Derawan overwater cabin

Pulau Derawan lies off the east coast of Borneo in the Berau regency of East Kalimantan, at the centre of an archipelago that includes Sangalaki's manta cleaning stations, Kakaban's stingless jellyfish lake and Maratua's dramatic drop-offs. Derawan itself is a small, flat, sandy island ringed by a shallow shelf so clear that green turtles are visible from the jetty at any hour.

The property is a sixty square metre timber cabin on ironwood piles over that shelf, part of a small row of similar houses along the island's eastern edge. Two bedrooms, one bathroom, a compact kitchen and a covered deck with a ladder straight into chest-deep water. Metal roof, mosquito screening, ceiling fans, rainwater collection and a connection to the island's generator supply, with a solar panel and battery to cover the quieter overnight hours.

The island has no cars. Everything happens along sand paths between houses, warungs and dive shops; a lap of the island takes half an hour on foot. There is a clinic, a small market, a mosque, a school and a handful of family-run restaurants doing fresh fish, coconut curries and Berau-style grilled squid.

Access is by road and boat: fly to Berau's Kalimarau airport from Balikpapan or Jakarta, take an hour and a half by car to Tanjung Batu, then thirty minutes by speedboat. It is a journey rather than a transfer, which is exactly why the reefs here are in the condition they are.

The diving is the reason to buy. Manta rays at Sangalaki are close to guaranteed in season, turtles nest on the beaches, and the walls at Maratua carry barracuda tornadoes and pelagics. Prices for a house like this are a fraction of what an equivalent overwater property would cost in the better-known parts of Indonesia, though buyers should expect the usual leasehold structure and careful checks on foreshore permissions.