About Sea Safari Cruises III (www.seasafaricruises.com): Sea Safari III is a luxury LOB boat with a capacity of 26 guests. (But for this trip we will try to keep a fewer number of divers for a better diving experience) CABINS: 13 Air conditioned cabins with private bathroom, basin, toilet, hot and cold shower. Toiletries pack in each cabins. RESTAURANT: Air conditioned, TV, VCD, one chiller showcase for soft drinks and fruits. A guest kitchen freezer. SPEED BOATS: 2 units of aluminium and fiber boats, complete with the out-boat engines and 1 unit of rubber boat. SPACIOUS DECK. EMERGENCY: Inflatable Life rafts, life vests, reading buoys. Smoke detector in each rooms. Fire extinguishers, fire hoses, fire hydrant. Included: Full boards accommodation & meals Tea, coffee, bottled water, tea time snacks. Dive masters, tanks and weights. Harbor and anchor fees. Excluded: Domestic airfare and airport tax Alcoholic beverages and soft drinks Personal Travel Insurance Gratuities to Dive masters and crews. Personal items & needs Berau islands, situated in the eastside of Borneo, are so famous among diver community all around the world. One of the islands is called Derawan, the most intended diving destination for divers. It is located less than 30 minutes of the eastern coast of Borneo near the city of Tanjung Redep (around 2.5 hours away). It has several unique landscapes/seascapes, in the form of walls, reefs and caves with different kinds of inhabitants. In just one reef, you may find more than 50 species of hard and soft corals. More than that this island is also well known as an island of turtle kingdom since so many turtles swimming around during the day and coming to the land to lay eggs during the night. What is so amazing is that sometimes they do this in front of the resort area. You may start enthralled in the first dive around the jetty, where you can find many fabulous critters around the jetty, such as luminous colored squids, crocodile fish, seahorses, and many others. Another island is called Sangalaki, known all over the world as the center of Manta ray, a giant and gorgeous ray that has wing span up to 3 meters wide. There are so many Mantas ready to swim encircling you even while you are snorkeling below the surface. These critters are not aggressive, so don't be afraid to see them around. You will gasp seeing how elegant they swim with their giant wings. The underwater scenery is simply beautiful making all dives become unforgettable breathtaking experience. The island of Kakaban, a 9 shape island, is an isolated marine lake (lagoon) and unique in its own. Thousands (or millions?) of years ago the island was naturally uplifted and then isolate the marine ecosystem from surrounding marine area (according to one of researchers in Snellius Expedition I on 1929-1930), making all biota in this marine lake become very unique. The only other marine lake in the world is Palau, but people said that the bio diversity in Kakaban is incomparable to those in Palau. The lake of Kakaban has very unique and endemic critters, such as non-stinging jellyfishes (Cassiopeia ornate, an upside down swimming jellyfish; Mastigias papua, a brownish blue jellyfish; Aurelia aurita, a plate shape jellyfish; and Tripedalia cystophora, a finger size jellyfish) and non-stinging anemone (Actinaria). There are more unique critters in this lake such as sea cucumbers (Holothuria cavans and Synaptula spinifera), crustaceans (Orcovita saltatrix), tunicate (Styela complexa) and fishes (Apogon lateralis, Exyrias puntang, Antherinomorus endrachtensis, and Zenarchopterus dispar). Certainly there are many other unidentified species. While Prof. J. Kingdon, from Oxford University, called this island as 'The temple to Life on earth', Dr T Tomascik, a Canadian researcher, said that this place is a biological paradise with Cassiopeia Ornate as a trademark. Beside those endemic critters, Kakaban has many underwater caverns in the outer side of the island. Not far from Kakaban we can find the island of Maratua. The waters around this island have so many pelagic, such as schooling barracuda, trevally (jack-fish), dog tooth tunas and mackerels, hammerhead sharks and mantas, making it an excellent place for divers who love pelagic. The island is home to apes, bats, and various birds, an ideal place for sight seeing while doing surface interval. There are many more small islands around the Derawan islands, for example Samama and Panjang. Each of the islands offers the unique scenery of bio-diversity for divers to interact with. You will also see the Blue Light Cave, where you can start the dive at 2 m depth cave and end at the opening at various depths in the wall. Last but not least, for macro enthusiast, you will be delighted by heavens of macro in all majestic dive sites of Berau islands. Find and enjoy the remarkable beauty both the islands and the underwater while joining our trip.

Kakaban SCUBA Dive Sites

KSDC trips to Kakaban: