Saturday, November 11, 2017

Beautiful Diving Travel Destination in Maratua Island

The adventure to the island of Maratua that is located on the Derawan island conducted through air travel by plane. From Jakarta, Capital City of Indonesia, the plane landed in Balikpapan. Then from Pontianak, we take the ATR type aircraft to Tanjung Beret, Berau District. East Kalimantan Province. From Berau airport, we then take a road trip by car to Tanjung Batu for approximately two and a half hours drive. From Tanjung Batu, we can rent a speedboat to Derawan Islands.
The first island we will visit from Derawan Islands is Maratua Island. During the trip by speedboat to Maratua, we get a pleasant surprise, a welcome from a herd of dolphins who are looking for food. These dolphins usually appear in the morning when the sea water is not too high. After an hour's drive, we will arrive at Maratua Island.
Maratua Island Paradise Resort 2
Maratua Island Paradise Resort


After arriving in Maratua, we can choose where to stay. There are several places to stay, namely maratua Paradise resort, Mirrorliz Pelangi Cottage, Sari Cottage Derawan, and Ilham Inn, and homestay provided by the locals. One of which we will live is the Maratua Paradise Resort. The nice thing about this resort is that some of its residences are built on the blue sea surface on the beach. Of course this will add a natural atmosphere close to nature. Many call this resort stay as 'Maldives from Indonesia'.
After an overnight break, in the morning we can dive under the sea. We will climb the speedboat to the point of dive, called Coral Garden, located near Sangalaki island, which is about fifty minutes away. Many foreign tourists who come to dive in this Maratua Island because of being fascinated by the beauty of nature under the sea.
Maratua Island Paradise Resort
Maratua Island Paradise Resort

Arriving at the Coral garden, a vast expanse of coral reefs lined under the sea. Inside, we can see Tiger Clown fish eating coral reefs, Lion Fish with long and poisonous thorns. We can also see manta rays, which is the main reason foreign tourists come to this point of dive.
Once satisfied to dive in Maratua, next we will go to Kakaban Island. From Maratua, we take a speedboat to Kakaban Island with a travel time for thirty minutes only. The main attraction of this kakaban island, is the existence of jelly fish stingless in the lake Kakaban. To get to this lake, we have to walk to the inside of Kakaban island, about ten minutes walk. The bridge of Ulin wood is built by the managers along the journey from the jetty of Kakaban island to the lake of Kakaban.
After arriving at the Lake of Kakaban, there are rules that you must obey before you do snorkeling in this lake, that you can not touch, hold and lift this jellyfish out of water, because it can endanger the safety of this jellyfish itself, due to run out of air. By the lake kakaban manager, we are only allowed to see it. We also should not wear frog legs (fins) at the time of snorkeling, because it is feared to injure the jellyfish.
Jelly Fish Stingless Kakaban
Jelly Fish Stingless in Lake of Kakaban

These jellyfish are only fifteen to twenty centimeters in size. His graceful moves invite us to dance and dance, and it is a rare sight that is difficult for us to see up close elsewhere. Totol jellyfish is the most common jellyfish species in this place. In addition there are transparent jellyfish whose size is larger and flat. This jellyfish has Latin name Aurelia aurita which is better known as moon jelly fish. In addition, there is also an inverted jellyfish that entered in the Cassiopea family.
Jelly Fish Stingless in Kakaban
Jelly Fish Stingless in Kakaban

According to the explanation of the manager, these jellyfish are not toxic resulting from being trapped in a freshwater lake separated from the ocean. The absence of natural predators in these lakes eventually made these jellyfish evolve for millions of years and make them lose their toxic tentacles. Throughout the world, there are only a few places that have jelly fish stingless, namely in Polynesia, Raja Ampat Papua, Haji Buang Lake on Maratua Island, and Lake Kakaban.

Next, we will explore Maratua Island itself. More precisely we will see Jelly Fish Stingless in Haji Buang Lake and Haji Mangku Cave. We can use a motorcycle or use a speedboat to both places. Travel overland may be a more cost-effective option. The trip to the resort takes about thirty minutes. If you use a speedboat, it takes only half of it, but when the tide is low, you are not allowed to use the speedboat to get to the location the twelve-kilometer land route was initially traversed through a smooth asphalt road. However, after that close to the location, we have to go through a rocky dirt road. The first location we will visit is Haji Mangku cave. The fresh blue water is ready to welcome us here. The right time visiting this place is during the day so that we can see the underwater scenery, because the sun can penetrate into the depth of the water.
Next we will visit the Haji Buang lake. This place is introduced by the resort manager as a tourist destination starting in 2013, so this place is still not too crowded visited by tourists. Swim with the jellyfish not sting, again, is a tourist destination in Haji Buang lake. According to the manager, since the locals put turtles in this lake, the population of jellyfish did not sting to be reduced, which is because these turtles eat the jellyfish.
When doing snorkeling here, the jellyfish here are few in number than in the Lake of Kakaban. The water is also slightly more turbid than in Kakaban lake. However, there is nothing wrong we try to swim with the jellyfish in this place.

Joyful Indonesia.

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