Sangalaki, Kakaban, Maratua & Sambit: Derawan's 4 Dive Regions
...Highlights: whale sharks, tiger sharks, shark action, manta rays, turtles, schooling fish & pelagics, great macro life/ marine diversity...
...Diving environment: walls, drift diving, healthy reefs, beginner and advanced divers, off the beaten track...
The Derawan Archipelago sits off the coast of East Kalimantan in the Celebes Sea, a scatter of islands and reefs that has stayed well beneath the diving radar. Most divers heading to Indonesia book flights to Komodo or Raja Ampat. Derawan asks for more effort to reach, and that effort is precisely what keeps its reefs quiet. The archipelago comprises more than 30 islands, with 4 main diving areas: Derawan Island itself, Sangalaki, Kakaban, and the atoll of Maratua.
What makes Derawan diving distinct is the range of experiences packed into a relatively small area. The shallow reefs around Derawan Island offer muck diving over sand and rubble, where seahorses, flamboyant cuttlefish, blue-ringed octopus, and ghost pipefish turn up regularly. Sangalaki shifts the focus to bigger animals, with manta rays circling cleaning stations in 12 to 18 metres of water and green turtles nesting on its beaches year-round. Maratua's channel is a drift dive for more experienced divers, where incoming tides concentrate barracuda schools, grey reef sharks, and eagle rays . And Kakaban holds a landlocked marine lake filled with stingless jellyfish, an ecosystem found in only one other place on Earth.
The Derawan Archipelago also supports species that are increasingly hard to find elsewhere. Maratua's eastern atoll has been documented as an important resting site for Indo-Pacific leopard sharks, with dive leaders reporting two or three individuals resting together on roughly 70% of dives. 3 cleaning stations for pelagic threshers sit off Maratua and Kakaban, at depths of 30 to 38 metres, where these sharks are seen most often in the afternoon and during rising tides.
For divers who want to cover all the main regions without repositioning between islands each day, liveaboard cruises in the Derawan Archipelago offer the most practical solution. They allow you to anchor beside sites like Maratua's channel or Sangalaki's manta stations, ready for the first dive of the morning, rather than crossing between islands by day boat. Few liveaboards operate in this corner of Indonesia, which keeps the experience intimate and the sites uncrowded.
Derawan scuba diving is not a carbon copy of Indonesia's better-known destinations. It is a place where turtles outnumber divers, where a jellyfish lake rewards a snorkel between dives, and where the biggest challenge is simply getting there. For divers who value quiet reefs and genuine variety, that trade-off is worth making.
Dive Site Descriptions
Derawan
The fringing reef around Pulau Derawan is the most relaxed diving in the archipelago, and that is its strength. Sandy slopes, seagrass beds and coral rubble create a shallow, sheltered environment that suits check-dives, afternoon outings and night dives, while the island's jetties and stilted bungalows add structure for marine life to gather around. For Derawan scuba diving, this is the gentle side of the region: no ripping currents, no exposed crossings, just steady bottom time over productive ground.
Derawan House Reef / Jetty Point sits directly beneath the long wooden jetties, both resort and public. The bottom is mostly sand and seagrass, patrolled by sizeable green turtles that graze on the beds and seem indifferent to divers finning past. This is the signature night-dive venue on the island. Once the ambient light drops, the sand and rubble come alive: ghost pipefish hover near crinoids, octopus move across open patches, and blue-ringed octopus are spotted with enough regularity that they have become a draw for photographers. It is a site worth diving twice, once in daylight for the turtles and once after dark for the critters.
Derawan Wall runs along the southern side of the island, a gentle sloping wall with minimal current. Beginners can work this site comfortably, and there is plenty to hold more experienced divers' attention: nudibranchs, jawfish hovering over their burrows, and pygmy seahorses on the fans. The wall's sheltered position means it stays diveable when conditions elsewhere are choppier. Dharma Point mixes hard coral structures with sandy patches, a combination that tends to draw macro subjects into the open. Underwater photographers rate it for exactly this reason: the transition zones between coral and sand are where you find the animals that do not sit on the reef itself. Snapper Point and Turtle Point are short boat rides from the shore, reef patches where resident snappers gather in numbers and green and hawksbill turtles are frequently found resting on ledges. These sites work well as an easy second or third dive of the day.
