Maratua and Derawan are both part of East Kalimantan’s Derawan Archipelago, roughly 45 minutes to an hour apart by boat, and travelers planning a Borneo diving trip often need to choose one as a home base rather than trying to properly cover both on a short visit. This guide focuses on that choice specifically for travelers deciding where to book several consecutive nights, rather than the many people who island-hop through both on day trips once they’re already in the area.

It helps to remember that Maratua and Derawan are not competing destinations so much as two bases within the same marine park system, alongside Sangalaki and Kakaban. Most of what makes the archipelago worth visiting, the manta stations, the turtle nesting beaches, the jellyfish lake, is reachable as a day trip from either island, so this comparison is mainly about where you sleep and what your everyday house-reef diving looks like, rather than which island holds the archipelago’s best features outright. That framing matters because it means neither choice locks you out of the other’s highlights; it mainly changes your baseline comfort, cost and crossing time.

Independent comparison guide, updated for the 2026 season. Specific resort pricing and boat schedules shift often in this region, so confirm current details directly with operators before booking.

Neither island is objectively wrong for a given traveler; the mismatch usually shows up when someone picks Maratua expecting Bali-level convenience, or picks Derawan expecting Maratua-grade wall diving right off the beach. Matching the island to what you actually want from the days on the ground avoids most of the disappointment people report after the fact.

Compare the Two Islands

A few of these rows deserve a caveat: “typical cost level” varies a lot by season and by specific resort, and a handful of newer Derawan guesthouses have started pricing closer to Maratua’s dive resorts as demand has grown. Treat the table as a starting filter rather than a fixed rule, and check current rates for your actual travel dates before assuming either island is automatically the cheaper pick.

Diving: The Main Difference

Maratua’s outer walls drop steeply and draw stronger current, which means more pelagic action, reef sharks and the occasional larger fish, but also dives better suited to divers with some current experience. Derawan’s reef is gentler and closer to shore, making it a more relaxed choice for newer divers or anyone prioritizing an easy, low-effort house reef over a more demanding wall dive.

Both islands serve as launch points for day trips to Sangalaki’s manta cleaning stations and Kakaban’s stingless jellyfish lake, covered in our dedicated Kakaban Jellyfish Lake guide, so the choice between them matters less for those two sites specifically than it does for your daily house-reef diving. Derawan is also one of the region’s more reliable spots to see green turtles feeding and resting close to shore, a species whose regional population trends are tracked by the IUCN Red List, which makes it a particularly good base for snorkelers who want consistent wildlife encounters without committing to scuba.

Certification courses are more widely available on Derawan simply because more dive operators are based there; Maratua’s smaller resorts can usually arrange one too, but with less flexibility around start dates. Either way, confirm instructor availability and course language with a PADI-affiliated center before you commit several days of a short trip to it.

Lodging and Cost

Derawan Island packs a wide range of homestays and a few larger hotels onto one compact, walkable stretch, which keeps costs more competitive and makes it easy to compare options in person after arrival if your first choice is full. Maratua’s dive resorts, several of which we cover in our roundups of luxury resorts in the Derawan Islands and Derawan Islands resorts in Borneo, tend to run at a higher nightly rate that reflects the added cost of shipping supplies to a more remote island, though it also usually buys a quieter, more private stay with fewer other guests sharing the house reef.

Meal plans are worth checking closely on both islands: many Maratua dive resorts bundle three meals a day into the room rate by necessity, since there are few standalone restaurants, while Derawan’s denser village has a handful of independent warungs where you can eat separately from your accommodation if you’d rather not commit to a full board plan.

Getting There

Derawan Island is the easier of the two to reach, with a shorter, more sheltered boat crossing from Tanjung Batu. Maratua’s crossing runs longer and can be rougher in the northwest monsoon months; our full routing guide covers both the Berau and Tarakan paths in detail, including approximate timing and cost. If you’re short on time or traveling with someone prone to seasickness, that extra crossing time to Maratua is worth weighing seriously against its diving advantages.

Inter-island transfers between Derawan and Maratua are straightforward once you’re already in the archipelago, generally under an hour by speedboat, so a change of plan mid-trip is possible without a full return to the mainland. That flexibility is one reason some travelers book a shorter opening stay on whichever island is easier to reach, then decide on the spot whether to extend there or move across.

Which Should You Pick?

If this is a first visit to the archipelago, or you’re traveling with non-divers, Derawan Island’s easier access and denser lodging options make it the lower-friction choice. If diving quality is the main reason for the trip and you have the extra day or budget for a longer transfer, Maratua’s reef walls are generally worth it, especially for anyone who has already dived more crowded Indonesian sites and wants something quieter.

A middle path many divers take is basing on Derawan for ease of logistics, then booking a day-boat specifically out to Maratua’s walls, rather than committing a full multi-night stay to the more remote island. This keeps the easier lodging and dining options of Derawan as a base while still reaching Maratua’s stronger dive sites on the days it matters most.

Divers continuing on to Malaysian Borneo afterward often extend the trip toward Sipadan and Mabul or the Semporna archipelago, both of which offer a different, but comparably strong, diving style, and are worth comparing against whichever Derawan Archipelago island you choose first.

Beyond the Derawan Archipelago

If neither island quite fits your plans, Indonesia has several other under-the-radar diving and beach destinations worth comparing, including Natuna, Weh Island off Sumatra’s northern tip, and Nias Island for surfers. For a broader regional overview of marine park quality, Indonesia’s official tourism site is a useful starting reference, and the PADI dive center locator can help confirm which islands currently have active, certified dive operations before you commit to a routing.

Whichever island you end up choosing, booking your opening night or two well ahead, rather than arriving and shopping around in person, removes one layer of stress from a trip that already involves several connecting legs to reach. You can always extend or shift plans once you are on the ground and have a better feel for conditions that season.

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