Sangalaki vs Manado

[pakman]

aaah decisions decisions.. I just can't make up my mind on where to go in late Aug/ eary Sept...

OK I might reconsider Derawan again... Wondering if I could do a Sipidan/ Derawan combined trip. Does anyone know if there is a way to get from Semporna to Derawan? maybe a ferry?

 

[pakman]

diver69, omg I just checked with my travel agent.. you're right about the outrageous boat ride surcharge for a single person!! Oh nevermind... guess I'll have to save Derawan/ Sangalaki for another time with a group.

 

[whitehead]

1 week (6 days diving) in Maratua/Sangalaki and my pelagic count was:

Mantas - Zero
Sharks - One (about 2 foot long)
Baracuda shoals - One
Eagle Rays - Two
Other - Nil

Not exactly pelagics guaranteed the week I was there - I will be heading back soon to give it a second chance (last chance!)

body count this time was:

Mantas - Zero
Sharks - two - a leopard and whitetip
Eagle Rays - one

mantas were not sighted the whole week at sangalaki

some of our group saw a thresher, and a couple of hammerheads but generally not much seen again

 

[pakman]

thanks whitehead. too bad about no mantas. How was the diving overall. still good in terms of small stuff and coral? Given the diving available around the region, would you put Sangalaki up there as a must do dive location?

 

[diver69]

pakman,

I'm thinking about Manta Bowl in Ticao Island, Philippines now...Look it up in the PPD forum.

D69

 

[MartianBeerPig]

hiya pakman,

i was at sangalaki in april. stayed at the sangalaki dive lodge. i had a great time.

we had mantas virtually every dive, usually in groups of five or six. saw two leopard sharks and plenty of turtles (we also managed to catch one laying her eggs and some hatchlings as well - not in the water of course). lots of nudis, shrimps and small crabs. saw an orangutan crab. small crab with orange fur - never would have thunk it. a few schools of barracuda.

according to the staff, best time for mantas is in april.

criticisms? the boat ride over to the island is a complete rip off. very expensive. we also had issues with low weight allowance on the flight in from balikpapan. they started at 10kg - we managed to talk them up to 15 paid for the extra. the dive lodge itself was okay. rooms were basic but clean. air con was there, but i didn't switch it on. staff are shy at first, but be nice and they treat you well. not exactly the lap of luxury, but perfectly reasonable.

my favourite moment was kneeling on the bottom while the dm went off in search of an errant dive. to my left were about 200 garden eels, above me were about five mantas and directly in front was a turtle.

my least favourite momenbt was when a trigger fish decided to have a go at me.

here's a photo of me snorkeling with some jellies.

 

[bodiver13]

Hi guys,
For you who wanted to go to derawan in next year around april with a liveaboard, u can leave me your email, so I can contact you sometime late this year.
This is going to be my second LOB experience in derawan/maratua/sangalaki.
We are going with friends from our dive club, so we don't comercialize ourselves. Hopefully we can strike a good deal on the rate.

Whitehead, sorry to hear you missed ur mantas. Its very unfortunate, those operators told me that in sangalaki u can always see mantas anytime.. maybe just not ur luck

Cheers,
Cuan. (bodiver13@gmail.com)

 

[opalobsidian]

Wow, BeerPig!

That's a fabulous photo of you making friends with the Jellyfish community!:11:

Pamela

 

[pakman]

Thanks for the report MBP

 

[8c9]

Hi guys,
For you who wanted to go to derawan in next year around april with a liveaboard, u can leave me your email, so I can contact you sometime late this year.
This is going to be my second LOB experience in derawan/maratua/sangalaki.
We are going with friends from our dive club, so we don't comercialize ourselves. Hopefully we can strike a good deal on the rate.

Whitehead, sorry to hear you missed ur mantas. Its very unfortunate, those operators told me that in sangalaki u can always see mantas anytime.. maybe just not ur luck

Cheers,
Cuan. (bodiver13@gmail.com)

oohh, i'm interested on this, can you give me some info.