2 nearby options are worth building into a Derawan dive schedule. Pulau Panjang, a long island just next to Derawan, has become known for its macro life: satomi pygmy seahorses, sea dragons, ghost pipefish, frogfish, blue-ringed octopus, harlequin shrimp and tiger shrimp all turn up in its sandy, rubble-strewn shallows. Further towards the mainland coast at Talisayan, local fishermen operate floating platforms known as bagans, and whale sharks gather around them. Snorkel and dive trips to these bagans are arranged on Derawan once you are there, as the sharks' location shifts with conditions.
Kakaban
Kakaban's outer perimeter is one continuous drop-off, a limestone wall that plunges to around 180 metres and carries the kind of current that keeps divers on their toes. This is where the archipelago's bigger animals turn up, and the diving has a different character to the sheltered reefs around Pulau Derawan. The island also holds something no other dive site in the region can offer, though that part of the day happens with a mask and snorkel rather than a tank.
Barracuda Point is the headline site on Kakaban's outer reef. The dive begins in moderate current and builds as you round the corner, so a reef hook earns its place in your pocket. Once stationed, the show is a dense school of chevron barracuda hanging in the flow, alongside jacks, rainbow runners, and batfish. Reef sharks work the edges, and larger pelagics pass through. Currents here are strong enough that some operators recommend this site only for advanced divers, and bottom times can be short. Blue Light Cave is a technical site, strictly for experienced deep or cave-certified divers. Entry is through a narrow crack near the surface that descends a vertical chimney to about 21 metres, where it opens into a large cavern roughly 120 metres long. The exit is a vertical crack in the wall at 44 metres. The name comes from the blue light filtering through from the open sea .
Kelapa Dua is a steep vertical wall thick with soft corals and sizeable sea fans. The site is known as an early-morning spot for thresher sharks, and the reef itself holds bluefin trevallies, dogtooth tuna, and hawksbill and green turtles. The deeper sections reward a look into the blue, while the shallows offer productive multilevel diving over staghorn coral fields. Meditation Wall, also known as Sea Wall, is a classic drift along the drop-off. The pace is calmer here, which gives you time to work the fans and ledges for Denise's pygmy seahorse, leaf scorpionfish, and frogfish. It has produced thresher sharks, eagle rays, and the occasional hammerhead passing in the blue. West Point and Cabbages Coral sit on Kakaban's more sheltered western side, where the current eases and the diving is more forgiving. The cabbage leaf coral formations are the draw here, along with a gentler profile that suits divers who want to study the reef rather than fight it.
Jellyfish Lake in the middle of Kakaban is a snorkelling site, and scuba diving is not permitted. You reach it by a short trek through limestone forest, then a boardwalk descent to the water's edge. 4 species of jellyfish live in the brackish lake, including the golden jellyfish (Mastigias papua) and moon jellyfish (Aurelia aurita), and they have lost their ability to sting after generations without predators. The experience is unlike any reef dive: you float among thousands of soft, pulsing bodies in still water, with white anemones visible in the algae below. The ecosystem is fragile, so sunblock is not permitted and touching the jellyfish is not allowed.
A word of caution is worth including here. Visitor numbers and sunscreen use have taken a toll on the lake's jellyfish population in recent years, and the site has been closed temporarily at least once when the jellyfish disappeared. If you visit, follow the rules, keep your distance, and treat it as the rare place it is.
