Derawan

Derawan Islands: Tarakan-Berau, Berau-Tarakan

Disclaimer: Itineraries are only orientative and might be modified due to weather conditions, sea conditions and other external causes.

• DAY 1: Arrival in Berau, embarking and briefings. (if the starting point is Tarakan, optional visit to the mangrove and proboscis monkey conservation park in the afternoon). Overnight sail to Derawan. (*Note that there is no diving on the first day of the cruise, whichever the starting point)
• DAY 2: Early morning check dive in Derawan, critter diving in the jetties. Second and third dives in the north coast of Maratua atoll, like Fusilier (with the big swirl of barracudas) and Midreef, with possibilities of sighting thresher shark.
• DAY 3: Full diving day on the east coast of Maratua, in famed sites such as The Channel, Shark City and Nunukan Express, with sharks and large schools of barracudas and bigeye jacks. Afternoon visit to snorkel the natural canyon of Halo Tabung and night dive SW of the atoll.
• DAY 4: Two morning dives in Karang Muaras, to look for the thresher sharks and other pelagics. Afternoon and night dive in Pualu Sambi.
• DAY 5: Full diving day in the bagans, fishing outriggers where whalesharks come to feed on scraps from the night catch of little anchovies. Night dive in a nearby reef and night sail to Sangalaki.
• DAY 6: Dive the manta sites in Sangalaki, and afternoon visit to the turtle rookerie at the Conservation Centre, followed by a night dive in Pulau Samama.
• DAY 7: Full diving day in Kakaban, including the hammerhead site and the thresher site. Visit to the Jellyfish Lake between dives.
• DAY 8: Two morning dives in Maratua, possibly The Channel and Gorgonzola, and afternoon sail back to departure port, to fly the morning after.

*Optional extension 3 night river trip to the orangutan reserve of Tanjung Puting in south Kalimantan can be done flying from both Tarakan and Berau to Tanjung Putting, boarding the riverboat (Klotok) the same day in the afternoon.