Gili islands in May? Advice greatly appreciated

[rcaqua]

Dear all,
I can see the willingness to respond to posts such as this one has decreased dramatically over the past months! Still I woul dbe immensely grateful if someone could give me some advice about the following: My wife (non diver) and I will be in Ubud for five days in early May, and I was wondering whether tacking on three days of diving on the Gili islands would be worhtwhile: looking mostly for pelagics, but happy with whatever is on offer. A good dive club and a comfortable room with aircon and a pool nearby would make this possible. Any ideas or alternatives to suggest....?

Many thanks!

Best,

Rene

 

[lamarpaulski]

You could go to Komodo. I thought the diving was amazing and there are some cool topside things to do like seeing the 'dragons' and other side adventures.

 

[pughio83]

I would personally say not worth it. To get from ubud to gillis takes a whole day realistically from start to finish (unpacked etc) though u could start v early and get there at a decent time. But it's not the length of time so much. I liked the gillis and had a week there but if u want Pelagics then I wouldn't bother. Macro is ok ish, reefs are ok, currents can be strong ish but I wouldn't hold out in many Pelagics. Maybe a white tip reef shark, rarely a manta, turtles yes. Nusa penida and go see the mantas would be better option and much better quality reefs. And you can still see occasional sharks there too.

 

[TheWartHog]

I love the Gili Islands for the all-round diving & top-side life, very easy and relaxing. I was in Gili Air recently (9th-19th Dec 14), dived with Manta Dive and stayed there and also at The Waterfront and dived most days and saw white tip and black tip reef sharks on a few dives, lots of big turtles (especially on Marlin Hill dive site), large group of Bumphead Parrotfish (about 40 I think), stone fish and barracudas amongst other things. Macro and reefs are good too.

However, if you have only 3 days then from Ubud I'll probably go to Tulamben. As pughio83 says it will take the best part of a day just to get from Ubud to the Gili Islands. Another option, head for somewhere on the coast, maybe Padang Bai - besides local dive sites there I think that one can get a day trip to hopefully see Mantas at Nusa Penida and in May, I think a little early, but if you're very lucky the Mola Molas.

Good luck!

 

[rcaqua]

Many thanks for the advice! I may have to separate into two trips and go for an RA liveaboard....

Best,

Rene