Back to the jungle (and the palm oil plantations)

Day 14 - Jakarta to Pangkalan Bun 

Back to Borneo today with a short flight to Pangkalan Bun in the south of the island. As we came in to land it was easy to spot the palm oil plantations encroaching on the jungle.

There were five of us now so on arrival at the small airport we jumped into two taxis to get to the modern Mercure Hotel near the centre of town. There was some heavy rain just after we arrived, but it stopped in time for us to walk down the street for a quick explore followed by some shopping then dinner at the hotel.

This mosque is actually kind of interesting

Day 13 - Jakarta 

We only had one full day in Jakarta and we had read that the traffic in this city of 40 million people can be really bad, so we decided to treat ourselves to a private half day tour of the city, which would also get as back to the airport in time to meet someone who was arriving from Bali that afternoon.

We were collected from our hotel at 10am, and fortunately at this time on a Sunday the traffic wasn't too bad. Our first stop was the Istiqlal mosque, which didn't look like a mosque at all but more like an austere government building. Strangely it hadn't been designed by an Islamic architect but rather by a Protestant. The design was very functional as it could accommodate up to 200,000 people on the numerous open plan floors which were designed to allow cooling breezes to blow through. Initially we weren't that keen on seeing another mosque after our trip to Pakistan last year, but we both agreed that this mosque was definitely worth a visit. 

After a quick look at the Jakarta Cathedral across the road from the mosque we drove to the National Monument in Merdeka Square, a very tall monolith with a museum in the base containing dioramas with a comprehensive history of Indonesia from prehistoric times up to the present day. This was where the advantage of being on a private tour became apparent, as we were able to skip buying tickets and jump ahead of the long line of locals waiting to get in.  

We then walked around old city, with a huge square and many Dutch colonial buildings, with lots of tourists and locals in Fatahillah Square enjoying their Sunday. Inside on of the old buildings we visited a traditional a puppet workshop where tales from Hindu mythology are told via intricately carved and painted shadow puppets made from leather.

The final stop in our tour was at the old wharves where Jakarta's problem with sinking was explained to us, as the city is built on a swamp and parts of it are below sea level, and even though it is protected by a sea wall it still floods regularly. 

We managed to beat the rain which started falling as we drove back to the airport, arriving in time to meet Courtney and family flying in from Bali to join us for our two night boat trip to see wild orangutans near Tanjung Puting in South Kalimantan.

I've been stuck in worse airports than this

Day 12 - Berau to Jakarta

We were leaving Eastern Kalimantan today but that wasn't until the afternoon, so before breakfast M went for a walk to explore the local area. It was 8am and already warming up, and as it was a Saturday morning the locals were doing their shopping at the stalls along the main street.

Our next major destination is in south west Borneo, but the way the flights and timing work out we need to fly all the way to Jakarta before taking another flight back again. This is also one of the flights we had to rebook due to an "operational change", so instead of flying direct as we originally planned we had to change planes at Balikpapan. Who'd have thought we'd get to spend a few more hours at the lovely Balikpapan Airport? 

We landed in Jakarta as the sun was setting, and we had a little trouble finding our hotel at the far end of Terminal 3. The hotel itself was fine, and as it was getting late we ate at the hotel restaurant, sharing a spicy satay.

Up the river

Day 11 - Maratua to Berau

We were sorry to leave Arasatu and Maratua, we were worried that we may have had too much island time but we think we could have done with another day here. Part of the appeal is how quiet it is and most of the time it was as if we were the only ones here. 

We were booked on the 10am public boat back to the mainland. We hopped on board and sat with the some Indonesian tourists, who were curious about where we were from and where we'd been travelling.

The boat trip was more comfortable than we expected and very smooth as it was another calm day. We thought the boat was heading back to the port at Tanjung Batu where we would have to pick up another car and endure the bumpy road back to Berau, but we actually followed the river all the way back to the ferry port in the centre of town. The entire return trip only took about two and a half hours.

Our flight to Jakarta wasn't for another 24 hours or so, so we spent the afternoon at the modern Mercure, where we took advantage of their high tea special - $3.75 for two people is an offer too good to pass up!  

Time for a break

Day 10 - Maratua Island

After a few busy days of diving we decided to take a break. We enjoyed the view from our over water bungalow and caught up on some washing and blog posting, before enjoying our final sunset at Maratua.

