Gili Trawangan

[toms]

Can anyone give me some feed back on what the diving is like on Gili Trawangan?

 

[pughio83]

For me, Gili trawangan, and infact all of the gili islands, diving is average for indonesia. The islands itself is nice, plenty restaurants/bars, nice beaches and good snorkelling off the beach (turtles, schooling bumphead parrotfish). The dives i did included manta point, shark point, meno wall, a house reef and some off gili air, and most were ok but wouldnt rush back there for the diving. There was some ok macro, including frogfish, mantis shrimp, not many different nudibranchs. Nothing that big either except a small white tip shark. I think they get an occasional manta ray. I think Gilis is the type of place where you trade off the diving slightly for more stuff going on land. I loved the Gili islands as a whole package and would return, but it depends on whether you want the best diving you can get for your budget, or whether you want to also sunbathe, party/drink etc.

 

[divewench1]

There's many dive centres to choose from on the Gili's, some with sister companies on the neighbouring islands, teaching both PADI and SSI courses through to Technical diving. It is a good place to learn to dive.

Most of the dive centres dive twice a day; leaving at (approx) 10.00am and 2.00pm, with most of the dive sites being drift diving. There are noticebly less healthy corals then in the neighbouring areas of Lombok, Bali, Nusa Penida and Nusa Lembongan.

The Gili islands are the home to the second largest Biorock reef restoration project in the world, and the reefs are beginning to repair as a result of this, I believe that every dive centre is a member of the Gili Eco Trust, and every diver pays a one-off 'reef tax' which is set up to protect the reefs surrounding the islands and for environmental education of the tourists.

Personally, although the laid back feeling of the Gili island has a wonderful appeal, I did not enjoy my diving experiences here, much preferring Bali diving, but this is just my opinion.

I'm sure someone will be along soon with more info for you.

Happy, safe diving

 

[dirtfarmer]

The posts above pretty much hit it on the spot. I wouldn't go to the Gili's just for diving but if you're going there it's worth getting wet a few times. I used smaller shops on both Gili T and Gili Air so I would be away from the crowds of divers getting their c-cards. It was nice to walk next door to the shop, have a short boat ride to the site, get wet and then get back to laying on the beach. It was usually just me and my guide, or one other advanced diver. My last dive there clocked 85 minutes.

 

[buiszie]

The Gili Islands has everything to offer what a person likes in diving. The Gili islands has more broken, damaged coral as Bali, but the Coral diversity is more diverse, cuz the Gili islands are still part of the coral triangle and Bali not. There are excellent dives where you can find macro life, like Mentiggi Bai and the Harbor of Gili Air. These are the spots where you find the mandarin fish, the frogfish, the seahorses, the ribbon eels, the mimic, the wonderpus and more. It is that most of the dive shops are diving the main spots and forgetting these little secrets.

 

[gekodivebali]

Coral diversity is more diverse, cuz the Gili islands are still part of the coral triangle and Bali not.

Oh really? this type of comments borders on disinformation!
If you're going to give a lesson in coral diversity, get some study out & show us some facts, not empty assertions. Who did the coral species count? What was their methodology? How many species were found? Hard or soft corals? Or is it just all corals are more diverse because Gilis are on the other side of the Wallacea line?

 

[zivva]

The Gili Islands has everything to offer what a person likes in diving.

This is your personal opinion as a local operator in the Gili Islands.

For scientific opinions, please see below

The Gili islands has more broken, damaged coral as Bali, but the Coral diversity is more diverse, cuz the Gili islands are still part of the coral triangle and Bali not.

I would suggest you get an accurate map of the Coral Triangle as Bali is definitely part of it.



Source : CTC / http://www.coraltrianglecenter.org/wp-content/infosheet/pdf/CTC-Flyer_ENG_updated 311012.pdf