Borneo – Snorkelling with Mantas in Derawan/Sangalaki
After two weeks in the Borneo rainforest we were drawn to the east coast and the island of Derawan for three days of chilling out. The island isn’t overrun yet, and its underwater world is intact and diverse. We hope it stays that way and is spared the destruction you see elsewhere.
Out with the dive school
We spent two days out with the dive school. On the first day we weren’t allowed to dive because of the strong current – and an instructor we didn’t know – but while snorkelling the corals and fish made up for it. Over lunch one of the instructors casually mentioned Sangalaki, where large mantas are often found. That’s where we wanted to go.
To the mantas
In the evening we asked a local fisherman, and the next day we bobbed across the open sea in a small boat to Sangalaki. Below us in the water lay a world full of corals and colours – then our skipper shouted “Manta, manta!” Behind us five mantas glided through the water with open mouths, eating plankton, turned an elegant arc around us and disappeared into the depths. Our pulses raced, they came so close.
A day with the mantas
The day was kind to us: it felt like 30 times that mantas crossed our path, almost close enough to touch. The calmer we lay in the water, the closer they came. Alone with them in the open sea – we will never forget that.
Derawan: a small built-up island in the shallow, pale sea.A stilt house with a red roof stands right above the reef.A boat draws its wake along the edge of the deep blue.A curving wooden boardwalk leads across the reef to the jetty.Into the water: snorkelling off Sangalaki.Corals and small fish in blue water – the underwater world here is still intact.A large jellyfish with spotted arms drifts in the greenish water.Jellyfish twice: a whole swarm of small ones and a round, almost transparent one.A jellyfish from below, the sun behind it, rays in the water.A large pale jellyfish above the corals, more behind it.A small turtle alone in the deep blue.Yellow fish above the reef and a turtle among the corals.Purple fish above the coral reef.A coral garden from above, shape upon shape.Bubbles and light just below the surface.A turtle glides over the reef slope.A tall block of coral, circled by small fish.A dense school of fish, light falling from above into the blue.Three mantas at once – one alone, two close together.Two mantas head straight towards us, their pale cephalic fins spread.A manta from above, dark back, long tail – so close your pulse races.White sand, driftwood and a bare tree in the water – three days of doing nothing on Derawan.Fine ripples in the white sand, as far as the frame reaches.A narrow white sandbank in clear water under clouds.Two mantas above the reef, the front one larger and very close.A manta just below the surface, its patterned back in the light.Twice from the side: a manta gliding past below the surface.From below at an angle over pale coral ground – the stiller we lay, the closer they came.A manta with its mouth open feeds on plankton above the reef.A long, narrow wooden boat on turquoise water above the reef.Two boats over the reef, one drawing a white wake.A boat above the mottled reef, a line running to a white buoy.Pink evening clouds over the calm sea, a small roofed boat below.
