Diving Derawan

Staff · Issue 3, Dec 2001 · pp. 26–29

Products mentioned: Nikon 801S, Subal housing, Sigma 50mm macro lens, Ikelite strobes, Ultralight arms, Fujichrome Sensia II, Motormarine II

It took three plane journeys followed by a lengthy boat ride down the river Berau to get to Derawan, a small island off the coast of Borneo. We had been lured by the dive travel brochures promise of Mantas, Barracuda and a wealth of macro life and were about to put that to the test. The check out dive with Eddie, our dive guide, was at Turtle Bay. It was a gentle drift with plenty to see including a small shoal of batfish, humphead wrasse, lionfish, clams, nudibranchs and lots more. Near the end we came across five turtles, a female being mated by one of the males while the other three were harassing the couple eager to muscle in on the act themselves. I hadn’t had time to get my camera gear ready for this dive so had to be content with watching the spectacle unfold before me while cursing the missed photo opportunity through my regulator. Not a bad start to the diving. The first full da…