Our first evening on Pulau Derawan had already captivated us, from its tiny size (appearing as a dollop of palm trees floating above turquoise water) to its crisp, three lane town and abundance of sea creatures which are disappearing from the rest of Indonesia's coastlines.
Wandering in search of nesting turtles in the moonlight, we were given a peak at the extensive, winding sandbars leading out from Derawan, sinking and rising to form tiny, islands exposed only during low tide. I was excited to explore the sandbars, so after breakfast on our first full day, Megan and I crawled along the beach towards the sandbar hook extending out into the sea.
During high tide, the sand in the foreground is underwater all the way up to the sinking cement strip, which appeared to be an old helipad destabilized by erosion. The night prior, we watched the turtle lay eggs just 30 meters to the right of the red-roofed building in the photo.
Winding out along the sandbar, we encountered giant, colorful, spitting clams with creepy mouths and amazing aim, starfish of varying colors and sizes, schools of tiny, flesh-nibbling fish, and even the odd anemone housing black and orange clownfish.
Eventually, about a half-mile from the island, the end of the sandbar grew near.
Looking back, the island seemed separate from us by the watery horizon, even though we still had plenty of time left with the tides.
1 comment:
I'm glad I went with someone with a keen eye for brightly-colored aquatic life :). I want to go back! We still need to share our pictures.
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