{"id":5506,"date":"2013-10-13T22:02:52","date_gmt":"2013-10-13T21:02:52","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/petitesbullesdailleurs.fr\/petitesbullesdailleurs\/?p=5506"},"modified":"2024-10-24T08:34:14","modified_gmt":"2024-10-24T06:34:14","slug":"sangalaki-maratua-deception","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/petitesbullesdailleurs.fr\/en\/sangalaki-maratua-deception-20131013\/","title":{"rendered":"Sangalaki and Maratua: sadness and disappointment in the waters of Borneo"},"content":{"rendered":"

It's not all about multicolored backgrounds<\/a>in the Derawan archipelago (Borneo, Indonesia). Once famous, the islands of Sangalaki and Maratua are no longer, in 2013, the fabulous diving spots they were.<\/p>\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n

2013: Sangalaki without manta rays<\/h2>\n\n\n\n
Four years ago, in July 2009, I had accomplished a first time the long journey to the Derawan archipelago<\/a>on the eastern coast of Borneo (Indonesian side), to see the manta rays of Sangalaki Island. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
The encounter with these graceful giants, at that time, was almost certain, both in snorkeling (fins-mask-tuba) and in bottle diving. I can attest to this, at least for the period of July, when I was there. In 2009, manta rays were present in the waters around the island. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
$\"To$ <\/a>
Picture of manta ray taken in July 2009 in Sangalaki with my small compact camera of the time, near the surface, while snorkeling... (Borneo, Indonesia)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n
Other travelers had made me dream and had decided to undertake the journey:
\u2192 Dreams of mantas<\/a><\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n
Having followed in their footsteps, I too had a dazzling memory of Sangalaki. The show was magical. I wrote about it here, in these posts published in 2009:
\u2192 The mantas rays of Sangalaki
<\/a>\u2192 Excursion to Sangalaki<\/a><\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n
Alas, in 2013, there is nothing to see anymore. The mantas of Sangalaki have disappeared.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
???? <\/p>\n\n\n\n
$\"Sangalaki$ <\/a>
Sangalaki Island as seen from offshore. (Borneo, Indonesia, July 2013)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n
$\"There$ <\/a>
There used to be a resort on Sangalaki Island, it is now abandoned. The island and the turtles that return to lay their eggs are now protected. (Borneo, Indonesia, July 2013)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n
I already had some fears, while preparing this new 2013 trip to the Derawan archipelago...<\/p>\n\n\n\n
I had come across various divers' reports on the Internet saying that Sangalaki was not interesting anymore. The lucky ones who recently encountered a manta ray there are rather rare.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
$\"Underwater$ <\/a>
Sangalaki 2013: but where are the manta rays? (Photo: Bambang Sugiantoro)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n
On this July 2013 trip, I only made one trip to Sangalaki. But even if I had done ten, I don't think I would have encountered any manta rays. Our guides from Derawan Dive Lodge<\/a> were not too eager to take us there, knowing that we would be disappointed...<\/p>\n\n\n\n
We indeed wandered for almost an hour over the sand, the small coral spuds and the dead coral debris, in vain.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
So I just \"walked\" my 7D underwater, for not much. And because of the lack of mantas, I was used as a model by another sub-photographer - Bambang, a very nice Indonesian, who came to spend a few days of vacation in the area, with his wife and friends.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
What has happened in four years? Why are there no more manta rays? <\/p>\n\n\n\n
Our dive-guides were evasive at first, claiming that we could still see manta rays, when there was plankton... (Except that the last time they had seen one was almost a month ago and it was from the deck of the boat). Anyway, they finally agreed that the mantas in the area had probably all been caught, or almost. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
In fact, manta rays (or mobulas) are victims of the recent Chinese market craze for their gills, which are now considered a delicacy - supposedly beneficial to health - in the same way as shark fins...<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Small explanatory summary to read on 20minutes.fr :
\u2192 Manta ray soup could cause the extinction of the species
<\/a>For more information, you can visit these pages on Mantatrust.org :
\u2192 Gill Plate Trade<\/a>
\u2192 Manta Fisheries<\/a>
Also read this recent article on the Stopsharkfining website:
\u2192 The Global Threat to Manta and Mobula Rays<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n
It is one thing to read articles about the ongoing extinction of manta rays. It is another thing to experience it, on my modest scale as a tourist-diver, on the Sangalaki site...<\/p>\n\n\n\n
???? <\/p>\n\n\n\n
Disappointment also at the Maratua Channel<\/h2>\n\n\n\n