The other tourists we've met in Borneo so far have mainly been Indonesian. Everyone we've met, including the locals on Derawan and Maratua have been exceptionally friendly and open, very ready to chat with welcoming smiles.

Why are they just sitting there like blobs of jelly?

Day 9 - Maratua Island

At 10am we left Arasatu in our private boat to go diving and snorkelling. The boat was larger and more comfortable than the Derawan dive boats, and our first stop was to nearby Sangalaki Island, which we'd been unable to visit while at Derawan. Sangalaki is famous for its Manta rays but we were told at Arasatu that they haven't been seen for the last few years. We hadn't been told this at Derawan and online there are still many dive centres actively promoting the Manta rays. We were told that they have been over-fished for the Chinese market, and also that even if they were around this wasn't the right time of year.

We stopped just off the shore at the Manta Eel dive spot. K joked with the dive master about whether he'd messaged the leopard shark to make sure he turned up to work today, and after entering the water and descending down to 12 meters there was a leopard shark lying on the bottom, which immediately swam away. 

There was plenty of colourful coral and an array of interesting fish, K spotted what looked like a dark brown sea sponge which suddenly propelled itself forward, hid under a rock and changed colour to match the rock it was on - it was an octopus.

We then moved on to Kakaban Island, we followed the steps and the boardwalk about 500 metres to reach the huge lake in the centre of the island which is filled with millions of non-stinging jellyfish.  

Over thousands of years the jellyfish have lost the ability to sting as they don't have any predators. Unfortunately almost all of the jellyfish were asleep and motionless on the bottom of the lake, so our visit wasn't as exciting as the photos we'd seen of people surrounded by swimming jellyfish. After 15 minutes snorkeling in the lake we headed back to the boat to our next dive spot just a few minutes boat ride way.

Kakaban Reef follows the shore of the island and has a giant coral wall that goes to 180 metres deep. K dived to seventeen metres, the current pulling her along the wall for an hour,  while M snorkelled on the surface, also drifting along and finishing well past where K ended up. The wall was spectacular and full of coral, fish and gorgonia sea fans. M also saw what he thought was a grey nurse shark, as well as a giant turtle. The dive master saw a white tipped shark but unfortunately K missed it. There was a problem with the valve on her BCD leaking so the dive master stayed very close and did a good job to manage her buoyancy for her.

We were dropped back at Arasatu where we spent the evening watching the sunset followed by an impressive lightning show on the horizon.

Nice location, nice villa!

Day 8 - Derawan Island to Maratua Island 

We had been offered two options for our trip to Maratua, a small speedboat or a larger two engine boat. Grace had suggested that the weather should be fine so the small boat would be OK, it turned out she was correct as it was a very calm morning. After a delicious breakfast of freshly cooked bread, waffles and muffins we said our farewells to Grace and her staff then hopped into the boat. The trip was quick and smooth, arriving at the jetty at Arasatu Villas in only 50 minutes. 

After a welcome drink we were shown to our beautiful over water villa. Above the bed was a retractable roof which allowed us to see the sky above, the water was crystal blue, the luxury stone bathroom had an open ceiling and snorkels were supplied. We quickly agreed that we liked this villa better than the one we'd had in the Maldives.

Maratua is a much larger island than Derawan and the resorts are spread out a lot more, we could see the villas at other resorts in the distance but we felt as if we almost had the place to ourselves.

We went to find out about diving options, and after setting up a meeting with the divemaster for later in the day we were taken in the hotel buggy to the crumbling jetty at Turtle Point about 20 minutes away where M went snorkelling to see some turtles and coral. He managed to see three turtles, but K saw even more just sitting on the jetty! On the way back to the villa we drove through the small town on the island, the locals were going about their normal business, very few tourists appeared to be around.

At dinner time we met the dive master and made arrangements to go out the next day, then we sat at the restaurant for drinks and dinner as the sun set. It was very quiet, just one other couple was there for dinner. 

A better diving day

Day 7 - Derawan Island

The original plan for the day was to visit Sangalaki Island where we hoped to see manta rays, but our host Grace came to our bungalow to tell us that police had caught a fisherman using dynamite to kill fish. That meant diving had closed for the day while they checked for more explosives, so we ended up doing a couple of dives around Derawan, with a new dive master with better English and better communication skills.

Our first spot was at the Coral Gardens only 10 minutes away. This time M had a local to snorkel with, so he didn't need to stay around the boat as he did yesterday, instead he was able to follow the current and wait for the boat to pick him up when ready. There was plenty of colourful fish and coral, and K was able to see moray eels, stingrays and a cuttlefish that changed colour and shape to look like a piece of coral, exceptional camouflage.

The second dive was at Turtle Point very close to one of the island's many jetties. The tide was starting to rise which meant the giant turtles were asleep, so K was surprised that once again the dive master was going close enough to them that they woke and swam away. She also saw a number of lionfish that changed colour and displayed their fans of poisonous spikes when threatened.

Overall today's dive and snorkelling was a much better experience than the previous day's - better dive master, better weather, and a better range of coral and animals.

After finishing the dives for the day M did some more exploring, finding another path across the island and encountering a few Indonesian tourists as well as some giant centipedes along the way. 

Finally a whale shark, but .....

Day 6 - Derawan Island

A 4:30am start for an early trip to Talisayan to see the whale sharks, an animal K has been wanting to see for a long time, after missing out in Tofo, Mozambique when they all dived to the bottom just as she was about to jump in. K had arranged for our island stay to be at the time of the new moon, the best time to see the whale sharks that hang around the floating fishing pontoons.

We left at around 5:30am for a very rough trip in a small two engine boat, driven by what appeared to be a 14 year old. We were relieved that the bumping around was over when we arrived at the whale shark pontoon around 7am. Two other boats were there and six other tourists were already in the water snorkeling incredibly close to the lone whale shark. 

The fishermen were throwing buckets of dead sardines into the shark's cavernous mouth, it was almost like a dog begging for scraps at the table. The fish smell was overpowering and visibility in the water was only a couple of metres because of the amount of dead fish bits floating around. 

K dived while M snorkeled, at times we both had to scramble to get out of the way of the whale shark, and at one point he flicked one of K's legs as it swam past. Although it was good to finally see a whale shark, it felt too crowded and quite unethical, it wasn't quite what we'd expected. 

After 40 minutes or so we jumped back into the boat for the two hour return journey. Not quite as rough but still quite uncomfortable, and it had just started raining as we arrived back at the island, just making it inside before a massive storm with thunder and lightning, the wind and rain shaking our over water bungalow.

After a couple of hours the storm had passed so we could head out again for a second dive at Snapper Point, only 10 minutes away. K did a drift dive with the dive master, while M snorkeled around the boat. The divemaster had limited English and was generally uncommunicative, it was difficult to know what was happening without any briefing or explanation. The rain storm meant that visibility was poor but K still managed to see a large turtle and different sized moray eels. What was surprising was the dive master disturbing and handling a number of small sea creatures, since a key rule of diving is that divers shouldn't touch or disturb any sea creature.

We had another lovely dinner on the deck provided by our accommodation at Derawan Dive Lodge. It's shoulder season and we are the only ones staying here, and elsewhere around the island most of the tourists we've see have been Indonesian.

A boneshaker of a trip!

Day 5 - Berau (Tanjung Redep) to Derawan Island

A convoluted route today to get to Derawan Island off the east coast of Borneo.
We started with a two and a half hour drive on a very poor and windy road which followed the river to the port of Tanjung Batu. The trip was made worse by travelling in a tiny putt-putt car that couldn't hold all of our luggage in the boot, and had trouble making it up hills. On arrival at the port we hopped into a speed boat for a much smoother half hour trip to Derawan.

The boat dropped us right at the steps leading up to our over water villa, now that's door to door service! Lunch was waiting for us and we settled in and made arrangements with our hosts at Derawan Dive Lodge for our next few days of diving and snorkeling.

M went to explore the island, managing to get all the way around in about half an hour. It wasn't busy season so the cobbled streets were quiet, with few other tourists around, most of them being Indonesian. There were no cars, the main mode of transportation was motorbike, and there were shops full of electric bikes ready to hire. 

Further on the houses and shops were replaced by empty beaches and run down resorts. Presumably things get busier later in the year but for now it was all quiet and empty.

Just before dinner we took a walk up through the centre of the island, past families who smiled at us and kids who waved at us. Some of the small restaurants were getting food ready for later, with fish on display and in the process of being grilled over an open flame.

Dinner back at the lodge was plates of chicken, rice, fish, vegetables and fruit - a bit too much for us so we asked that they try not to over cater for us next time.