INTO THE BLUE - DIVING THE GILI ISLANDS

As one of Indonesia’s top areas for scuba diving and a reputation for being the ‘turtle capital of the world’, with year round water temperatures about 28 degrees Celsius, the islands have become popular for beginners and experienced divers alike. There are about 18 dive sites around the three islands, with a variety of topography (slopes, walls, ridges and canyons) and an enormous amount of diverse marine life. This includes black – and white tip reef sharks, lots of turtles (hawksbill and olive ridley), lionfish, scorpion fish, cuttle fish and octopus, moray eels, sea snakes, different types of rays (blue – spotted, eagle and, from December to March, manta rays)not to mention schools of bump - head parrot fish every full moon and the occasional whale shark…plus countless varieties of hard and soft corals. Haan’s Reef on Gili Air is fast becoming renowned for excellent “muck diving” where divers can see rare critters like frogfish, pink - leafed scorpion fish, flying gunard, mantis shrimp, nudibranchs, pygmy seahorses, robust ghost pipefish, blue ringed octopus and ringed pipefish.

Photographs courtesy of James White

THE GILI ECO TRUST

Concerns about conserving the Gili Island’s dive sites have led to the creation of the Gili Eco Trust. All dive centers operating in the Gili islands have a fixed price agreement and have agreed to charge a one - time US$3 ‘reef tax’ to every diver. This money is then used to pay for beach cleaning, recycling and conservation of the reefs.

GILI ISLANDS DIVE SITES

GILI ECO TRUST PRICE LIST

* FREE FUN DIVE WORTH $ 35US WITH ANY OF THESE COURSES OR 5 FUN DIVES ONLY WHEN BOOKING THROUGH THE GILI ISLANDS SHOP.