SANGALAKI & DEREWAN, INDONESIA

Sangalaki trip did not materialise for reasons i dont have time to go into
now but our trip to Mabul and our host's resort "Seaventures" was
excellent, the diving was great.


Dave Morgan @ Work in the UK

Has anyone dived Sangalaki or Derewan, or stayed with Borneo Divers that
can tell me what their memories are, i am there for a week in July as it
looks fascinating according to the online brochures etc.......

It is not the easiest place in the world to get to so is not for the faint
hearted, i am hoping that the diving and accomodation is as good as it
looks.......so.........anyone been there ?

Last trip photo's
http://www.morg.co.uk/malaysia/seaventures/index.html
Take out the "goes diving"
Dave Morgan at work in UK

morgand@cix.compulink.co.uk wrote:
>
> Has anyone dived Sangalaki or Derewan, or stayed with Borneo Divers that
> can tell me what their memories are, i am there for a week in July as it
> looks fascinating according to the online brochures etc.......
>
> It is not the easiest place in the world to get to so is not for the faint
> hearted, i am hoping that the diving and accomodation is as good as it
> looks.......so.........anyone been there ?


http://www.seatraveler.com/Tripsang.htm



Steve Kramer
"PhotoEnvisions" Freelance Photography
Chiang Mai, Thailand
http://www.photoenvisions.com

--
"The voyage of discovery lies not in seeking new horizons, but in seeing
with new eyes." - Marcel Proust

In article <42B0E889.A4FE8915@seatraveler.com>, steve@seatraveler.com
(Steve Kramer) wrote:

> http://www.seatraveler.com/Tripsang.htm

> Steve Kramer
> "PhotoEnvisions" Freelance Photography

Wicked Steve..........excelent........cant wait..........will let you know
how we enjoyed it, we have two weeks Diving Mabul and Kapali first.

Dave Morgan @ Work in the UK
Take out the "goes diving" bit....
Trip photos on line at www.morg.co.uk

Stayed at Derewan early this month. Reef at the end of the jetty is
excellent for a covenient night dive and plenty of good dives 5 - 15
minutes by boat all round the island. Huge green turtles in the area
and Hawksbills swim under the jetty most days. Mantas at Sangalaki and
we met a pod of Pilot Whales on the way back. Maratua and Kakaban are
good islands to visit too the jellyfish lake at Kakaban is the most
alien way to take a break between dives on the planet.

So - what to see? Mantas, Napoleon Wrasse, Leopard Sharks, Leopard Whip
Rays, Stingrays. At least half a dozen different species of Anemone
Fish. Several types of Batfish. Many different varieties of Lion Fish.
Filefish, Pufferfish Porcupinefish, Boxfish, Crocodile Fish,
Scorpionfish, Frogfish, Hawkfish, Pygmy Seahorses, Ghost Pipefish,
Cuttlefish, Morays, Ribbon Eels, Garden Eels, Flatworms, Nudibranchs,
Sea Goddesses and many Banners, Butterflies, Triggers, Angels and the
usual suspects.

A negative buoyancy entry and a quick fin-assisted plummet to 30m at
Maratua allows one to avoid the surface current, stay close in to the
reef and make your way to an inlet where massive shoals of barracuda
ride the current as the island's lagoon fills with the incoming tide
and uprising deep water. There's. no coral here because of the current
and "horizontal rock climbing" with the fingertips gets you across for
a closer view.

This is a great destination and well worth the ride. Look out for the
monkeys in the trees on the way down river from the airstrip, and about
half an hour out of the delta look out for the dozens of surreal
fishing platforms constructed from timber and resting on the shallow se
bed at that point.


--
jaques
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jaques <jaques.1rcwyy@forums.deeperblue.net> pounded away at his
keyboard resulting in:
:A negative buoyancy entry and a quick fin-assisted plummet to 30m at
:Maratua allows one to avoid the surface current, stay close in to the
:reef and make your way to an inlet where massive shoals of barracuda
:ride the current as the island's lagoon fills with the incoming tide
:and uprising deep water. There's. no coral here because of the current
:and "horizontal rock climbing" with the fingertips gets you across for
:a closer view.

How does that work during those pesky slow ascents at the end of the
dive?

Dan Bracuk
If we don't succeed, we run the risk of failure.

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The ascent is a long way from the entry!

The following might give a better mental picture of what happens: The
entry is down a wall to the side of the lagoon entrance. The aim is to
drop quickly and drift with the current along the wall keeping below
the level of the lip of the entry to the lagoon. This lets you get past
the point where the entrance starts and prevents getting swept in too
soon. You continue the sideways drift below the lip as long as possible
(but there is now a rising component of the current too) then rise up
the wall to the level of the floor of the lagoon grabbing the lip as
you get pushed over it and before the full force of the current grabs
you. At this point the current is at about 4 - 5 knots. With fins
trailing in the current, and your head upstream, you maintain position
on finger-power, and can manouever around to chosen locations as there
are a good few rocky grab holds. This is all around the 25m - 20m level
as I recall.

When it's time to go - you let go! The current sweeps you into the
lagoon and whilst making a carefully controlled ascent you keep one eye
constantly on the computer as your only reference, and the other on the
rest of the dive party as the current can branch into occasional
gyrations that can split you up, and is prone to push up and down a bit
which needs reacting to. The dive operators appear to be well in tune
with the area and when we got back to the surface, the boat was not far
away - even though bubble following would not have been posssible.

This was the only dive we did in the area that needs a reasonable bit
of experience. For anyone going to Derewan/Sangalaki who doesn't fancy
this one you can be assured that there's plenty of excellent dive sites
for all capabilities and experience.


--
jaques
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Sangalaki trip did not materialise for reasons i dont have time to go into
now but our trip to Mabul and our host's resort "Seaventures" was
excellent, the diving was great.


Dave Morgan @ Work in the UK