Maratua Paradise Resort

Note: Scuba diving at Maratua can be combined with a trip to Sipadan (Tawau airport, Sabah, Borneo, Malaysia).

More about Maratua Paradise Resort

Maratua Paradise Resort sits on Maratua, the big horseshoe atoll off East Kalimantan, Indonesia — white sand on one side, a turquoise lagoon on the other, and some of the healthiest reefs in the Coral Triangle all around. The resort is built the way this part of the world does it best: beach chalets lining the shore and stilted water villas standing over the lagoon, with the main hall, restaurant and dive centre on stilts over the water too. Rooms are wood-built, air-conditioned, with hot showers and private terraces.

Packages here run full board — all meals, tea, coffee and snacks included — for divers and non-divers alike, which keeps things simple on a remote atoll where there's no town to pop out to. And remote is the operative word: that's why the reefs are in the condition they're in. Around Maratua you dive walls, channels and a huge lagoon; the currents bring in the fish, from schooling barracuda to eagle rays, with pygmy seahorses and blue-ring octopus for the macro crowd. Boat excursions run to Kakaban's jellyfish lake and to Sangalaki for the mantas when enough guests sign up.

Book your stay at Maratua Paradise Resort

Getting there takes commitment — flights to Berau via Balikpapan, then a boat transfer, and on some schedules a direct flight to Maratua's own airstrip — but that filter is exactly what keeps the atoll quiet.

We suggest Maratua to divers who've done Sipadan and want the Indonesian side of the Celebes Sea next; the two make a superb combined Borneo trip. Contact us and we'll put the route together.