Top Snorkeling and Scuba Diving in East Kalimantan

The lake is full of millions of jellyfish: 4 different species of non-stinging jellyfish and some marine life not found anywhere else in the world! The lake is the center of Kakaban island, it covers most of the Island.

The entrance of the cave is just below the surface (2 meters deep at low tide). A narrow chimney dive to 21m, then to 30m deep. A crack allows you to exit at 45 meters or 65 meters! For those who don't like caves, the 'external' drop-off is also a great dive... running down to 250 meters! You can meet sharks, groupers, tuna, jacks, barracud and Manta Rays. Along the south coast of Pulau Kakaban.

Not too many people have yet visitet these lakes. They are smaller than the one on Kakaben but the species differ in color from the jellyfish on kakaben island. Watch out - there might still be some saltwater crocks inside. from Maratua Paradise Resort on a 30 minutes walk through the mangroves.

Really cool place for a shallow water dive. Lots of snakes! Some venomous some not. I heard that there might be a crocodile but I haven't seen it. You'll see all the juvenile fish of the reef in front of the mangroves for example baby blacktip sharks. Lots of stingrays - watch out. By boat from Maratua, Sangalaki or Derawan.

Drift Dive with mantas and a nice reef in the shallows. Manta Parade is also known as Manta paradis Resort.

Great place for nightdiving! Shallow sandy area with a slight current drifting south. Stargazers, stonefish, pipefish, ribbon eels and so on... Don't forget your camera.

If you like to see green seaturtles this is the place to go. Maybe 30 on a dive. Cool spot for a nice and relaxing drift dive. Also you might see small groups of barracudas, jackfish, stingrays and so on. Take your time to search for critters on the reef. This side of maratua is really nice for macro photography! Turtle Traffic is also known as Maratua Turtle Traffic.

It's a drift dive down to small fish country. Nice coral, some Napoleons, sometimes tunas, leopard sharks and so on. I recommend to try a reef dive in 3m depth. The coral up there's spectacular and you might see big barracudas and maybe cuttlefish. by boat from nabucco island

Strong current. Sometimes grey reef sharks. On the eastern side pygmy seahorses. by boat from nabucco island or from maratua paradise resort

Drift dive to Turtle Parade Nice reef. Sometimes big fish. Some Turtles. by boat from Nabucco island

North East corner of Kakaban island.

Small fissh country is a beautiful walldive and you'll see the big school of barracudas when they're not in the channel. Usually it's a drift dive to the channel. At entry sometimes you have to fight against the current in order to reach 25m before the channel's entrance. This way you can stay right at the bottom rim of the entrance where there's no "washingmachine". If you go deeper there will be a strong downdrift, if you go higher there will be a strong updrift into the lagoon. Maratua Island

Great divesite for macro photography with sometimes strong currents. But on the other hand big stingrays and sometimes whalesharks. Hard to decide which lens to take. Sandy areas in the middle of that channel which is about 250m wide. Nice reef on the sides. Giant clams, staghorn coral and lots of critters like frogfish, ghost pipefish, flatworms, nudibranch. One can go there by boat on daytrips from Maratua island, from Derawan Island or from Sangalaki Island (which is closest and about 30 minutes away).

At the lower rim of the channels entrance there's a small area without current. If you go higher you'll be pulled into the channel. If you go lower there's a washing machine with a strong downdrift which will pull you to +50m in no time. So better refrain from swimming next to the big fish out into the blue or you'll end up somewhere deep before you notice. You'll see big schools of barracudas, tunas and often groups of eagle rays Sometimes seasnakes, whalesharks and hammerheads. But also sometimes there's just nothing. By boat from Nabucco island. Big fish country lies right in front of the entrance to Maratua channel.

Nice wall dive / slope dive. The coral is great in some places and broken at other parts of that divesite. Not as many turtles as at "Turtle Traffic" but sill quite a lot. Vis is bad at lowtide and good at incoming high tide. by boat from nabucco island

Drift dive to Turtle Bay. Nice reef. Sometimes big fish. Stay shallow and see more! by boat from nabucco island

Usually you will enter the channel at the end of a drift dive coming from Small Fish Country. You can rest a while at the lower rim of the channels entrance at "Big Fish Country". Dive only at beginning high tide when the current is flowing into the lagoon. Sometimes 6+ knots current! Try reef hooks on a long rope but watch out that the current doesn't pull the mask from your face. :-) You'll see eagle rays, barracudas, groupers and sometimes whalesharks! When you're out of air which can be very soon due to the current just let go and swim to the left side of the channel. The current will pull you into the channel which is about 20m deep and approx 100m wide. The ground is polished rock without coral. After 20 meters you'll see the entrance of a cave on the channels floor at the left side. There live giant groupers. It would be nice to explore that cave between the tides but no one has ever done that yet. When floating into the lagoon you can either stay shallow and look at the corals while drifting by or you can go in the center of the channel and drift into the deeper parts. But you'll need a lot of air left to do that. Hammerheads have been seen there and also there is a deep basin going down to more than 35m where a big school of eagle rays dwells. This extended drift dive requires very low air consumption, believe me. ;-) From Nabucco Island resort.