Maratua
Maratua is a large U-shaped atoll that sits on the edge of the Celebes Sea, and its geography shapes everything about the diving here. The outer reef faces deep water, which means steep walls, reliable current, and a steady supply of pelagic life; the western and southern sites tend to be more sheltered. Inside the atoll, the lagoon is calm, but the channel connecting lagoon to open ocean is where the action happens. Maratua is also home to more than 20 established dive sites, giving scuba divers plenty of options across multiple days.Maratua's position on the atoll rim means conditions vary by side.
Big Fish Country (The Channel) is Maratua's signature dive and the reason many divers make the trip. The channel sits between the lagoon and the open sea, and tidal flow through it can be strong. Divers typically hook in at the channel mouth around 20 to 30 metres and watch the parade: grey reef sharks, bigeye jacks, dogtooth tuna, eagle rays, and a resident school of chevron barracuda that can number over a thousand. The barracuda form a column that shifts shape with the current, and the experience is frequently compared to Sipadan's famous barracuda point. This is a site for experienced divers comfortable with current and reef hooks.
Turtle Traffic lives up to its name. Green and hawksbill turtles gather here in numbers, often resting under table corals and in crevices, particularly at low tide. The site is shallow, maxing out around 15 metres, which makes it accessible to a wide range of divers and a good choice for a relaxed second or third dive of the day. Lighthouse and Gorgonzola sit on Maratua's northern side. Lighthouse is a deep wall with a sandy plateau around 40 metres, strong current, and a reputation for big pelagic encounters. Gorgonzola offers a wall-and-plateau profile with healthy gorgonian cover, bumphead parrotfish, and white-tip reef sharks, with somewhat milder conditions than Lighthouse. Mid Reef is known for passing pelagics, including thresher sharks and nurse sharks, along with eagle rays and turtles. Fantasy Wall is a gorgonian-heavy northern wall with strong current and regular eagle ray sightings; it can be dived with either shoulder to the wall depending on flow direction.
Sambit
Sambit sits at the far edge of the Derawan chain, an uninhabited island that receives almost no day-trip traffic. Its isolation is the point. While the archipelago's better-known islands draw boats and divers throughout the season, Sambit remains the domain of liveaboards, which anchor here for a day or two of exploration diving rather than a quick stop.
The reef system around Sambit is best known for its coral condition and its turtles. Liveaboard operators describe pristine hard coral fields, abundant marine life and visibility that frequently exceeds 30 metres. Hawksbill turtles are the most consistent sighting, with green turtles also present. Sambit is one of the Berau Regency's recognised turtle nesting islands, and the island has been the focus of recent conservation efforts to protect nests from poaching.
For Sambit diving, the deeper drop-offs carry a reputation within the liveaboard community for tiger shark encounters. This is one of the few places in Indonesia where these sharks are sighted with some regularity. It is not a guarantee, and sightings are weather and current dependent, but it is a genuine draw for divers willing to put in the time on the wall. Pelagic activity in the blue also includes hammerhead and thresher sharks, manta rays, barracuda, jacks and tuna, with the occasional whale shark passing through.
Karang Lintang, a sand cay roughly 2 miles west of Pulau Belambangan, anchors the main established coral zone in the area. The reef here holds healthy hard coral formations that cascade toward deeper water, with the usual reef fish and a good chance of turtles. Conditions around Sambit are generally milder than the current-exposed sites at Maratua's channel, with mild to medium currents and good visibility . The diving suits a range of experience levels, though the deeper drop-offs and open-ocean position call for solid buoyancy and comfort in the blue.
Sangalaki
Sangalaki lies furthest offshore of the main Derawan islands, and that distance shows in the water. Visibility runs clearer here than at its neighbours, and a resident population of reef mantas has made the island one of the archipelago's headline diving destinations. Green turtles nest on its beaches throughout the year, with hatching peaking between June and September. The diving is mostly shallow, rarely dropping past 20 metres, which opens the sites to Open Water divers while still giving photographers plenty to work with. Coral coverage is exceptional, and the invertebrate life is correspondingly rich: cuttlefish, frogfish, blue-ribbon eels, nudibranchs, and the usual Indo-Pacific reef fish.
