Gili Air•days 5-13

So my plan to only stay on Gili Air quickly changed! I signed up for the 9:00 and 2:00 dives on Saturday and after that I was hooked! I dived again with Rafi for both of them and a couple other people in my group. Being in the water made me so happy and I knew I couldn't leave yet. I wanted to write a post about each individual day but I think it'll be easier to just do one post about my time diving on Gili Air. I ended up diving 21 times at Manta Dive Shop! And every dive was with Rafi! I wouldn't have had it any other way! We got along really well and I really enjoyed diving with him. 

Dive Schedule

Friday: 18:00

Saturday: 9:00 and 14:00

Sunday: 9:00 and 14:00

Monday: 9:00, 12:00 and 14:00

Tuesday: 9:00 and 14:00

Wednesday: 9:00, 14:00 and 18:00

Thursday: 9:00, 14:00 and 18:00

Friday: 9:00 and 14:00

Saturday: 9:00 and 14:00

Sunday: 9:00

Dive Sights

• Harbor - Gili Air *
• Shark Point - Gili T **
• Han's Reef - Gili Air
• Manta Point - Gili Air *
• Air Wall - Gili Air
• Halik - Gili T
• Marlin's Hill - Gili Meno
• Secret Garden - Gili Air
• Meno Bounty - Gili Meno *
• Meno Wall - Gili Meno
• Happy Han's - Gili Air
• Deep Turbo - Gili T
• Seahorse Bay - Lombak
• Mirko's - Gili Meno/Gili Air
• Simon's Reef - Gili Meno
• Taket Penyu - Gili T

I really fell in love with diving this trip and the dive shop almost had me convinced to miss my flight home to stay and get my dive masters cert! I definitely see myself coming back here sooner rather than later to continue with my diving career! 🐠🐢

Nusa Lembongan🛥Gili Air•day 4

Today I left Nusa and headed over to the Gilis. The Gilis consist of 3 islands: Gili T, Gili Air and Gili Meno. Gili T is the biggest and is known to be more of a party island. Lots of backpackers, hostels and more night life. Gili Air is a bit smaller and is known to be a little more laid back and chill. Not as much going on in the evenings but still enough to do. And then Gili Meno is the smallest and is the quietest. Not to many places to stay or things to do but really beautiful.

Originally I had planned to stay on Gili T but after talking to some of my friends in Nusa I decided I wanted more of the Gili Air vibe. My main reason for going there was to dive so I didn't really care to much about the party scene. I booked the boat through the bungalow and was picked up around 9 and taken to the dock. The boat to Gili Air took a couple of hours but was really nice because I sat on top and soaked in the sunshine! I booked a hostel for 2 nights on Hostelworld before I left Nusa called Begadang. It was inexpensive and had decent reviews. I booked what I thought was a bed in a 6 person dorm. My hostel was located on the other side of the island, about a 25 minute walk away. The hostel was really neat. It has a big mushroom shaped pool and lots of bungalows and hammocks for relaxing outside. When I checked in the guy pointed at a bungalow across the way and said, you're the mattress on the right. I didn't really think twice about what he said until he walked me over to the bungalow. Each bungalow has a porch out front and on the porch are 2 mattresses! The bungalow has 4 beds inside and then 2 outside with mosquito nets covering them. 

 

It actually ended up being decent. 

After I got checked in I went to grab lunch and walked down to the beach. 

 

It was a really pretty area! I was only planning on staying on Gili Air for 2 nights so I wanted to make sure I found a dive shop and got a couple of dives booked for tomorrow. Big Fish in Nusa recommended Manta Dive so I walked back across the island and found the dive shop. When I got to Manta I was greeted immediately by one of the dive instructors, Kimmo. He was extremely friendly and helpful! I mentioned I wanted to do a couple of dives and possibly a night dive. He said well, we've got a night dive tonight if you'd like to go and then we can get you on the board for tomorrow morning and/or afternoon! I thought well why not! So I filled out the paperwork and he told me to be back around 545 for the night dive! I hurried home to change and get back to the shop on time. When I got back to the shop I met my Dive Master, Rafi. He's a local guy that's been working at Manta for about 2 years. He briefed us on the dive and told us we were going to the harbor for the dive. It's a pretty shallow dive and we would see a lot of cool creatures. He told us right away that we aren't looking for big things, fish etc. He told us that we are looking for the small, weird little creatures! I had no idea what to expect but it was actually unbelievable what we saw!! I wasn't familiar with a lot of the things we saw before the dive but learned so much from the dive and from Rafi! 

Night Dive: Harbour - Gili Air

 

• Coconut Octopus
• Thorny Seahorse
• Dwarf Cuttlefish
• Bobtail Squid
• Flying Gurnard
• Spotfin Lionfish
• Dwarf Lionfish
• Mandarin Fish
• Cockatoo Waspfish
• Long Arm Octopus
• Cone Shell Hermit Crab
• Decorator Crab
• Juvenile Batfish 
• Elegance - Nudibranch
• Helmet Gurnard

 

  (Images from google 👍🏼 just to give you an idea of what I saw on my night dive!)

