Beautiful start to life on Pulau Derawan

12th November, 2011

I woke up early, before sunrise, and although I had only had a few hours sleep and I was still feeling exhausted, I got up as I wanted to see the sunrise...and it was so beautiful! It was a really pretty view from my balcony! My first sighting of Pulau Derawan was amazing! I loved it already! =)

After watching the sun rise in the wide open sky, I sat on the dock outside my balcony and watched Pak Jon feed the turtles - so cool! Pak Jon works for the WWF and is one of the carers/protectors of the turtles on the island. He feeds them banana leaves every morning and afternoon and he also watches over the turtle eggs.

I relaxed on my balcony - had a coffee and breakfast - yummy coconut and palm sugar pancakes! The sun was boiling hot and it was still early in the morning! I went for a snorkle with a turtle - it was huge! It was more than half the size of me! It was really cool to swim around with her...so graceful in the water.

I potted around in my bungalow, organised things and made myself feel at home. I realised that my bungalow has two balconies, one at the front and one at the back...cute! I liked it a lot! The option of two balconies meant that you could either get the sun whenever you wanted it....or...you could hide from it, which is what I did some mornings as it was just too hot to sit in it!

My bungalow at Reza Homestay cost Rp200.000 per night and included a small snack for breakfast and tea and coffee facilities all day long. We had fresh water and electricity all day long and my bungalow had a big bedroom and bathroom and also aircon!

I had lunch at the restaurant on my dock....and met some of the locals and after lunch I lazed around and had a tidur siang - afternoon nap...for 3 hours! ;) This was the beginnings of my relaxing holiday...time to slow down and I had found the perfect spot for slowing down! Pulau Derawan is a small, sleepy island...

In the afternoon, after my nap, I went exploring around the island a bit...and went for a late afternoon swim. Life was slow and cruisey on Derawan! ;)