Not far from Sangalaki Island, the Maratua archipelago is really beautiful.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
I only took a few pictures from far away, from the boat. Traditional villages with houses on stilts, small fishing boats coming and going on the azure waters... Life seems quite peaceful here.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
$\"Near$ <\/a>
Near Maratua. (Borneo, Indonesia, July 2013)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n
$\"One$ <\/a>
One of the villages in the Maratua archipelago. (Borneo, Indonesia, July 2013)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n
$\"A$ <\/a>
A white sandbar, as if set against the turquoise horizon of the waters of Maratua. (Borneo, Indonesia, July 2013)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n
$\"Sea$ <\/a>
Oil sea and turquoise water near Maratua. (Borneo, Indonesia, July 2013)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n
But I was disappointed by the underwater world of Maratua. There is a lot of dead coral and not much life - with the notable exception of the well-named Turtle Point, where one can meet for sure and in great numbers turtles<\/a>sometimes very big. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
The famous Maratua channel, with its strong current (which is supposed to provide abundant underwater life and schools of wriggling fish) no longer deserves its nickname of \"Big Fish Country\".<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The reason is dynamite fishing - still practiced today. Several times, during our dives on the nearby island of Kakaban, we heard explosions underwater...<\/p>\n\n\n\n
During this 2013 stay, I made six dives in Maratua, very uneven and never exceptional...<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Among the beautiful encounters: in addition to the turtles<\/strong>a tiny bench of yellow-tailed barracudas<\/strong> of which I managed to take some pictures (below); a school of barracudas a little bigger but seen from too far away, in the blue; and an imposing school of humpback parrots<\/strong>I captured their progress on video, in a fog of sand and debris raised by their raid on the reef (I won't put it here, the quality is really rotten).<\/p>\n\n\n\n
$\"A$ <\/a>
A crossbred turtle in Maratua. (Borneo, Indonesia, July 2013)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n
$\"A$ <\/a>
A small school of yellowtail barracudas photographed in Maratua (Borneo, Indonesia, July 2013).<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n
$\"Yellowtail$ <\/a>
Yellowtail barracudas in Maratua. (Borneo, Indonesia, July 2013)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n
But during our dives, no sharks, no schools of jacks, no swirls of fish - nothing exceptional about \"big\".<\/p>\n\n\n\n
In short, a big disappointment - including for our guides, who seemed to hope for better. Spectacular encounters may still be possible in Maratua, but one should probably be luckier than I was...<\/p>\n\n\n\n
I copy below what I noted in my logbook, during my last immersion in the Maratua Channel: \"Disappointing. Nothing. We stayed a long time waiting in the cold current, with our hooks, to see something... Nothing. Just a turtle at the end of the dive.\"<\/em> <\/p>\n\n\n\n
Conclusion<\/h2>\n\n\n\nCertainly, I am glad to have returned to the Derawan Archipelago, for turtles<\/a>for the incredible Jellyfish lake of Kakaban<\/a> and his falling full of life<\/a>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
But to divers looking for thrills and great shows, I would say that in 2013 Sangalaki and Maratua are probably no longer worth the effort to accomplish such a long journey<\/a>. Dynamite fishing and overfishing have already caused great damage in this area. And it is not likely to get better in the years to come... <\/p>\n\n\n\n
(But as I mention above in my updates, in 2017 it seems like it has still improved. Check out the forums with people who have been there recently...)<\/p>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
In the Indonesian archipelago of Derawan, Borneo, the islands of Sangalaki and Maratua are no longer, in 2013, the fabulous diving spots they were.<\/p>","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":28014,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"tpgb_global_settings":"","_kad_post_transparent":"","_kad_post_title":"","_kad_post_layout":"","_kad_post_sidebar_id":"","_kad_post_content_style":"","_kad_post_vertical_padding":"","_kad_post_feature":"","_kad_post_feature_position":"","_kad_post_header":false,"_kad_post_footer":false,"_kad_post_classname":"","footnotes":"","jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false},"categories":[224],"tags":[209,229,230,563,667,1650,15,26,295,69],"class_list":["post-5506","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-voyage-borneo-indonesie-malaisie-juillet-2013","tag-derawan","tag-sangalaki","tag-maratua","tag-dive-plonger-indonesie","tag-proteger-ocean","tag-borneo-indonesie","tag-borneo","tag-indonesie","tag-plongee","tag-mantas"],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/petitesbullesdailleurs.fr\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/11\/sangalaki-1299.jpg?wsr","tpgb_featured_images":{"full":["https:\/\/petitesbullesdailleurs.fr\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/11\/sangalaki-1299.jpg?wsr",1600,1067,false],"tp-image-grid":["https:\/\/petitesbullesdailleurs.fr\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/11\/sangalaki-1299-700x700.jpg?wsr",700,700,true],"thumbnail":["https:\/\/petitesbullesdailleurs.fr\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/11\/sangalaki-1299-250x250.jpg?wsr",250,250,true],"medium":["https:\/\/petitesbullesdailleurs.fr\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/11\/sangalaki-1299-390x260.jpg?wsr",390,260,true],"medium_large":["https:\/\/petitesbullesdailleurs.fr\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/11\/sangalaki-1299-770x513.jpg?wsr",770,513,true],"large":["https:\/\/petitesbullesdailleurs.fr\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/11\/sangalaki-1299-780x520.jpg?wsr",780,520,true],"default":"https:\/\/petitesbullesdailleurs.fr\/wp-content\/plugins\/the-plus-addons-for-block-editor\/assets\/images\/tpgb-placeholder.jpg"},"tpgb_post_meta_info":{"get_date":"13 October 2013","get_modified_date":"24 October 2024","category_list":{"category":[{"term_id":224,"name":"Born\u00e9o : Indon\u00e9sie + Malaisie - juillet 2013","slug":"voyage-borneo-indonesie-malaisie-juillet-2013","term_group":0,"term_taxonomy_id":229,"taxonomy":"category","description":"Voyage sur l'\u00eele de Born\u00e9o, en Malaisie et Indon\u00e9sie. Plong\u00e9es dans l'archipel de Derawan (Maratua, Kakaban, Sangalaki)\u00a0; \u00e0 Sipadan, Mabul et Kapalai\u00a0; \u00e0 Kota Kinabalu (Pulau Gaya). \u00c9tapes \u00e0 Kuching et Kuala Lumpur. 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Impossible de se lasser de cet archipel immense, s'\u00e9tirant sur trois fuseaux horaires. Je vous emm\u00e8ne explorer ces fonds d'une richesse extraordinaire, de Bali<\/a> \u00e0\u00a0 Sulawesi<\/a>, de Komodo<\/a> \u00e0 Raja Ampat<\/a>, de Born\u00e9o<\/a> aux Moluques<\/a>...","parent":0,"count":182,"filter":"raw","term_order":"0"},{"term_id":295,"name":"Plong\u00e9e","slug":"plongee","term_group":0,"term_taxonomy_id":38,"taxonomy":"post_tag","description":"La plong\u00e9e sous-marine est votre passion ? Moi aussi. Ici ou ailleurs, de la Bretagne \u00e0 l'Indon\u00e9sie, je vous emm\u00e8ne sous la surface faire des bulles et d\u00e9couvrir les merveilles de l'oc\u00e9an. Plongez \u00e0 travers l'\u00e9cran !","parent":0,"count":171,"filter":"raw","term_order":"0"},{"term_id":69,"name":"Raies manta","slug":"mantas","term_group":0,"term_taxonomy_id":69,"taxonomy":"post_tag","description":"","parent":0,"count":16,"filter":"raw","term_order":"0"}]},"author_name":"Corinne Bourbeillon","author_url":"https:\/\/petitesbullesdailleurs.fr\/en\/author\/cbourbeillon\/","author_email":"corinne.pbda@gmail.com","author_website":"https:\/\/petitesbullesdailleurs.fr\/corinne-bourbeillon\/","author_description":"Journaliste, plongeuse et\u00a0photographe sous-marine, Corinne adore faire des bulles avec les\u00a0poissons\u00a0! La beaut\u00e9 du monde et\u00a0de\u00a0l'oc\u00e9an lui ont inspir\u00e9 ce blog. \r\n\r\n En savoir plus<\/a>","author_facebook":"","author_twitter":"","author_instagram":"","author_role":["administrator"],"author_firstname":"Corinne","author_lastname":"Bourbeillon","user_login":"cbourbeillon","author_avatar":"","author_avatar_url":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/7542464a0f3c6a1baf2af7786ad5764b10f9d60908fb1278a969310cf533aedd?s=96&d=identicon&r=g","comment_count":34,"post_likes":0,"post_views":0},"tpgb_post_category":{"category":"Born\u00e9o : Indon\u00e9sie + Malaisie - juillet 2013<\/a> ","post_tag":"Derawan<\/a> Sangalaki<\/a> Maratua<\/a> Plonger en Indon\u00e9sie<\/a> Prot\u00e9ger l'oc\u00e9an<\/a> Born\u00e9o (Indon\u00e9sie)<\/a> Born\u00e9o<\/a> Indon\u00e9sie<\/a> Plong\u00e9e<\/a> Raies manta<\/a> "},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/petitesbullesdailleurs.fr\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/5506","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/petitesbullesdailleurs.fr\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/petitesbullesdailleurs.fr\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/petitesbullesdailleurs.fr\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/petitesbullesdailleurs.fr\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=5506"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/petitesbullesdailleurs.fr\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/5506\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":51082,"href":"https:\/\/petitesbullesdailleurs.fr\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/5506\/revisions\/51082"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/petitesbullesdailleurs.fr\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/28014"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/petitesbullesdailleurs.fr\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=5506"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/petitesbullesdailleurs.fr\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=5506"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/petitesbullesdailleurs.fr\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=5506"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}