All within a short reach of each other, Gili Island’s dive sites have a lot to offer the beginner and experienced diver alike. The water temperature is warm throughout the year, and with 27 to 29 degrees Celsius, a 3mm shorty or long wetsuit should suffice for most divers. Diving conditions are mild, with good visibility and little current, making this area ideal for dive training. Competitive dive prices, white sandy beaches, and clear blue waters ensure a steady stream of tourists, divers and non-divers, who want to get away from the hustle and bustle of everyday life.
Over 25 dive sites surround the three Gili Islands, offering a wide variety of topography, from sloping reef and coral gardens to walls and pinnacles. The coral is in great health and shelters a wide range of marine life, including bump head parrotfish, batfish, small critters, and large fish and rays. Most dive sites are suitable for all levels.
Shark Point, north of Gili Trawangan, is one of the best places to see large marine life around the Gili Islands. This series of canyons houses reef sharks, schools of trevallies and rays. Manta Rays can be seen in rainy season, between November and May, when the waters here richen in plankton. Halik is a nice drift dive on a steep sloping reef that drops from 5 to 25 meters deep. Turtles frequent this dive site and seem totally oblivious to divers. Hann’s reef, just east of Gili Air, is Gili Island’s muck diving site. Here, divers have the chance to see small and interesting critters like the frogfish, leafy scorpionfish, nudibranchs, seahorses and pipefish.
A more advanced dive site, Deep Turbo’s is one of Gili Island’s most dramatic sites. It is a deep dive with a sandy bottom and interesting overhangs that are overgrown with corals and sea fans. Garden eels can be found all over the bottom here, as well as stingrays and the Leopard Shark.
Read "Part 1: Overview of Scuba Diving in Gili Islands and Lombok, (Indonesia)"
Read "Part 3: Dive Shops, Airports & Logistics of Diving in Gili Islands and Lombok, (Indonesia)"