how to get to sangalaki

Hello

I am interested in how to get to sangalaki. I hope to hear some
suggestions / comments. I don't know yet where i will be coming from.

Some possiblilities I am interested in are:

arriving in Tawau by air and then going overland to balikpapan? (Or
maybe there are boats regularly going along that route...)(From
northern malaysia to malaysian borneo would be a long but relatively
cheap internal flight...?).

Going direct to balikpapan (?) from Bangkok... (Expensive?)

Going from Thailand to Jakarta and then making an internal flight.
(This would be good coz by arriving in Jakarta airport it is possible
to get a 30 day tourist visa without a big wait.

Direct to balikpapan from singapore. (But singapore is expensive.)

I hope to hear from you :)

I forgot to add, check out Air Asia, for cheap flights.

"chilly" <slarson@shaw.canada> wrote in message
news:J_NXc.223349$M95.152848@pd7tw1no...
>
> "n" <total_utter_carp@yahoo.com> wrote in message
> news:ae83e187.0408271104.2d8aed77@posting.google.c om...
> > Hello
> >
> > I am interested in how to get to sangalaki. I hope to hear some
> > suggestions / comments. I don't know yet where i will be coming from.
> >
> > Some possiblilities I am interested in are:
> >
> > arriving in Tawau by air
>
> Fly to Kota Kinabulu and then to Tawau. Lots of flights to KK.
>
> >and then going overland to balikpapan? (Or
> > maybe there are boats regularly going along that route...)(From
> > northern malaysia to malaysian borneo would be a long but relatively
> > cheap internal flight...?).
> >
> > Going direct to balikpapan (?) from Bangkok... (Expensive?)
>
> Sorry, I don't know but I doubt it would be expensive. It only cost me
$200
> Cdn to fly to KK from Singapore.
>
> >
> > Going from Thailand to Jakarta and then making an internal flight.
> > (This would be good coz by arriving in Jakarta airport it is possible
> > to get a 30 day tourist visa without a big wait.
>
> Why do you want to go to Jakarta? That place is a pit, AFAIC.
>
> >
> > Direct to balikpapan from singapore. (But singapore is expensive.)
>
> How long do you plan to stay S'pore, if you go? It can be done reasonably
> inexpensively, just not quite as inexpensive as some other locals.
>
> >
> > I hope to hear from you :)
>
>

Also, consider asking your question at rec.travel.asia. The posters there
are a font of info.

"n" <total_utter_carp@yahoo.com> wrote in message
news:ae83e187.0408271104.2d8aed77@posting.google.c om...
> Hello
>
> I am interested in how to get to sangalaki. I hope to hear some
> suggestions / comments. I don't know yet where i will be coming from.
>
> Some possiblilities I am interested in are:
>
> arriving in Tawau by air and then going overland to balikpapan? (Or
> maybe there are boats regularly going along that route...)(From
> northern malaysia to malaysian borneo would be a long but relatively
> cheap internal flight...?).
>
> Going direct to balikpapan (?) from Bangkok... (Expensive?)
>
> Going from Thailand to Jakarta and then making an internal flight.
> (This would be good coz by arriving in Jakarta airport it is possible
> to get a 30 day tourist visa without a big wait.
>
> Direct to balikpapan from singapore. (But singapore is expensive.)
>
> I hope to hear from you :)

"chilly" <slarson@shaw.canada> pounded away at his keyboard resulting
in:
:Also, consider asking your question at rec.travel.asia. The posters there
:are a font of info.

Are they bold?

Dan Bracuk
If at first you don't succeed, you run the risk of failure.
The Best of rec.scuba http://www.pathcom.com/~bracuk/RecScuba/


-----= Posted via Newsfeeds.Com, Uncensored Usenet News =-----
http://www.newsfeeds.com - The #1 Newsgroup Service in the World!
-----== Over 100,000 Newsgroups - 19 Different Servers! =-----

The answer to your question on how to get to Sangalaki is answered on
thier website http://www.sangalaki.net/default.asp . Click on "
Getting There " . I visited this resort in 1999 and had a great time.
Food was vary good , room excellent , resort vary remote , just the
way I like it. Diving was ok to good , depends on what your
expectations are. Great for manta's. As much effort as it takes to get
there I would include a visit to Sipadan island . Have a good trip.
dawhale

On 27 Aug 2004 12:04:26 -0700, total_utter_carp@yahoo.com (n) wrote:

>Hello
>
>I am interested in how to get to sangalaki. I hope to hear some
>suggestions / comments. I don't know yet where i will be coming from.