The manta sites sit along the northern and north-eastern shoreline. Manta Parade is a cleaning station where rays hover over coral bommies while wrasse work across their undersides. Manta Run and Manta Avenue are drift dives along sandy channels and coral heads where mantas feed in plankton-rich current. These are reef mantas, resident rather than seasonal, so encounters are possible year-round, with concentrations highest during the dry season plankton blooms from roughly May to September. Snorkellers often get the best views, since the mantas frequently feed close to the surface.
A handful of other named sites round out a day's diving: Turtle Town, Coral Gardens, Lighthouse Reef, Sandy Ridge, and Eel Ridge. Turtle Town is the pick for green turtles resting under coral overhangs. Coral Gardens also works well after dark. Lighthouse Reef holds a pair of shallow wrecks now colonised by soft corals and reef fish.
We offer liveaboard cruises here to discover all the main regions. Very few vessels operate in this corner of Indonesia, which keeps the sites quiet. A liveaboard removes the daily crossings: you anchor beside Maratua's channel or Sangalaki's manta stations, ready for the first dive of the morning. Trips typically run 7 to 11 nights, departing from Tarakan or Berau.
The archipelago suits a range of divers. The shallow reefs around Derawan Island and Sangalaki's manta sites are accessible to open water divers, with depths rarely exceeding 20 metres. Maratua's channel is a different proposition: tidal currents here are strong, and the site is best suited to experienced divers comfortable with drift diving and reef hooks. Kakaban's outer walls also see current, while its jellyfish lake is snorkelling only.
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Being only 2 degrees north of the equator means that Sangalaki isn't really visited by a monsoon season so the diving and weather conditions are steady and fine throughout the year. There are 2 seasons in Kalimantan, the Rainy Season which runs from December to March, and the Dry Season which lasts the rest of the year, however since this is the tropics, those seasons do not count for much. The air temperature is a constant 28-30°C year round. And with the Derawan archipelago being located offshore, light sea breezes ensure that the islands do not suffer from the high humidity of the mainland. For Derawan diving, that translates into year-round access rather than a narrow window.
Water visibility in Sangalaki ranges from 8-30m but averages about 20m. If can fall as low as 25-30 feet (8-10 metres) or be in excess of 100 feet (30+ M.). Kakaban and Maratua tend to have slightly better visibility because they are further offshore, while Derawan Island's sheltered reef tends to be the murkiest of the group. Sea temperature is a fairly constant 28°C year round. Surface conditions can turn choppy, particularly on the crossings between islands, and currents range from gentle on the house reefs to genuinely strong at Maratua's channel and Kakaban's outer walls.
The manta rays, turtles and stingless jellyfish can be seen all year round. The whale sharks are most commonly seen in the mornings over the period of each new moon, but have been seen at other times of the month. They can be seen around Derawan but move to Talisayan between mid-May and mid-September due to the southerly winds. Pelagic threshers are seen most often in the afternoon and during rising tides at their cleaning stations off Maratua and Kakaban, while leopard sharks rest on Maratua's eastern atoll year-round. The practical upshot is that you do not need to plan around a single species.
For more information on the climate of Tarakan, North Kalimantan, visit Weather Spark.
Where is Derawan and How Do I Get There?
Most trips include transfers from Tarakan's Juwata International Airport (TRK) or Berau's Kalimarau Airport (BEJ), with direct flights from Jakarta and Surabaya, and connections via Balikpapan. Review our map below of Indonesia, showing the location of Derawan Archipelago in Kalimantan. Here, you will find information on how to get to the ports of departure in Indonesia, from where you will connect to Kalimantan.
Reef Summary
Depth
5 - >40m
Visibility
10 - 30m
Currents
Gentle to moderate
Surface conditions
Can be choppy
Water temperature
28 - 30°C
Experience level
Beginner - advanced
Number of dive sites
~50
Recommended length of stay
6 - 8 days
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