I had an awesome vacation last summer! Me and 3 of my friends, Judith, Fingky, and Dini, went to Derawan Island, Berau, East Borneo on July 21st till 24th, 2016. This was my first far away vacation with my friends.
We had discussed about this vacation since December 2015, because we wanted to go somewhere new and far away from home. The first thing that came from my mind was Karimun Jawa, but there was another choice that the tour offered & still as beautiful as Karimun Jawa, it was Derawan Island. We chose Derawan Island to be our destination for our long holiday after we graduated. We knew nothing about Derawan, the only thing we know was the beaches are really beautiful from the pictures on internet.
While we are planning for this trip, we also saving much money since the day we decided, on December. The tour, Winesiatrip, announced that our budget for this trip was IDR 1900k, include hotel, food for 3 times a day, vehicles from and to airport, tickets to places we are going to, and snorkeling. After knowing about the trip and its needs, we searching for airplane tickets to Tarakan, East Borneo. We flew with Lion Air from Soekarno-Hatta airport (CGK) to (TRK).
On July 21st, 2016, we woke up so early because of the excitement. We meet at Terminal DAMRI Bogor at 3am and go to airport by bus. Arrived at CGK at 4.30am, we immediately go to the check in station to get our boarding pass, because our flight is at 5am. At the check in station, there were a long queue of Lion Air's check in station! We were so panic that we will miss our flight, but we were not. 😁
We arrived at Tarakan around 8am WITA. The airport is not really big, but it doesn't look small. We were waiting for the driver to pick us up and go to the nearest harbor, while we still can not believe that we came a long way from home to borneo! At 9am, the driver came with avanza and take us to the harbor. At the harbor, we had our breakfast first before we go on a boat and we met another domestic tourist, a couple, who will join us for the next three days in Derawan.
After we had breakfast and the boat is ready, we immediately go on the boat and take off. The trip from Tarakan harbor to Derawan Island took 3 hours. It was the longest time I had been in a speed boat. Arriving at Derawan at 1pm, we were so astonished by the view! The water of the sea was so clean, you can see anything in the water. Because there was no schedule for the day, after we checked in, put our things in the hotel room and we walked around Derawan Island.
On the second day, we woke up at 6am and ready to go to exploring the Islands. We had breakfast while enjoying the sun rises. At *am we go to Maratua Island by speed boat. It took more than 40 minutes to get there, but the beach was so beautiful! Some people called it looks like Maldives. The water was so blue, the sand was crystal clear, and of course the weather was sooo hot. After took a lot of pictures there, we went to Kakaban Island. Kakaban Island is an empty island, there is no one living there, because it is an enormous coral island that have so many natural resources. It took 20 minutes from Maratua Island to Kakaban Island. Arrived at Kakaban Island, we went inside a forest, and found a cliff with water underneath. We jumped to the water and it was freezing, but it felt so good.
Like you don't know what is in the water and you just jump into it from 15 meters high. After we jumped, we passed a short coral cave to go out from the water and then we climb the coral to go up. We move to another side of the island by boat, to the jellyfish lake. The jellyfish lake is filled with nontoxic jellyfish, they are freshwater jellyfish. The lake was a very large lake and the water was so blue. We ate lunch by the beach before we entered the forest. To get to the lake, we had to go through the forest with a pedestrian street, so it was easy. We swam in the lake for pretty long, because the jellyfish are so cute. You are prohibited to squeeze or shock them, because they are fragile. I feel really tanned after swimming with jellyfish.
After swimming with jellyfish, we continued our trip to the last destination of the day, Sangalaki Island. Sangalaki Island is not as big as Derawan, Maratua, and Kakaban. Sangalaki Island is the smallest among them. In Sangalaki Island there is a sea turtle breeding, where we can play with baby turtle. My tour guide, Angga, told me that somewhere in Sangalaki Island's beach, there are some kind of stingray, but smaller than the usual stingray and have toxic. So we have to be careful. After playing at Sangalaki Island, we have to go back to hotel, because the sun is going down. At 5pm, we left Sangalaki Island and went back to Derawan Island.
The third day, we woke up later than yesterday because we were going to explore the sea around Derawan Island. We were snorkeling all day until we burned our skin. We saw unique fish, corals, turtles, and many more. We had lunch at fishermen's base, in the middle of the sea. The sea was sparkling and the weather was so hot. After lunch, we continue our trip to Gusung, Gusung is like an island that build from sand, so there is nothing above the sand, but it is not an island. It was so beautiful, the sand is white and the water is blue, it was a perfect place to take some photos. After Gusung, we went back to hotel and enjoyed our last night in Derawan Island.
