Borneo

Borneo in Indonesia is an enormously large island, the world's third largest and in total the island is shared by three countries. Malaysia with Sarawak and Sabah. The Sultanate of Brunei and the Indonesian part in the south and east called Kalimantan. To the east of the island lie a number of small islands out in the Makassar straits and the waters here are divided by very great depths. This means that here there is a border zone between what you usually see of marine species further east, the so-called Wallacea line.

The marine life here in Borneo, like most places in Indonesia, is rich and as diving becomes more and more popular, more Tripsts are popping up. South of the perhaps better known Sipadan in Malaysia is an atoll called Maratua. Here you will find a diving paradise that did not become really popular until recent years when you can now fly here*. In addition to diving Tripsts, some tours are sometimes also included live board over here.

* The flights were unfortunately withdrawn during the pandemic and will hopefully start again. For the time being, the boat to Maratua applies.

Diving

The islands of Nunukan, Nabucco and Virigin Cocoa today offer a good standard of accommodation and fantastic diving. Here you can experience huge shoals of fish and various sharks, turtles but also a rich macro life. Also the islands of Sangalaki, Kakaban and Derawan can be visited here, Derawan you can stay on separately, with day trips. It gives you a great variety of diving and the opportunity to go here several times and experience something completely new. Here you will find large shoals of tuna and barracuda.

Here there are plenty of reef sharks and even the shy thresher shark is sometimes seen here. Other large sharks and rays such as hammerhead sharks, manta rays, eagle rays are also frequently seen. The rich waters also have rich macro life and lots of fine corals. The neighboring island of Kakaban with its small lake where hundreds of thousands of jellyfish live is very special and Sangalaki is known for its large collections of mobulas. Derawan is known for great macro diving and they also run boat trips to the nearby islands.

In addition to diving when you are here, it is possible to combine with a few days out at a jungle lodge. Experience orangutans, Malayan bears and a rich insect and birdlife. Take the opportunity to stay a few days on the road and experience the exciting world even above the surface.

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diving around Borneo

Indonesia has an exceptionally high biodiversity of marine life and diving sites. The country has over 16 islands spread over a huge area around the equator. Borneo is just one of these islands and offers you great diving. Here you will find rich marine life, large animals, schools of fish, dramatic wall diving, stream diving, macro life and much more. Just getting here is an adventure as this is quite far away from everything else. Full of surprises and very rich in marine life, land-based diving east of Borneo offers a fantastic diving holiday.

Varied and exciting diving.

Getting here requires domestic flights and sometimes boat and land transport. The little islands out here really give you a feeling of vacation and being in a deserted place away from everything. Large shoals of barracuda and tuna gather here. Here, reef sharks patrol and out in the blue can manta rays, swordfish, thresher sharks, hammerhead sharks and much more appear out of the blue. It all depends on which dive site you visit. There are places here that have exceptionally good macro diving with lots of squid, gobies, crustaceans and nudibranchs. One of the islands is known to attract large numbers of mobulas and another has its own lake teeming with millions of jellyfish. You can even snorkel with them as they do not burn and are completely harmless.

On the house reef, you can both dive and snorkel, and when the waters pick up speed, it's full action here. You take out your reef hook and enjoy the spectacle of the shoal that can eclipse the sun and completely engulf you. All of a sudden, the shoal can disperse when passing reef sharks or large tunas slide past and soon you are again surrounded by thousands of fish. Land-based diving in Borneo is still quite unknown but here to the waters of the strait opposite the island Sulawesi you will find really good diving and sometimes one or two will also come live board and passing by for some or a couple of days of diving.