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.