The Gili Islands are truly a place of contrasts!
The islands are small and so is the community, but the waters here are incredible— perfect for diving. The food here is mostly Indonesian and western, and the bars are just beautiful. Explore the dive sites at Gili Islands with Instant Karma Magazine. We’ve put together a list of all important dive sites for you.
The Gili Islands have everything you could ask for in an island paradise!
Advanced divers enjoy looking at macro creatures since it is thrilling to search for and find them on your own while muck diving.
Still, for the open water course for beginners and advanced divers, Gili islands are a paradise, with a good current, gorgeous and protected dive spots, and always fantastic visibility, but not for pros because there is too little action.
Unfortunately, the local islanders’ fished with dynamite back in the day, leaving nothing but craters where reefs used to be. But there’s still a lot of marine life to see, like reef sharks, turtles and manta rays. You can dive straight off the beach—just step in and go deep.
It’ll be worth your while to visit for a few days.
The local diving center will arrange guided dives for you and make sure you have the best time with amazing sea life around the Gili islands. It’s worth a visit for a few days, and who knows, maybe you’ll stay a little longer.
Oceans 5 House Reef
Location: South Gili Air
Max. Depth: 18m
A few steps out of the dive shop lies the Oceans 5 House Reef: a sandy bottom that slopes down to 18 meters. A large pinnacle forms the middle point of the reef. The house reef is home to crocodile fish, razor fish, seahorses, frogfish and several types of nudibranchs. A perfect site for shallow dives and for first dive experiences.
Turtle City
Location: East Gili Meno
Max. Depth: 30m
Turtle City is located on the north- east side of Gili Meno. The average depth is around 18 meters. The dive site is situated around a large pinnacle peaking at 10 meters. It is a great sight for all levels of divers and as the name suggests is ideal for seeing lots of beautiful turtles! You will find large schools of small fish such as clown fish, damsels and sergeant majors, shrimps, octopus, cuttlefish, scorpion fish and giant blue puffer fish as well as giant clams! If you are looking for turtles, beautiful coral valley coverage with swarms of colorful fish this site is just perfect.
Hans Reef
Location: North-East Gili Air
Max. Depth: 24m
There are many ways to explore this site and it gives you something new to spot every time you visit. The sandy patch starts at around 7 meters; there you can find garden eels, sand lizardfish, frogfish, flounder and sea cucumbers. In the sea grass you can often find blue spotted stingrays and a diversity of smaller marine life. Further on batfish can be seen along with octopus and cuttlefish, scorpion fish, puffers, schools of tropical reef fish and huge pink barrel sponges with sleepy turtles napping on top!
Batfish Point
Location: North Gili Air
Max. Depth: 28m
Deep dive site on the northern tip of Gili Air. The site consists of three pinnacles and houses batfish, a beautiful variety of corals and some of the larger species of fish. Macro photographers praise the site for the colorful pictures that can be taken here.
Gili Air Wall
Location: West Gili Air
Max. Depth:30m
The wall between Gili Air and Gili Meno slopes from 8 meters all the way down to 30 meters. Pygmy seahorses, turtles and blue spotted stingrays are amongst the inhabitants of this dive site. The topography of the wall makes this site different from all.
Nudibranch Heaven
Location: North East of Gili Air island
Max. Depth: 30m
Nudibranch Heaven has earned its name by hosting many different types of nudibranchs in all colors and varieties. Colorful reef fish such as angelfish, surgeon fish and clownfish are also frequently spotted here, and so are ribbon eels, mantis shrimps and squid.
Soraya
Location: Between the islands of Gili Meno and Gili Air
Max. Depth: 30m
This open water dive site consists of two long ridges of coral running east to west in between Gili Meno and Gili Air. The corals on this reef are nearly untouched, resulting in a dive site covered in very large table corals, staghorn corals and gorgonian fans, which in their turn attract all sorts of coral fish. Drift along the reef and enjoy the view!
