Maratua Dive Resort

Maratua Dive Resort stands on the north-western coast of Maratua Island. Six chalets are built into a limestone cliff, and a 120-metre jetty runs out over the house reef, Fantasy Wall. The dive boats leave from the same jetty, and The Channel, the archipelago's best-known barracuda and grey reef shark drift, is part of the standard programme rather than an extra.

Six chalets is a small number, and the resort is run to match. The dive team has spent years on these particular reefs and knows how each site behaves with the tide. The coast here is quiet, and the sunsets face open water.

Dive Operations and Facilities

Divers get three boat dives a day, except on arrival and departure days. A 4-day, 3-night package has six dives, a 5-day, 4-night package has nine, and a 6-day, 5-night package has twelve. Shorter stays dive Maratua and The Channel. From 5 nights the programme adds Kakaban and Sangalaki, and Talisayan's whale sharks can be arranged for an additional boat fee on any stay.

The dive centre sits on the right side of the jetty. It has a gear storage room for tanks and equipment, a camera room with rinse facilities, a rinsing deck with three freshwater showers, a soak tank for wetsuits, BCDs, regulators and dive computers, and a sunny drying area for exposure suits.

The dining area is on the left side of the jetty, directly over the water. The kitchen cooks Indonesian home dishes and broader Asian cuisine, with fresh seafood. Starlink internet is free throughout the property, and a standby generator covers the power cuts that the island experiences from time to time.

Non-divers and snorkellers join the dive boat for up to three excursions a day, except on arrival and departure days. Kakaban's jellyfish lake is a snorkelling site only. Scuba diving is prohibited there, and fins and sunscreen are banned to protect the lake.

The House Reef: Fantasy Wall

The resort sits directly above Fantasy Wall, a wall dive that starts at the end of the jetty with no boat required. Black corals, gorgonian sea fans, arborescent soft corals and table corals cover the face, with tube sponges and tunicates between them. Ledges and overhangs shelter anthias, damselfish and a long list of resident reef fish. Reef mantas have been seen here on rare occasions, though not often enough to plan around. The direct access suits early dives before the boats leave, a dive on return, and night dives, when the wall looks quite different.

What the Boats Reach

At The Channel, a narrow passage concentrates tidal flow and fish. Grey reef sharks hold the current lines, eagle rays pass overhead, and chevron barracudas form a vortex that takes about a minute to swim through. A reef hook is mandatory, and the current sets the schedule.

Mid Reef, on Maratua's outer edge, and Kelapa Dua, on Kakaban, are the archipelago's thresher shark sites. Whether the sharks come within recreational depth depends on cold water rising to the reef edge. When it does, encounters can be excellent. When it does not, they stay deeper, and the team will tell you which it is before you dive. Sangalaki's reef mantas are possible year-round, but sightings have become less consistent in recent years, so treat them as a welcome extra. Its beach is among the more important green turtle nesting sites in Southeast Asia.

The nearest recompression chamber is a significant journey from the island, so dive insurance that includes evacuation is strongly recommended.

Guests who would rather be in the village and pay less can look at our other Maratua listing, Borneo Cottage Maratua. The two resorts share ownership.