rickg
From San Diego, my wife and I found it cheapest to fly into Tawau, Malayasia (in northern Borneo) remain overnight, take the high speed ferry in the morning from Tawau to Tarakan (3.0 hours), remain overnight in Tarakan, take smaller high speed ferry from Tarakan to Tanjung Batu (2.5 hours) where the Sangalaki Dive Lodge had a boat waiting to take us to the island (1 hour).
This is a good option if you have lots of luggage (i.e. photo equipment, etc) because there are no weight restrictions. The ferry between Tawau is very nice and fast with A/C, aircraft like seats and a movie. The smaller ferry between Tarakan and Tanjung Batu is also fast but not so nice
We made our own arrangements for the ferry between Tawau and Tarakan and back the morning we left from Tawau. The hotel arrangements in Tarakan, transportation to and from ferry landings in Tarakan and the ferry arrangements between Tarakan and Tanjung Batu were all taken care of by a Sangalaki Dive Lodge agent in Tarakan.
It saved us about $500 each on our R/T airfare from San Diego to Tawau.
Rickg
Similar threads
