Derawan Island beach is a beach located in the Berau District and in the Strait of Sulawesi, not far from the Malaysian border province of East Kalimantan. Derawan Island into a marine tourism destination that becomes a very attractive choice for you who love the beach with soft white sand and clear water glistening. Moreover, added bonus benign encounter turtles are swimming around happily while we do the dive. Because this area is the area of empowerment of the small turtles. Occasionally even the turtles that seem to roam around the cottage is located on the coast of the island. At nightfall, several turtles went ashore and lay eggs there.
Sea and moss color blend produces stunning shades of blue and green, as well as a small forest in the middle, make this island so beautiful natural scenery presents a pity to pass up. What remains, deep memories.
Dr. Carden Wallace of the Museum of Tropical Queensland, Australia has examined the wealth of marine Derawan Island and find more than 50 types of Arcropora (marine animals) in a coral reef. No one seems if Derawan island famous as a third of the world's top dive destination for international
This island is relatively less well known especially in the country because of its own struggle to achieve it takes a pretty winding. You must first go to Balikpapan from Jakarta, Surabaya, Yogyakarta or Denpasar, to get to this island. Approximately two hours travel time of flight from Jakarta to Balikpapan.
From Aberdeen, you still have to fly to Cape Redeb for one hour with a small plane that served by KAL Star, Deraya or DAS. In addition, Cape Redeb can also be reached by sea, by climbing or boat from Samarinda Tarakan to Tanjung Redeb followed by renting a motorboat to the island Derawan long trips less than 2 hours.
Many foreigners who just got off the plane at the airport Kalimarau, Cape Redeb Derawan went directly to the island by motorboat that has been moored at a specific port.
Alternatively it could be through land route from Balikpapan to Tanjung Batu and from there crossed over to the island Derawan. Only this is not a good choice because of travel crossing itself takes up to a dozen hours with a relatively unpleasant terrain.
Even so, you know, just a lot of foreign tourists who already knew more about the existence of this exotic island. A number of Japanese tourists through travel from Tokyo who was there "Slapshot" go to Singapore or to Sabah and then continue the trip to Aberdeen, then to Cape Redeb using small aircraft.
They utilize their time during the Derawan with diving, down the underwater beauty of the island which indeed is the best location for diving. Moreover, with the condition of the remote islands and "virgin" increasingly add to the charm anyone to enjoy it as long as possible.
It goes all the way, only within 50 meters from the beach, we can already see the beautiful coral reefs and colorful fish back and forth. The water is very clear. You can rent snorkels at Rp 30 thousand per day. If you want to dive deeper, we can find a fish that is more "exotic" such as grouper, red fish, fish kurisi, barracuda fish, sea cucumbers, and mussels. On a rock at a depth of ten meters, there is a reef known as "Trigger Blue Wall" because of the reef with a length of 18 meters there is a lot of trigger fish (red-toothed trigger fishes).
Derawan Island provides a place of lodging facilities (cottages), rental of diving equipment and also a restaurant. There is also a low-cost lodging-inn run by local people. The range of prices ranging from Rp 45 thousand to USD 100 thousand / night.
If Not Satisfied You can also visit other islands around Derawan. For example: Sangalaki Island, Maratua, and Kakaban which has its own uniqueness. Pari Fish Blue (Manta Rays) that had reached 3.5 meters wide with a population on the island Sangalaki. Can also be found-even if lucky enough black-stingray with wide "wingspan" 6 meters. While Kakaban have the uniqueness of a prehistoric lake that is in the middle of the sea, the only one in Asia.