Derawan is the closest to the Borneo mainland so visibility is lower than the other islands, between 5 and 20 metres. That's not really an issue though as most of the diving is macro diving. The house reef beneath the jetty is home to a diverse range of critters including ghostpipefish and seahorse. This is also an excellent place for night dives. At Blue Trigger wall schools of red tooth triggerfish are always seen. At certain times of the year green turtles come ashore to lay their eggs.
Samama is close enough to Sangalaki and Kakaban that it can be dived from there. It is another macro photographers dream destination. Reefs are shallow with maximum depths of around 15 metres. Currents are weak. So dives can be long in duration and the sun light that filters onto the hard and soft corals illuminates them magnificently. Reef life is very healthy with many schools of fish. Look for blue ribbon eels at the edge of the reef. Pygmy seahorse smaller than your fingernail can be found in gorgonian seafans.
Maratua is a large island shaped a bit like the letter C and has a large lagoon protected by a coral reef. Strong currents sweep through the channel into the lagoon and diving the channel should idealy be timed at slack high tide. Drift diving experience is useful here. The fast water attracts schools of jacks, barracuda, tuna and mackeral to the channel entrance. Eagle rays, mantas and sharks are also seen here. On the outside of the reef there are drop offs to 30m with nice soft coral and sponge coverage and large schools of fish.
There is good macro diving inside the lagoon at Nabucco Island. Many different nudibranch species can be seen here as well as frogfish, leaf scorpionfish and mandarin fish. |
