Just back from a fab week of diving in Sangalaki (East Kalimantan, Indonesia), a brief report:
Travel
Very well organised by the resort. We flew to Balikpapan, and were met off the plane by the resort's agent, who saw us on to the flight to Berau which took off only 45mins after the first flight landed. Met at the other end, with a mini bus to the boat and straight to the island. No problems. However, the boat was a tiny single-engined speed boat, and it takes 3 hours to get to the island. Very pleasant on the river, less so bouncing around on the open ocean. No radio/life jackets either it seems.
Resort
Quite nice, pretty standard beach huts, but frankly overpriced. The resort manager was not on the island (got the impression she had not been for a while), and the staff seemed not totally happy. I understand the resort is up for sale, and came away with the impression that the owners were not investing in it because of this. A shame really. There were only 4 guests for most of the time, so it was rather quiet.
The biggest problem was the price of beer, 6 USD. Basically we refused to pay (luckily had taken supplies of G&T). They even put the price up to $8 whilst we were there. They are not going to sell any at that price. Stupid really.
I'm also not 100% sure the resort should be there at all. The whole island is one big green turtle nest. Babies were hatching all the time, and mothers lay on the island every night, even underneath your hut. The resort partly pays for some turtle conservation guys, who record nest sites, the ID of the turtle laying, and move the eggs if they are in a poor location. The also patrol for egg/turtle thieves, and are totally happy to take you on a tour every night to watch it all happening. Great. Except clearly the tourists interfere with the turtles.
Before laying the turtles are very nervous, and any lights/noise can put them off. There are plenty of lights in the resort, and they ask you to keep them off, but clearly people will forget, or need to turn them on. Besides, if you wander around with no light, you will probably tread on a turtle.....
So swings and roundabouts really, no resort then probably nobody to guard the turtles, but with the resort less turtles laying due to disturbances.
Dive masters/boats etc
Several dive masters, and trainees, but only a couple with lots of experience. Most of the time 4 guests to one dive master, which was fine.
The boats are fast, and in good condition. Except the electric starters were missing, hence the boat guys got very fit starting twin 85's with a rope.
The resort people carried the tanks all the time.
We did 3 dives a day, 4 on the days with a night dive. All dives are boat dives as the reef is too far out to walk to. All Sangalaki dive sites are less than 10 mins by boat.
The diving
In a word fantastic. Mantas everywhere, we saw them in ones and twos during the dives, but when snorkeling we saw dozens. They ranged from large 3-4m width up to huge 5-6m sun-blockers. There were sharks too, mainly white-tips and leopards. And plenty of other stuff.
Some photos here: http://www.albumsnaps.com/index.php?content=folder&id=10304
Kakaban island is nearby, and is excellent (so good we saw it twice). The diving around the island was in strong currents, and there were lots of big fish to see. Barracudas, sharks stc. We had a bit of a moment, running into deco (and low on air) in a strong current, but nothing too dramatic. Sadly did not get a photo of the huge grey reef shark.
Inside Kakaban is the famous jellyfish lake. With clouds of non-stinging jellyfish, and other weird stuff. You can't always get to the island, as even a moderate swell stops the boat from leaving Sangalaki. Not really sure why.
Summary
Great diving, not so great resort. Fairly hard work getting there. There are other resorts nearby that are supposed to be better. However they are a long way from the Mantas.
Travel
Very well organised by the resort. We flew to Balikpapan, and were met off the plane by the resort's agent, who saw us on to the flight to Berau which took off only 45mins after the first flight landed. Met at the other end, with a mini bus to the boat and straight to the island. No problems. However, the boat was a tiny single-engined speed boat, and it takes 3 hours to get to the island. Very pleasant on the river, less so bouncing around on the open ocean. No radio/life jackets either it seems.
Resort
Quite nice, pretty standard beach huts, but frankly overpriced. The resort manager was not on the island (got the impression she had not been for a while), and the staff seemed not totally happy. I understand the resort is up for sale, and came away with the impression that the owners were not investing in it because of this. A shame really. There were only 4 guests for most of the time, so it was rather quiet.
The biggest problem was the price of beer, 6 USD. Basically we refused to pay (luckily had taken supplies of G&T). They even put the price up to $8 whilst we were there. They are not going to sell any at that price. Stupid really.
I'm also not 100% sure the resort should be there at all. The whole island is one big green turtle nest. Babies were hatching all the time, and mothers lay on the island every night, even underneath your hut. The resort partly pays for some turtle conservation guys, who record nest sites, the ID of the turtle laying, and move the eggs if they are in a poor location. The also patrol for egg/turtle thieves, and are totally happy to take you on a tour every night to watch it all happening. Great. Except clearly the tourists interfere with the turtles.
Before laying the turtles are very nervous, and any lights/noise can put them off. There are plenty of lights in the resort, and they ask you to keep them off, but clearly people will forget, or need to turn them on. Besides, if you wander around with no light, you will probably tread on a turtle.....
So swings and roundabouts really, no resort then probably nobody to guard the turtles, but with the resort less turtles laying due to disturbances.
Dive masters/boats etc
Several dive masters, and trainees, but only a couple with lots of experience. Most of the time 4 guests to one dive master, which was fine.
The boats are fast, and in good condition. Except the electric starters were missing, hence the boat guys got very fit starting twin 85's with a rope.
The resort people carried the tanks all the time.
We did 3 dives a day, 4 on the days with a night dive. All dives are boat dives as the reef is too far out to walk to. All Sangalaki dive sites are less than 10 mins by boat.
The diving
In a word fantastic. Mantas everywhere, we saw them in ones and twos during the dives, but when snorkeling we saw dozens. They ranged from large 3-4m width up to huge 5-6m sun-blockers. There were sharks too, mainly white-tips and leopards. And plenty of other stuff.
Some photos here: http://www.albumsnaps.com/index.php?content=folder&id=10304
Kakaban island is nearby, and is excellent (so good we saw it twice). The diving around the island was in strong currents, and there were lots of big fish to see. Barracudas, sharks stc. We had a bit of a moment, running into deco (and low on air) in a strong current, but nothing too dramatic. Sadly did not get a photo of the huge grey reef shark.
Inside Kakaban is the famous jellyfish lake. With clouds of non-stinging jellyfish, and other weird stuff. You can't always get to the island, as even a moderate swell stops the boat from leaving Sangalaki. Not really sure why.
Summary
Great diving, not so great resort. Fairly hard work getting there. There are other resorts nearby that are supposed to be better. However they are a long way from the Mantas.
