Derawan Islands (Kakaban / Sangalaki)

Jellyfish lake/Reef

Depth: 3–30 mLevel: Open WaterAll year round

An archipelago of 31 islands, only two of them inhabited. Its coral diversity is the second highest in Indonesia after Raja Ampat — more than 460 coral species and 870 of fish — with a fraction of the divers. Each island has its part to play: Sangalaki for the manta rays and turtle nesting, Maratua for schooling fish, Derawan for macro life and turtles, and Kakaban for the lake and the outer wall.

Depth

3–30 m

Recommended level

Open Water

Average visibility

15 m

A remote Bornean archipelago with its own lake of stingless jellyfish and one of the highest turtle densities in Asia.

Did you know?

Sangalaki hosts the largest nesting population of green turtles in Indonesia: more than 15,000 females return every year. Kakaban is an uplifted atoll — from the air it is a ring of jungle around a lake — whose interior filled with brackish water thousands of years ago and is home to stingless jellyfish; the lake is about 17 m deep. On Maratua, the star dive is The Channel: on an incoming tide, thousands of chevron barracuda form a tornado beneath which you can stay for the whole dive.

Sources consulted: ZuBlu Diving · liveaboardindonesia.com · White Manta · Explorer Ventures · Neptune Liveaboards

Location

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