Derawan
Island is one of beautiful spot in East Kalimantan, and offers you many water
sports. One of attractive place you have to visit is Underwater Park. Visitors
from around the world come here because they curious to dive and enjoy marine
life. Derawan itself has others three popular islands, i.e. Sangalaki, Kakaban,
and Maratua. In this island, you can witness endangered green turtle, hawksbill
turtle, dolphins, whales, barracuda, fish, mermaids, coconut crabs, and clams.
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| Pictures Volanthevish from www.flickr.com |
Locations
Geographically,
Derawan Island is situated at north peninsula of Berau Regency, East
Kalimantan, Indonesia. To reach the island, you can take a flight from
Balikpapan or Samarinda to Tanjung Redep/Berau. It will take around 45 – 60
minutes. Then, continue your trip from Tanjung Redep/Berau to Tanjung Batu
through land transportation, which is take 2 – 3 hours. The other alternative
is by sea transportation from Berau directly to Derawan for 3 – 4 hours. From
Tanjung Batu to Derawan Island, you will continue by a ship.
If
you want to get cheaper price to visit Derawan, you can start your journey from
Tarakan. Unfortunately, there is no regular ship to Derawan. The good thing is
when you picnic with your group and friends, you can hire a speedboat from
Tarakan City, which is take around 3 hours.
It
will be faster if you take speedboat because you only take 45 minutes from
Tanjung Batu to Derawan Island. If you want to combine both sea and land
transportation, you can start from Tarakan – Tanjung Selor by speedboat. From Tanjung
Selor – Berau you can take a taxi, then Berau to Tanjung Batu you can take a
taxi. And last, from Tanjung Batu to Derawan by speedboat. It will take around
7 hours. Sometimes, in Tanjung Selor Port, there is a taxi ready to drive you
to Tanjung Batu directly, but it will be depend to the negotiation with the
driver. The route is two ways. After you arrive at Derawan, you can explore
other islands by hiring a speedboat, and visit Maratua Island, Sangalaki
Island, and Kakaban Island. You have to pay around IDR1,500,000 or US$160 per
day.
Accommodations
Derawan
Island is surrounded by 31 small islands and atoll, but only some of them have
complete accommodations. One of them is Derawan. The price is ranging from
IDR200,000 – IDR500,000, or US$23 – US$45 per night. In Maratua, there is good
resort you can stay. It can be take for about 2 hours from Tanjung Batu.
Activities
Visiting
Derawan Island is means you can meet and play with turtles. The perfect place
to witness turtle is in Sangalaki Island. The island becomes a conservation of
turtle. When you lucky, you can see baby of turtles crawling toward the beach. You
also can swim together with them under clear water. It will be fun because
snorkeling and diving in the island become the most popular activities.
To
start the day, you can get up early to welcome sunrise. After breakfast in
hotel or guesthouse, you can take a boat to visit Maratua Island to snorkel
there. It will take 30 minutes to get there. With the turquoise color of water,
you will have wide vision underwater. Next, continue your trip to Kakaban
Island. It is a place that has a lake and fulfilled by jellyfishes without
poison. You can snorkel with thousand jellyfishes.
By
snorkeling, you will adore coral reefs and variety of fishes. It is kind of
amazing panorama you can see when you visit Derawan Islands. You will never
regret to do many water sports after visit the island because the view is so
amazing.
