Hello from Indonesia! Have you ever been to Indonesia? Maybe some people know about Indonesia from Jakarta and Bali. But here I want to share about Derawan Islands that I call it as "the hidden paradise in Borneo." Derawan islands are located in Berau, Borneo, and in order to get there, we have to take two connecting flights from Jakarta (From Jakarta to Balikpapan and to Berau/Tarakan). It seems a bit inconvenient to go but I'm sure it's much better than traveling by car for 20 hours!

After a quite long flight to Berau, I arrived at the Kalimarau airport. My husband who works there picked me up. We went to Tanjung Redeb, the center of Berau, and decided to have one night there before continuing our travel to Derawan islands. In Berau, there are many beautiful islands too such as Kakaban, Maratua, Nabocco, and Sangalaki, so I wanted to look around those places if we had enough time. To go to Derawan islands, we still have to go to Tanjung Batu (3 hours by car), and then continue to Derawan islands by speedboat for around 30 minutes. So it is better to start the journey by tomorrow morning. What a long journey!

Okay, the trip has begun. After three hours travelling by car to Tanjung Batu, we could see many speedboats were there. It was windy and wavy in October. The best time to go to Derawan islands is between May-July when the sun shines so bright and the waves are calm. Derawan Islands were so peaceful when we arrive, with beautiful beach and clear sea. We saw some giant turtles swimming in the sea, and the water is also so clear that we could see many kinds of fishes too.

Besides trying fresh seafood for lunch, we rent bicycles to travel around the islands. Already been to Derawan, I did not want to miss visiting another islands. I chose to visit Maratua Island and Kakaban Islands by speedboat. We could choose to stay there one night in each island or just visit them in one day.

In the next morning, we visited Maratua and Kakaban Islands. From Derawan to Maratua, we had to travel for 30 minutes by speedboat. But, it's really worthy! Maratua is really amazing! The beach was so beautiful with white sand and refreshing! Not so many tourists go there, so we felt that the island was exclusively ours! Visitors can choose diving courses or just stay in luxury resorts in Maratua. The beach was so suitable for refreshment that it could make people forget about all the hectic life in the office or all the heavy traffic in the city. And…this place is a suitable for honeymoon as well!!

Almost two hours in Maratua, we continued our journey to Kakaban Island which located about 45 minutes from Maratua Island. Vistors can swim with jellyfishes there. So exciting! Kakaban means "hug" in local language as the the island's shape looks like it hugs the lake from surround seawater. This is what makes the jellyfishes were trapped in the lake.

Finally, time for us to go back to Derawan had come and we had to be back to Berau. Unfortunately we had no chance to visit all the islands there such as Nabocco and Sangalaki. But, we promise each other to go there next time since one time is never enough to visit the hidden paradise in Borneo. So, our exhausted feeling of travelling this far was gone by seeing these beautiful islands with the beautiful beaches! What a breathtaking view and enjoyable moment!