There aren’t many places in the world that promise amazing macro, big-fish encounters and rip-roaring current dives in a single location, and yet still remain little known to the outside world. However, just off Kalimantan’s east coast the atoll of Maratua offers all three, and a little bit more…
The Celebes Sea. Not many divers have actually heard of this huge expanse of deep water, but mention the fact that both Sipadan and Manado are found here and they’ll know what to expect. Both locations have long been justifiably famous as dive sites but what is surprising is how little known the rest of this huge basin actually is. Some areas like the Sulu Archipelago in the southern Philippines are a little too risky for most tourists and much of the southern and eastern boundaries are just plain difficult to explore. However, on the western edge of the Celebes, just off the coast of Kalimantan, lies a chain of atolls and islands that offer some of the best diving to be found throughout South East Asia.
Making up the Derawan Archipelago, the islands of Sangalaki, Derawan, Kakaban and Samama have been dived for some time – all have a reputation for offering some quite unique experiences. But head past these islands and you finally encounter the atoll of Maratua, situated more than 50kms off Kalimantan’s muddy coastline. A series of raised coral islands makes up the northern half of the atoll whilst the southern end is defined by continuous ring of submerged reefs. The total area of the atoll is huge and with only a small population of fisherman living in 4 villages scattered around the atoll, the marine environment here is still in amazing condition. Diving tourism at Maratua is still very low-key, mainly because of the lengthy travel times involved getting out to the atoll. Situated on the eastern side of the central lagoon, Nabucco Resort has now been running for several years. In 2005 a new resort, Maratua Paradise, was opened on the western side offering easy access to Maratua’s dive sites, as well as the rest of the Derawan Archipelago.
The resort’s house reef is a perfect example of what Maratua has to offer. The steady currents that flow past the atoll are perfect for the growth of corals – as a result the steep walls are covered in colourful gorgonians and plates of hard coral. Beautiful clear water makes a drift along this section of reef a pleasure in itself but it is the variety of life that gets divers in the water again and again. Two species of pygmy seahorses are found hiding in the fans, turtles are everywhere and incredibly, thresher sharks are seen at a deep cleaning station on a regular basis. This house reef is probably the only one in the world that can offer pygmies and threshers on a single dive!
Just south of the resort, Cabbage Patch has a huge expanse of delicate corals and several giant clams in a shallow bowl at the edge of the reef. Giant elephant ear sponges proliferate on a deep shoulder of reef that juts out into the current whilst schools of bumphead parrotfish and fusiliers cruise along the reef top. Further north, the reef slope at Last Sand Coconut is broken up into gentle shelves that provide perfect resting places for the green and hawksbill turtles that seem to hide around every corner. And at the far north of the atoll, Lighthouse offers ripping currents, grey and blacktip sharks, Napoleon wrasse and what could well be one of the biggest schools of batfish a diver is ever likely to see.
Even a dive right in front of the resort offers a great deal more than would normally be expected. At sunset, beautiful mandarinfish and picture dragonets emerge from the coral rubble to start their mating dances and tiny cuttlefish stalk polkadot cardinals hiding in the staghorn coral. Sea snakes are often seen hunting and large schools of razorfish hover in the shelter of the legs of the resort restaurant. Leaf scorpionfish, stonefish, pipefish and sleepy filefish are all easily found – sunset diving at Maratua means the rare and unusual become commonplace!
However the highlight of a trip to Maratua has to be a dive in the channel. Facing the deep waters of the Celebes Sea, a narrow cut in the reef feeds the atoll’s central lagoon – huge amounts of water flows through this pass with every change in the tides. Most of the time this current makes a dive here impossible, but by dropping in just at the change of slack tide, divers are rewarded with a remarkable experience. The concentration of life at the mouth of the channel is simply incredible. Huge schools of barracuda, jacks and snappers hang just off the reef, whilst tuna, giant travallies and grey sharks cruise the dark blue water. Eagle rays, mantas, black blotched stingrays and even hammerhead sharks are all encountered on a regular basis – where Maratua meets the deep waters of the Celebes sea, anything is possible.
The nearby islands of the Dearawan Archipelago all have their own unique selling points. Sangalaki has its mantas and nesting turtles, Derawan has some great muck diving and Kakaban has a remarkable jellyfish lake to rival that found in Palau. Combined with Maratua’s steep walls, fantastic diversity and adrenaline-rush current dives, the exploration of the far reaches of the Celebes Sea has never been more enticing.
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