Came back just 5 days ago... they will not see me again

>Some possiblilities I am interested in are:
>
>arriving in Tawau by air and then going overland to balikpapan? (Or
>maybe there are boats regularly going along that route...)(From
>northern malaysia to malaysian borneo would be a long but relatively
>cheap internal flight...?).

Nonsense. If you are in Tawau, there is no point in going south to
Balikpapan (BTW, forget about getting there overland) and then move
back northbound towards Sangalaki. Take a (cheap) ferry to Tarakan,
then a (cheap) flight to Berau. Sangalaki dive lodge will pick you up
at Berau airport (sort of... a couple of groups from Singapore were
left hours at the pier, the boat then got lost on its way to
Sangalaki, had to spend a night at Derawan, but this is another
story... our transfers were ok).

>Going direct to balikpapan (?) from Bangkok... (Expensive?)
>
>Going from Thailand to Jakarta and then making an internal flight.
>(This would be good coz by arriving in Jakarta airport it is possible
>to get a 30 day tourist visa without a big wait.
>
>Direct to balikpapan from singapore. (But singapore is expensive.)

Singapore - Balikpapan - Berau is the standard air route to get to
Sangalaki. Singapore is not necessarily expensive and - depending on
your flight - you might even get an immediate connection to Balikpapan
(check www.silkair.com for their timetable, they have daily flights
and are part of Singapore Airlines). 3 days a week Silkair flies to
Balikpapan early in the morning, just on time for catching the flight
to Berau.

Sangalaki Dive Lodge (SDL) offered us Balikpapan-Berau-Balikpapan
flights, car transfers in Berau, boat transfer to the island, hotel in
Berau on the way back, @ USD 250pp. Found out that flights were much
cheaper than that, yet almost impossible to book outside Indonesia.

Check for price at SDL!!!! I wrote to their email address and got an
offer at USD 190pp, all included; booked through my agent at USD 170;
found out that most of guests were paying USD 150, even for shorter
stays than mine, all the same package.

Diving: mantas, mantas and mantas. And plenty of stingrays, litlle
critters, shrimps, turtles (not as many as in Sipadan) although my
favourite one was a big cuttlefish. Sandy bottoms with healthy coral,
easy dives, max. depth 60ft, low visibility. They will also take you
to the nearby islands of Samama (for the pigmean seahorse, and not
much more) and Kakaban - walls with strong currents, even downwards,
where dives can be challenging; known for schools of barracudas and
big pelagic, although we were not lucky with visibility and saw only
barracudas.

All in one, not to be missed for manta (or stingray) maniacs. Others
might head to Sipadan, Kapalai, Mabul or Layang Layang (don't know
about Lankayan). Sangalaki island itself could be heaven: at night you
can actually fall asleep at the sound of sea-turtles laying eggs near
your cottage.

As much as I loved the island and its diving, the Lodge was a major
disappointment: at first it looked like abandoned, a company which is
about to go bankrupted. Cottages need a major renovation, food very
low on quality and quantity (they even ran out of it one day and did a
great job in recycling leftovers), no fresh water for rinsing your
equipment (let alone showers), no management at all... they
progressively ran out of beer, cokes, tissues. One day the owner
finally arrived from Kota Kinabalu, where he lives, and things
improved a little bit... at least you had no longer to ask for more
food out of the kitchen. He explained that he was to renovate the
cottages, probably in November, and I have personally spoken to an
architect from Singapore who was in charge of the new design.

Someone from the staff was complaining for not being paid for a long
time, don't know whether it is true or not, yet it would explain a lot
of their attitude (no relation with guests, an empty can left for days
where an idiot had tossed it, right in front of the clubhouse, never
got the bedsheets changed in 10 days, no real cleaning). Let's just
say it is very basic, which would be fine for me if the price was too.

Let me know if you need more info, and bring some food of your own,
particularly if you don't love chicken, white rice and prawns since
they are pretty much all I had, every day.

That reply is right about the flight but so negative about Sangalaki.

I went there and had one or two problems with the food and bad
management but what diving!!!!! More mantas than the eye can take in -
and all year round. Jellyfish lake snorkel was totally surreal and
unforgettable and turtles all over the place even babies scuttling
down the beach in the evening.

Amazing place - but don't expect the Hyatt - it is frontier diving
after all. Best advice is go through someone like
www.divetheworldmalaysia.com as going direct can be impossible - at
least Dive The World have open lines of coommunication with the
operator - and you don't pay any more.

Go for it - it is an amzing place.