Meno Wall
Location: North-West of Gili Meno
Max. Depth:25m
Just off the west of Gili Meno and home to a plethora of crustaceans and a great spot for night diving. The wall runs from 5m down to 16m and a second wall runs a little deeper. Spanish dancers, crabs ranging from small coral crabs up to the huge sponge crab, lobsters, shrimps, sleeping turtles, baby cuttlefish and scorpion fish are amongst the many creatures that can be seen.
Bounty Wreck
Location:South-West of Gili Meno
Max. Depth:25m
The Bounty Wreck lies on the northern slope of Gili Meno. The Bounty used to be a pontoon used for building a jetty on Gili Meno. Unfortunately, an enormous hole in the pontoon made it sink to the slope, with the top at around 6 meters and the deepest tip at 17 meters. During the years it has completely overgrown with corals and it now hosts a large variety of fish, including frogfish, scorpion fish and Sweetlips.
Takat Malang
Location: North West of Gili Air
Max. Depth: 30m
This deep dive site just above Gili Meno consists of several canyons with coral slopes. Swim over the sandy bottom in the cantons and navigate on the reef. A flat, shallow area provides the perfect circumstances for a safety stop. Marine life on Takat Malang includes colorful corals with schools of reef fish, the sandy bottom is a good hiding places for blue spotted stingrays and garden eels.
Simons Reef
Location: North-East of Gili Meno
Max. Depth: 30m
Simon’s Reef is on the north-east side of Gili Meno. A magical deep dive that offers a fantastic variety of corals, not seen anywhere else on the Gili Islands. At 30 meters there is a sandy bottom between large impressive sea-mounds. Fields of garden eels, blue spotted stingrays and even cuttlefish are often sighted here. Finishing on a pinnacle peppered with tropical reef fish.
Deep Turbo
Location: North-East of Gili Trawangan
Max. Depth: 30+m
The site consists of impressive gorges, ridges and sea mounds surrounded by a sandy bottom where you can find a huge variety of tropical reef fish and some frequent larger visitors include white tip reef sharks, barracuda and even eagle rays. The soft and hard coral are magnificent with giant Gorgonian sea fans. It has an average depth of 25 meters and at times there can be strong current, due to which it is best suited to more advanced divers.
Halik Reef
Location: North-West Gili Trawangan
Max. Depth: 40m
The Gili Islands deliver yet again with this fabulous aquarium-like dive site. In the shallows is a huge abundance and variety of life; schools of anthias dart in and out of the corals protection as large colourful sweetlips, trevallies and surgeonfish chase them. Divers, who are interested in deep diving, can descend into canyons that drop down to 40 meters; there you can find the larger fish species and chances to see adult reef sharks.
Shark Point
Location: West Gili Trawangan
Max. Depth: 30+m
A flat sandy bottom turns into a series of progressively deeper canyons that run parallel to the eastern shore of Gili Trawangan. This is a very popular site due to the sheer variety of life that can be seen on a single dive. Reef sharks can be seen cursing through the canyons while lazy turtles can be spotted in the shallows and every full moon it is a favorite hangout for schools of huge humphead parrotfish. This site also houses the Glenn Nusa Wreck which was deliberately sunk in February 2016.
Sunset Reef
Location: South Gili Trawangan
Max. Depth: 22m
This dive site is located on the west side of Gili Trawangan, Sunset Reef is the dive site that is fed with fresh waters from the Lombok Sea Strait. Frequent visitors of the reef are black and white tip reef sharks, giant trevallies, sweetlips and schools of snappers. Occasionally devil rays and manta rays are spotted here as well.
Learn more about the Gili Islands and its people and follow @oceans5dive on Instagram
This article was made possible in collaboration with Oceans 5 Dive
Text by Instant Karma & Oceans 5 Dive
Photos by Florian Allgauer @florian_allgauer , Adrienne Gittus @adriennegittusphotography & Oceans 5 Dive
Special thanks to Sander and Raphael. With people like you, Instant Karma is what it is!
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