Daniel Brinckmann concludes his adventures on Nabucco in Maratua Atoll, off the Indonesian half of Borneo, with a day trip incorporating a jellyfish lake, before making the one-hour transfer to sister resort Nunukan
Photographs by Daniel Brinckmann
Photographs by Daniel Brinckmann
“It is almost unheard of when it comes to resort island-based diving in Indonesia, but encounters with several big rays, leopard and reef sharks, tunas and two dozen turtles within a single dive are indeed realistic”
Another standalone feature of the region, Indonesia’s most-famous Jellyfish Lake on the island of Kakaban is only an hour’s boat ride away from Nabucco and visited during the triple dive day trip that is usually offered once a week. Early morning dives at the local thresher shark hangout, splendid soft corals along the western wall and Barracuda Point, which is famous for clouds of schooling fish and infamous for serious downcurrents, are already legitimate reasons to pay the surcharge.
However, the mandatory snorkelling excursion in the green, hot and brackish floods is just as memorable as one’s first dolphin or shark encounter and simply a must-do.
All four species of medusae present – box, Papuan parasol, moon and upside-down mangrove jellyfish – are harmless to snorkellers as their stinging cells withered away in adaption to the lack of predators over thousands of years.
Photographers and biology-geeks will equally enjoy the unique biotope along the shoreline with colourful sponges covering mangrove roots, gobies and starfish that managed to adapt to what was once a landlocked saltwater lake.
Most certainly, after returning to Nabucco, they will certainly prefer the bar overlooking the sea over the beach volleyball…
Then again, Maratua’s underwater marvels extend well to the atoll’s southern end. And even beyond, German dive centre/resort chain Extra Divers not only started Nabucco in the end-Noughties and operates it to this day, but also Nunukan Island Resort (and neighbouring five-star-place Virgin Cocoa) about an hour’s boat ride to the south.
Nunukan Island Resort
While its spectacular, 4km outer atoll house reef is on Nabucco’s weekly day trip menu in the same fashion as Big Fish Country is on Nunukan’s, splitting time on both islands during a ten to 14 day trip makes perfect sense – if Nabucco is the quaint little flower garden island with its scenic villas on stilts, Nunukan at 15 acres is the larger wild one inhabited by large monitor lizards, sea kraits and heavy coconut crabs.
Wooden walkways bridge sharp limestone rocks overgrown by jungle, still no tree was felled for the 22 cozy bungalows stretching along the lagoon beach.
Swiss manager Beat Waeffler set up office on the island 12 years ago and practices ‘eco resort’ when others only preach – the former metalworker’s system of gutters collects rain water that is being filtered and fed into the bungalows’ pipes, sewage is processed naturally, disposable plastic is avoided at all costs and a trade deal with fishermen established, who sell their daily catch to the resort and conversely no longer use dynamite, cyanide and grant the regional sharks their very own fins.
In season, nightwatchman ‘Papa Turtle’ relocates eggs to a covered sandbox and releases over 1,000 baby turtles into the wild every year.
While Maratua is generally considered the most important nesting ground for green turtles in Indonesia and the second largest in the world, Nunukan’s staff efforts ensure for coming days that many dives feature around ten of them popping up jack-in-the-box-style, obviously including the house reef.
Exposed to tides and the open sea, the eight dive sites on the outer reef wall can change rapidly – a high tide visit at the trademark spot Nunukan Express may take divers literally places in cobalt blue water and with them grey sharks, huge stingrays and the resident school of jacks, while low tide with no current might bring Jellyfish Lakestyle colour and time to look at a wall peppered with macro subjects for photographers.
Its variety of habitats and everchanging character alone could easily justify five days of house reef only, and some guests hardly ever stray from it, as Beat confirms.
Extra Divers
You can expect two boat dives in the morning and single boat dive in the afternoon, unless a half-day or full-day tour is on schedule. Early morning, night dives and daytime house reef diving in buddy team on request. Nitrox at surcharge. Oxygen in case of emergencies available (first aid in Berau).
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Then again it would be borderline crime to ignore some superior ‘Nunukan only’ spots – like the critter-infested, plush soft coral meadows of South Maratua, let alone the largely unexplored atoll Karang Muaras – the usual first of two dive sites during half-day trips, Pala Pala, boasts a spectacular wall with huge sponges, sleeping sharks and overhangs littered with purple soft coral, while Turtle Point’s slope meets a drop-off at 40m.
It is almost unheard of when it comes to resort islandbased diving in Indonesia, but encounters with several big rays, leopard and reef sharks, tunas and two dozen turtles within a single dive are indeed realistic.
On the way from the lush veranda of my aircon bungalow in the wild to the resort’s infinity bar, this one thought keeps on haunting me – how on Earth is it possible to see it all during a normal holiday? Manager Beat feels the pain…
“Well, in total, we can offer about 70 dive sites,” he bursts out laughing before getting back to business, “we seriously do our best to make sure every guest, who stays with us for at least a week, gets to do a tour to Kakaban, Big Fish Country and Muaras”.
Looking over the lagoon at low tide, the dry bottom just about matches his fine Swiss humour: “See, the amount of great diving really is not a problem – the swimming can be a little difficult when water level at high tide is a bit more than a metre, right? No time wasted.”
Example trip with Dive Worldwide
Dive Borneo Special Package – 15 days from £3,145pp including flights from the UK, five nights Nabucco, five nights Nunukan, two nights Kalimantan, ten boat dives, some meals and transfers. Visa on arrival – $35.
This article was originally published in Scuba Diver UK #83
