It’s been ~years~ since my last visit to Indonesia. Before Covid hits, I had the chance to explore the beauty of Derawan Islands. I wanted to visit this place because I thought it’s a hidden gem with beautiful clear blue water. So I gathered 3 of my friends and we started planning. Now that Covid is still going strong 🥴, I wanted to reminisce the good times and share my stories.
The planning was actually very sudden. We were in Canada and therefore could only resort to Instagram for the best reference. In the end we chose @indonesiajuaratrip cuz they got the blue checkmark next to their name and their response time on WhatsApp was extremely quick.
We arranged everything through WhatsApp and selected the 4D3N Open Trip. We booked Jakarta-Tarakan roundtrip flight and everything else was all set up by the tour. A driver picked us up at Tarakan Airport, brought us to a nice soup restaurant for breakfast before dropping us off at the port. Yea there’s a quite long 3-hour speedboat trip that we had to bear from Tarakan-Derawan Islands. We went there in late June and the current was pretty strong….. So yea it was quite a long & bumpy ride experience.
This blue speedboat took us from Tarakan to Derawan Island..and basically the whole “island hopping” trip
We arrived at Derawan Island (the main island where we left our stuffs) around late afternoon, perhaps 4pm-ish, right at our inn. We were greeted by our tour guides, unpacked our stuffs, and spent some time relaxing at the inn overlooking the ocean (recovering from the long boat ride 🙃). When we’re ready to explore, our tour guides prepared some bikes for us to explore this main island. And that was basically Day 1: tired, recovering, mini-adventure around the island. A tip: I was advised not to wear too revealing clothes when walking/cycling around the island, as it’s not respectful to the locals.
Here’s a quick collage of Day 1. From L-top R-bottom R: our inn, playing photoshoot with a tiny boat, Derawan Island as seen from our speedboat.
Day 2: Taliyasan, Manimbora Island, Labuan Cermin
The original plan was to wake up early, sail to Taliyasan, and swim with whale sharks. But as I mentioned earlier, the weather during this trip was not ideal (high tide, strong winds & currents)…. so the actual action was woke up early, sailed to Taliyasan, and cried cuz we couldn’t find a whale shark 😢 so maybe don’t visit Derawan in late June lol.
We then sailed away to Manimbora Island, or, as our tour guide said– “Spongebob Island”. It’s a small island with palm trees in the middle of iridescent blue sea, so yea it’s definitely stunning!
The ocean view from Manimbora Island
We had our lunch here- packed by the inn. It was one of the best Nasi Goreng I’ve had. Maybe it’s because of the view.
We did miss out on the whale shark, but definitely grateful to have spent some extra time here doing some photo sesh haha.
The sun was getting high and it was too hot for us, so around noon we started sailing to Labuan Cermin.
Manimbora Island – similar to Spongebob eh?
Boats to take us around Labuan Cermin
Labuan Cermin is personally the main reason for me to visit Derawan Islands. Ever since I saw the beautiful mirrorlike (hence, cermin) water on Instagram, I knew I have to go there one day. And sure, the actual view was perfect!
It’s actually a two-toned lagoon with both seawater and freshwater. Water was extremely cold and very heavy to swim in, but underwater view was clear and it would be a great place to take underwater shots. A little heads up: the locals hold this place as sacred, so those who are on their period are not allowed to swim here.
And that was Day 2! There’s not too many places to visit, but the trips between the islands were the ones that consumed the most time.
Day 3: Maratua Island, Kehe Daing, Jellyfish Lagoon, Haji Mangku Cave, Sangalaki Island, Pasir Gusung
Maratua Island was ah mah zing. If I could visit East Borneo again, I’d definitely choose Maratua Island and stay here for a week. This over-the-water resort was secluded and quiet. And waking up to this shimmering ocean glow every morning? I’d give anything lmao.
We were supposed to do some snorkelling, but again, due to the high tide, we couldn’t. So we soaked in the sun, breathed in the fresh air, and contemplated to move here.
Next, we embarked on our sailing trip again. This time to Kehe Daing, a ~natural private pool~. This island only has this one huge lake surrounded by trees and shrubs. And as far I remembered, there was only one fish swimming idly here.
So then we went to Jellyfish Lagoon to swim with some friendly jellyfish. It really was an interesting experience. They did not sting at all. But be careful when swimming cuz these Cnidarias are so fragile 🥺. My friend’s too extreme movement slashed a poor jellyfish in 2 💔. Heads up: it’s a contained body of water if u kno what i mean- like, the water doesn’t flow anywhere else. So we were advised not to wear sunscreen to keep the jellyfish happy.
On this day, the trips between the destinations were quite close to each other, so it’s not too bad. We got to visit Haji Mangku Cave, which was a trail of water with beautiful underwater cave view. Tbh, the highlight of this place was a mini cliff jump to get to the trail. It’s not mandatory, but I pushed myself to do it for the sake of ✨experience✨.
R: Baby sea turtle at Sangalaki Island
The next place to visit was Sangalaki Island. It’s an island where sea turtles lay eggs and thus the locals built this space to protect baby sea turtles from predators.
Around late afternoon, we sailed back home to Derawan Island. Just a few distance away where we could already see the island, we stopped at Pasir Gusung. This is a small sandy area above the sea level, kinda like a mini island, but not really. The view was ofc pretty and we spent some time here waiting for the sunset.
R: Playing around with drone until sunset 😅
And that was it! Day 4 early morning was the time for us to sail back to Tarakan. We got back to Tarakan around early afternoon, just in time to get a proper lunch at a restaurant, do some sightseeing at Tarakan, and grab some KFC before our evening flight back home to Jakarta.
My packing list:
– Drybag (to carry all your essentials between island hopping: sunscreen, towel, spare clothes, kain bali, etc.)
– Sunscreen (body and face)
– Sunglasses
– Strong pair of sandals/flip flops
– A couple nice clothes for photo purposes ☺️
– Water bottle
– Seasick meds (just in case- the tides can be harsh)
– Camera (if you’d like, the tour did a great job tbh. my friend did not end up using his camera much)
– Powerbank
– And the personal ones: toiletries, chargers, vitamins/meds
Other tips:
– Check the weather before going- how strong is the current, would you be able to see the whale shark, would the ride be bumpy?
– Ladies, check your period calendar. Or like me, couldn’t experience the underwater view of Labuan Cermin 🥺
– It’s probably nice to invest in a good quality underwater camera. This tour includes underwater camera, but the photos were not that great of a quality tbh
– Bring some snacks to keep you sane during island hopping. FYI, Labuan Cermin is located at Borneo Island and there were some snack stalls in the area.
– It’s a remote area- phone signal could be difficult. Most of us used Telkomsel and it performed the best, so I’d recommend that
Ah there goes my first entry! 😀 Hope this could help you prepare your visit to Derawan Islands someday.
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