Divers reach Maratua three ways: Wings Air’s twice-weekly flight into the island’s own airstrip (as of September 2026), a private charter aircraft booked on request, or a roughly 2-hour speedboat run from Tanjung Batu after landing at Kalimarau Airport (BEJ) in Berau. Maratua is the only island in the archipelago with a runway — Derawan, Kakaban and Sangalaki are boat-only, no exceptions.
What Are the Three Ways Divers Actually Reach Maratua?
Every diver planning a Maratua trip is really choosing between three logistics chains, and each one has a different failure point.
The scheduled option is Wings Air, which flies into Maratua’s airstrip twice a week as of September 2026. The charter option is a small aircraft booked directly with an operator for a specific date, which sidesteps the twice-weekly limit but has to be arranged well ahead of a dive booking. The default option, and still the most common for most resorts, is the speedboat: fly commercial into Kalimarau, then travel by road and water into the archipelago.
None of these routes are interchangeable at the last minute. A missed Wings Air flight does not simply roll over to the next day — the next scheduled departure could be several days out. That is the single fact that should shape how a diver books flights relative to a resort’s check-in window.
How Does the Maratua Airstrip and Wings Air Schedule Actually Work?
Maratua’s airstrip is the only one in the Derawan group, which is why it anchors most air-access planning for the whole archipelago. Wings Air serves it twice weekly, according to research current as of September 2026 — a frequency that is thin enough to plan around rather than assume.
Two implications follow directly from a twice-weekly schedule:
- A diver’s inbound and outbound dates both need to land on a flight day, or the itinerary needs a buffer night on either end.
- Dive resorts on Maratua build their own boat transfers around those flight days, so a guest arriving off-schedule may need a separately arranged pickup from Tanjung Batu or Tanjung Redeb instead.
Because commercial seat availability on a twice-weekly route can be tight in peak diving months, confirming the flight before locking in resort dates is the safer order of operations, not the other way around.
What About Chartering an Aircraft Instead of Flying Commercial?
Charter aircraft are the flexible middle option. A private booking is not tied to Wings Air’s two fixed weekly slots, which matters for dive groups with a narrow window or a liveaboard connection to make.
Public research does not document a seaplane operator, a named water-landing site, or a water aerodrome serving the Derawan islands, and no government priority status for water landings in East Kalimantan is documented as of September 2026. Any water-landing option should be treated as subject to operator approval, aviation authority permits and prevailing conditions on the day — not as a standing service. Green Nirvana Resort’s own description of the archipelago as reachable “by boat or small airplane” after landing at Kalimarau confirms small-aircraft arrivals happen; it does not confirm a routine seaplane service exists.
For groups weighing a combined itinerary out of Berau, the practical planning reference is our guide to Berau to Maratua seaplane coordination, which walks through how charter timing lines up against Kalimarau arrivals and resort transfer windows.
Because no public price list exists for seaplane or charter transfers into the archipelago, every charter quote is operator-specific and should be requested directly rather than assumed from a published rate.
How Long Does the Speedboat Route From Berau Actually Take?
The boat route is slower but far more predictable than either air option, and it is still what most divers end up using.
| Leg | Mode | Typical duration |
|---|---|---|
| Kalimarau Airport (BEJ) to Tanjung Batu | Road | About 2 to 2.5 hours (one itinerary reports 2.5 to 3) |
| Tanjung Batu to Derawan | Speedboat | About 30 minutes |
| Tanjung Batu to Kakaban | Speedboat | About 1 hour |
| Tanjung Batu to Maratua or Sangalaki | Speedboat | About 2 hours |
| Derawan to Kakaban | Speedboat | About 1 hour |
| Tanjung Redeb pier to Maratua (public boat) | Speedboat | About 2.5 hours, departs around 10:00 |
A separate departure point worth knowing: Tanjung Redeb, the Berau regency capital, also runs harbour boats to Maratua, Sangalaki or Kakaban at roughly 2 hours each way, with a first departure around 08:00 and a last one around 16:00, according to dive-travel logistics sources. That gives a same-day cutoff for anyone landing at Kalimarau later in the afternoon — miss the last boat and the option becomes an overnight in Tanjung Redeb or Tanjung Batu before continuing.
Door-to-jetty time for Derawan via Berau totals roughly 3 hours end to end, combining the road leg and the short Tanjung Batu crossing. For Maratua, plan closer to half a day once road transfer, jetty wait and the 2-hour crossing are stacked together.
What Should Divers Check at the Resort Before Booking Transfers?
Getting to Maratua is only half the logistics question. Dive-specific timing at the resort side determines whether the first dive day actually happens on schedule.
| Item | What to confirm with the resort |
|---|---|
| No-fly interval after diving | Standard decompression guidance calls for at least 12 to 24 hours surface interval before flying, depending on dive profile — confirm the resort’s own policy before booking a same-day or next-day departure |
| Dolphin Point transfers | Ask whether boat transfers to this site run on a fixed schedule or on request, since it sits offshore from the main resort cluster |
| Blue Lagoon / Halo Tabung Cave access | Confirm whether this site is included in a standard package or booked as an add-on excursion |
| Gear rental vs. bring-your-own | Confirm tank size, weight availability and whether nitrox is offered, since remote-island gear inventories vary resort to resort |
| Airstrip-to-resort pickup | Confirm who meets a Wings Air arrival and how that lines up against the twice-weekly flight days |
A Coordination Checklist for Matching Arrival to Dive Schedule
- Confirm which of the three access modes (Wings Air, charter, speedboat) the resort actually coordinates pickups for, since not every resort meets every route.
- Book Wings Air seats or a charter date before finalizing resort check-in, given the twice-weekly commercial constraint.
- Build in a buffer day on the departure end to respect the resort’s no-fly interval after the last dive.
- If arriving by boat through Tanjung Redeb, target the 08:00 to 10:00 departure window rather than the last afternoon boat, to leave slack for delays.
- Ask the resort directly whether Dolphin Point and Blue Lagoon trips are scheduled daily or on request, and align dive-day planning accordingly.
- Treat any seaplane or charter aircraft quote as request-based, since no standing price list is published for the Berau-to-Derawan air corridor as of September 2026.
Juara Holding Group is an independent coordination desk, established in 2015, that arranges charter and transfer logistics with licensed Indonesian operators for the Derawan and Berau region; it does not own aircraft or vessels and is not affiliated with any single named operator. For help sequencing an arrival date against Wings Air’s schedule, a charter request, or a resort’s dive calendar, reach the desk on WhatsApp at 6281139414563 or by email at bd@juaraholding.com.
Frequently Asked Questions
Can I book a same-day connection from Berau to Maratua if I land late at Kalimarau?
It depends on which route is available that day. Wings Air only flies twice weekly, so a late Kalimarau landing on a non-flight day rules out the airstrip option. The Tanjung Redeb public boat’s last departure is around 16:00, so a late-afternoon arrival may miss it too — an overnight in Tanjung Redeb before continuing is the realistic fallback.
Is there a seaplane that lands directly at a Maratua dive resort?
No public source documents a scheduled seaplane service or a named water-landing site at Maratua or elsewhere in the archipelago as of September 2026. Small-aircraft arrivals after landing at Kalimarau are described by at least one resort, but any water landing would be arranged case by case, subject to operator approval and aviation permits, not booked as a standing route.
How far in advance should I book Wings Air for a Maratua dive trip?
Public research does not publish a specific advance-booking window, but because the route runs only twice weekly and dive season months draw concentrated demand, booking as soon as resort dates are confirmed is the safer approach rather than waiting until closer to travel. Confirming the flight before finalizing resort check-in avoids a mismatch between the two.