Cheers



Vic <vcastellano'dontmailmejunk'@tin.it> wrote in message news:<tq6rj0la6f5v1ump8bq6vi9u48kgrq3bc3@4ax.com>. ..
> On 27 Aug 2004 12:04:26 -0700, total_utter_carp@yahoo.com (n) wrote:
>
> >Hello
> >
> >I am interested in how to get to sangalaki. I hope to hear some
> >suggestions / comments. I don't know yet where i will be coming from.
>
> Came back just 5 days ago... they will not see me again
>
> >Some possiblilities I am interested in are:
> >
> >arriving in Tawau by air and then going overland to balikpapan? (Or
> >maybe there are boats regularly going along that route...)(From
> >northern malaysia to malaysian borneo would be a long but relatively
> >cheap internal flight...?).
>
> Nonsense. If you are in Tawau, there is no point in going south to
> Balikpapan (BTW, forget about getting there overland) and then move
> back northbound towards Sangalaki. Take a (cheap) ferry to Tarakan,
> then a (cheap) flight to Berau. Sangalaki dive lodge will pick you up
> at Berau airport (sort of... a couple of groups from Singapore were
> left hours at the pier, the boat then got lost on its way to
> Sangalaki, had to spend a night at Derawan, but this is another
> story... our transfers were ok).
>
> >Going direct to balikpapan (?) from Bangkok... (Expensive?)
> >
> >Going from Thailand to Jakarta and then making an internal flight.
> >(This would be good coz by arriving in Jakarta airport it is possible
> >to get a 30 day tourist visa without a big wait.
> >
> >Direct to balikpapan from singapore. (But singapore is expensive.)
>
> Singapore - Balikpapan - Berau is the standard air route to get to
> Sangalaki. Singapore is not necessarily expensive and - depending on
> your flight - you might even get an immediate connection to Balikpapan
> (check www.silkair.com for their timetable, they have daily flights
> and are part of Singapore Airlines). 3 days a week Silkair flies to
> Balikpapan early in the morning, just on time for catching the flight
> to Berau.
>
> Sangalaki Dive Lodge (SDL) offered us Balikpapan-Berau-Balikpapan
> flights, car transfers in Berau, boat transfer to the island, hotel in
> Berau on the way back, @ USD 250pp. Found out that flights were much
> cheaper than that, yet almost impossible to book outside Indonesia.
>
> Check for price at SDL!!!! I wrote to their email address and got an
> offer at USD 190pp, all included; booked through my agent at USD 170;
> found out that most of guests were paying USD 150, even for shorter
> stays than mine, all the same package.
>
> Diving: mantas, mantas and mantas. And plenty of stingrays, litlle
> critters, shrimps, turtles (not as many as in Sipadan) although my
> favourite one was a big cuttlefish. Sandy bottoms with healthy coral,
> easy dives, max. depth 60ft, low visibility. They will also take you
> to the nearby islands of Samama (for the pigmean seahorse, and not
> much more) and Kakaban - walls with strong currents, even downwards,
> where dives can be challenging; known for schools of barracudas and
> big pelagic, although we were not lucky with visibility and saw only
> barracudas.
>
> All in one, not to be missed for manta (or stingray) maniacs. Others
> might head to Sipadan, Kapalai, Mabul or Layang Layang (don't know
> about Lankayan). Sangalaki island itself could be heaven: at night you
> can actually fall asleep at the sound of sea-turtles laying eggs near
> your cottage.
>
> As much as I loved the island and its diving, the Lodge was a major
> disappointment: at first it looked like abandoned, a company which is
> about to go bankrupted. Cottages need a major renovation, food very
> low on quality and quantity (they even ran out of it one day and did a
> great job in recycling leftovers), no fresh water for rinsing your
> equipment (let alone showers), no management at all... they
> progressively ran out of beer, cokes, tissues. One day the owner
> finally arrived from Kota Kinabalu, where he lives, and things
> improved a little bit... at least you had no longer to ask for more
> food out of the kitchen. He explained that he was to renovate the
> cottages, probably in November, and I have personally spoken to an
> architect from Singapore who was in charge of the new design.
>
> Someone from the staff was complaining for not being paid for a long
> time, don't know whether it is true or not, yet it would explain a lot
> of their attitude (no relation with guests, an empty can left for days
> where an idiot had tossed it, right in front of the clubhouse, never
> got the bedsheets changed in 10 days, no real cleaning). Let's just
> say it is very basic, which would be fine for me if the price was too.
>
> Let me know if you need more info, and bring some food of your own,
> particularly if you don't love chicken, white rice and prawns since
> they are pretty much all I had, every day.