From Balikpapan, DAS (Dirgantara Air Services ) has daily flights to Berau except on Sundays. Once arrived in Berau guests will be met by Derawan staff and transfered directly via speed boat to Derawan Island. 

Manado 

Reached via Garuda direct flights from UPG. The location of the world famous Bunaken marine park with numerous dive operators, including Froggies, Thalassa, Barracuda and NDC.

Dongalla is close to Palu and reached via Merpati or Bouraq direct flights (both Upg and Bpn). Merpati cancels far more often than Bouraq! 

This resort offers simple, peaceful accommodation in non air-conditioned bungalows, but it is nice to sleep with the doors wide open and wake up to the sun and sea. 

The dive instruction (PADI - open water diver and advanced open water)  is excellent and given by a German instructor, Alex, who is an affable chap that speaks very good English

Accommodation is approximately $23 per night per bungalow and is full-board with excellent food, this is further reduced by a 25% discount to Britannia staff during the low season. Mention the Britannia pilot thing to get a further 20% discount on diving. The resort is run once more by Peter and Maureen who were the original owners before the short-lived German invasion in 2001 that hiked up the prices. Telephone 0457-71710 (resort), 0457-71104 (Alex and Gaby private line), Fax 0451 423027. Email.

Located at the Shogun Japanese Restaurant, opposite the former Lima-Dua, the contact is the restaurant owner, Mr Nishikawa . They offer trips to Kapoposang, a beautiful island some 70km from Makassar (1.5 - 2 hours speedboat ride). The cost is approximately $80 for four dives over two days (snorkelling $50). This includes the overnight stay, lunch, evening meal, breakfast and soft drinks. This cost is based on a minimum of three participants. The trips are organised by Jan, the divemaster, he has limited English but plenty of experience. They have five sets of equipment for rental but ensure advance notice if you require a wetsuit. Telephone 331334 (Shogun Restaurant - best in evenings)/326056 (Dive centre). Note that Kapoposang and anything west of Makassar is difficult to reach in the rainy season which ends in early March.

They offer PADI courses at Samalona or Bira or by arrangement. They have two live-aboard boats, the Ciska and the Dewi Sri. The Ciska offers a maximum of 12 berths and is the less plush (but still fine for a few days) of the two since the Dewi Sri offers four separate cabins with en-suites. Both are operational for Hajj 2002. The dive masters are Jan and Jerry (both Belgian with excellent English). Jerry is the PADI instructor. 

They have a special Britannia offer for a liveaboard, based on a minimum of four people. The cost is $70 per day per person and this is all-inclusive of unlimited diving, meals, tea, coffee. The dive locations are likely to be Cape Bira, the islands separating Bira and Selayer as well as Selayer itself. The crew on the boat are very friendly and all dives are made from a separate dive tender. They have two Bauer compressors and the whole thing works well and is recommended. Their equipment seems in better condition than MDC's. They also offer a Bira shore based package which includes two shore dives a day and accommodation for $35 a day; this would be a better diving experience than that offered by the local dive centres of Anda and The Bira Beach Hotel.

Take care when arranging transport to Bira, arrange it independently through Caraka since Marlin also use Caraka but add on a hefty whack.

Contact Marlin on 0411 858762 or by email.

Bira is a four hour drive from Makassar and transport may be arranged through Caraka Travelindo, Jl. Samalona No.12, Makassar. Telephone 62 411 318877, Fax 62 411 318889. Bira offers some excellent diving with varied walls, sharks and big fish. 

Anda have a reasonable range of equipment, although the rental BCDs are becoming a bit tired. The local divemaster is Arif and he speaks reasonable English and is keen. The manager, David, previously quoted $30 for two dives with an an additional $10 for equipment rental. It is advised to book in advance since they use local boats (yes, wooden fishing boats which can be entertaining to dive from) and they may have other plans. Telephone  0413 82125.

This is the second choice for diving in Bira in terms of organisation. They have reasonable equipment and use local boats. The divemaster, Denny, is less experienced but speaks good English and plays a mean guitar. This is a better bet for more experienced divers. Telephone 0413 81515.

Selayer Island, south of Bira, famous for deep water and hopefully big fish. There are two ways to travel to Selayer; either via Bira and speedboat or by flying direct from UPG (the flight doesn't always run, beware). The resort is new, German run and custom-built with excellent accommodation. The owner is difficult to contact since he uses a satellite 'phone and seems to conserve it's batteries. Try Caraka Travelindo, 318877.