At the eastern coast of Borneo -situated in the Sulawesian Sea- Extra Divers built in 2001 eight double - and a single occupation bungalow in a vintage Indonesian style.
Around the island there are a few small sandy beaches. Due to the tides, swimming sometimes is only possible nearby the jetty. By now they extended this with some extra double bungalows.

A fantastic nature as well as a familial atmosphere are provided by the exotic Resort.

When you arrive at the Island a sign above the jetty states:

‘Welcome to paradise’.

And that is true! This picturesque (private) Island is a true paradise. We were welcomed by the management couple Kathrin (German) and Tarkan (British). A short meeting in the bar was setup to explain all the ‘Island rules’.

From this moment on you will directly experience the familiar atmosphere and the helpful attitude of Kathrin, Tarkan and the rest of the staff members. A remarkable detail is that almost instantly the entire staff knows your first name, and will call you by that name during your entire stay.

After the meeting we were taken to our bungalow, where our suitcases were already delivered.

The bungalow

Our (beautiful) bungalow was located on the sunset side of the Island. Like all the bungalows, it had a waterfront view as well as a large balcony in front of the room that has enough space for the 2 sunbeds from which you could watch the sunset. The bungalow resides on poles above the beach (or sea at high tide) and is completely build in traditional Indonesian style using mainly wood. There are stairs available from which you can enter the water during high tide, or the beach with low tide.
There is plenty of space available in the room; our bungalow contained a twin and a single bed. There was a large build-in closet, a bench and a (camera) desk with a chair. There is a small minibar which can be filled up according to your own wishes. In the room there are 2 ceiling ventilators as well as an air-conditioning unit available.
The beautiful large en-suite bathroom features a toilet, a sink and a shower area.
Most of the times you'll have warm water, the water pressure might fluctuate now and then when everybody is taking a shower after diving at the same time, but for a small Island like this it's exceptionally good!
In the room there are also a couple of electrical outlets available (220 volt, 2 pin EU standard).
However, if you have many battery chargers for cameras and strobes etc. a splitter would be recommendable.
Electricity was always available during our entire stay.

Housekeeping will take care of your bungalow every day. This includes the complete cleaning, making your beds and changing the towels. All done very well!

Did you ever dream about your own "Robinson Island"? Spending holiday far away from civilization, from hectic and stress, from noise and every-day-life? Look no further, we found it !!

Nabucco is a protected Island and has a size of not even 20.000 m2. (Almost round with 130 by 150 meter). The resort was built around the existing flora - no single palm, no single tree was cut.
There is one sandy path that leads you to the small beach, via wooden walkways you can reach more or less the entire Island straight through nature.

The WiFi provided in the ‘Long house’ area is a satellite connection. This means that it’s not always available and certainly not high speed. However it’s enough to send a message to the ‘civilized world’ that you’re still alive….

The office is also located in the Long house, here you have the possibility to drop your valuable possessions in a safe if you want.

In the late afternoon, Tarkan will most of the time show you a the scuba diving movie in the bar area.
The restaurant, also built on stilts over the water, is the place where guests can enjoy panoramic views combined with high quality meals. It’s located next to the bar.

Between the restaurant and the bar there are (very clean) public toilets, never more than 20 steps away from your glass of beer.

For all the restaurant and bar related matters, Florian is their main man. Florian is the sun on the Island (even on a cloudy day), he’s always smiling, very committed to the guests and ALWAYS there….(sometimes from 04:00 hrs. till midnight !!)

Besides these 3, we must say that every single staff member is extremely friendly and helpful, that is what creates this special familiar atmosphere.

Florian

In the morning you can enjoy an a la carte breakfast. If you applied for full board, you can enjoy the a la carte lunch as well. In the evening there’s a 5-course-dinner.

The quality of the food is exceptionally good, and all freshly made by the chef Ajis and his team!! The Resort provides Asian specialties in combination with Western food. They use the available fresh ingredients like fish, meat, vegetables and fruits.

If you have a preference or disapprove for a certain type of food it will be taken into account.
If you are a diabetic and / or have any type of food allergy they will prepare separate meals for you.
All dishes are served in a professional way by Florian and his team.

Well, the main reason we came to Nabucco is for the diving! It’s no surprise that almost everything on this Island is about diving. When you enter the Island you’ll walk directly through the diving center. Tarkan is managing the dive operation, and he is very committed and does a fantastic job.
The diving operation takes place under the ‘Extra Divers’ flag.

The dive center is located on the small pier, and holds a dry room where you can store your equipment in your personal box and space. There is also a small office where you can rent scuba gear, the rental equipment is well maintained and in very good condition. In the dive center they also serve you tea before and after the dives (and often cake). The dive briefings are also performed here.

They have 3 well equipped diving boats available, with 2 crewmembers on each boat, which assist you during your trip. Most of the dive sites are only a few minutes from the resort.

Basically all you have to do is make sure you have your wetsuit on and your mask and fins with you, the rest is done by the crew. They assemble and disassemble your set for you (if you like) and even rinse it for you after the dive. Note for photographers; there is also a separate bin with fresh water for cameras available.

Nitrox is available on request (and depends on availability), note that you will be charged a small extra fee for the nitrox.

Therefore the interpretation of our dive experience might differ from less ‘spoiled’ divers, but we are aware that we are quite “blessed”….

We experienced sometimes a visibility of max. 10 meter, while ‘normal’ visibility should reach up to 30 meter. This milky visibility caused by plankton and / or debris in the water, made wide angle photography rather challenging.

Most dive sites are located on the east side of the Maratua Atoll, and are only 10 min. by boat from the resort.

Most of the dives we did we found a lot of macro life, we encountered many pygmee seahorses (all Hippocampus Denise), a large variety of nudibranchs, candy crabs, orangutan crabs, boxer shrimps etc. (Big thanks to our guide Sudir, what an amazing eyesight does this guy have!)

However if you look into the ‘blue’ you will also spot the larger species like; jacks, barracuda’s, tuna’s (dog tooth), Mackerels, eagle rays, and on the bottom large mangrove stingrays and every now and then even a passing grey of whitetip shark.

Personally we liked the dive sites located South of Big Fish Country the most, e.g. Sea wall (garden), Leo point & wall and Midnight snapper run.

Jellyfish lake on Kakaban Island

The same daytrip also includes a dive on Kakaban Wall (on Kakaban island). This wall drops straight down for about 200 meters and is completely covered by corals, gorgonians and sponges and in our opinion it is the best dive site in the area. (Based on our interests off course)

During this daytrip you can also take a plunge into the 'Jellyfish lake' on Kakaban Island (Only snorkeling allowed and no fins)