So excited to dive a couple more times tomorrow! 😎

Nusa Lembongan and Nusa Ceningan•day 3

Today I decided to wake up and rent a motorbike to explore the island and the other island close by, Nusa Ceningan. 

The bungalow I was staying at helped me arrange the motorbike rental. I rented the bike for 80,000 rupiah ($6) for the day. I had a map of the island but its a pretty straight forward path. I went up and around through the mangroves which was really nice and quiet. 

 

It was really nice just being by myself and driving around at my leisure, stopping as I pleased. I drove around the island until I reached the Yellow Suspension Bridge. This is the bridge that you cross to go to Nusa Ceningan. Within the last 6 months, the yellow bridge collapsed causing quite a few fatalities. The bridge has just recently been reconstructed. 

 

This island is a little quieter than Nusa Lembongan and has so many amazing viewpoints. I drove around with no purpose or specific destination in mind. I turned down every little road or pathway I could. I wanted to see all that the island had to offer. One of the first places I came across was down this super windy steep pathway. I didn't realize it until I got to the bottom but I had driven into an Amazing resort called the Trevally. 

 

The view here was like something I've never seen before. The colors of the ocean, sky and surrounding landscape were stunning. 

I continued around the island until I came across signs for the Blue Lagoon. As I was pulling up to the signs I was not expecting what I saw. You park your bike on this dirt area and walk up to the ledge. As you walk up to the ledge you are definitely caught off guard by the view! It was so great! 

 

The blues of the water, the power of the waves and the calm in the air. I could have sat there all day.

Right around the corner from the Blue Lagoon is a cliff jumping spot. There is a little local restaurant on the corner and they have two spots where you can jump from. 

 

The highest jump is about 14 meters and the smaller jump is about 6-8 meters. When I walked into the restaurant it was still early and there was no one there. 

 

I didn't want to jump without seeing someone else do it but right as I was leaving a couple from England walked in. They walked in talking about jumping so I turned around and hung out for a bit. The place ended up getting pretty busy and a ton of people were jumping! Everyone jumped from the higher jump. 

 

After cliff jumping I was starving and decided to find somewhere to eat lunch. I came across a restaurant called, Le Pirate. 

 

It was right on the water and had a beautiful view! I sat at the bar and ordered lunch and then relaxed around the pool for a bit, soaking in the sun! 

 

I finished driving around the rest of the island and then crossed back over the suspension bridge to Nusa Lembongan. I drove around the rest of the island stopping at all the different beaches along the way. 

 

I made it back to the bungalows around dinner time. My day was really nice and I really enjoyed spending the day driving around exploring the islands! 

Nusa Lembongan•day 2

Today I got up and had a pretty lazy morning. I was diving in the afternoon so I didn't want to do anything too exhausting beforehand. I laid around in the hammock, read and had a really nice breakfast. I ordered the avocado toast which was so yummy! 

 

The woman at the front desk, Andrea, heard I was from Thailand and wanted to introduce me to the owner's sister, Julia, who was here on holiday as well. She told me that Julia also lived in Thailand, north of Bangkok. When people say that tho they normally mean Chiang Mai area. So I went over to meet Julia and it turns out she has been living in Lopburi for 7 years! Lopburi is literally the town right next to mine! What a small world! 

I was going out on the 1:00 boat so around 12:30 I headed over to get all of my dive equipment sorted out. There were only 3 of us going out on the afternoon boat which was nice.

The boat that we went out on was so much smaller than the boats I've been on in Koh Tao and Koh Chang. Bobby, the dive master was so great! 

Since we were on a small boat we did a drop in to enter the water. You sit on the edge of the boat with your back to the water and you just lean backwards and plop into the water. The first dive site was SD. It was a drift dive which I hadn't done before. It was really neat how you just let the current take you around the reefs. During this dive we saw 2 turtles (hawksbill and green)!!! I hadn't seen turtles yet so I was really excited! There were so many fish I hadn't seen before and the coral was beautiful too! The second dive was at Sentral. We saw 2 more turtles on this dive and really neat fish! The whole day was great!! 

When I got back to Secret Garden I just hung out at the pool and read a bit. Around 7 I headed out to get dinner with a new friend Rebecca, from Sweden, who was also staying there solo. We went to a  Warung (local restaurant) near by and had a really nice, inexpensive meal. We were both pretty exhausted from our day so we went back and called it a night pretty early. 

Nusa Lembongan•day 1

Today was a really nice and relaxing day! Which was much need after the past couple of days of non stop moving from Vietnam to Koh Tao to Railay and then to Bali! 

 

Rocky Fast Crusie is the company I picked to bring me from the airport to Nusa Lembongan (NL). I got picked up from the airport promptly at 8:00 and then we went to a close by hotel to pick up another couple from Sri Lanka. We got to the port with about an hour to spare. We got into the boat around 10 and had about a 40 minute ride to the island! 

 

The boat includes hotel transfer so I was brought to Big Fish Diving/Secret Garden Bungalows. The owner and staff here are fantastic and super accommodating! I got here a bit before check in but just relaxed at the pool until my room was ready! 

It was a beautiful day!!!!

 

After I put my stuff in my room I went to grab a bite to eat before heading down to the closest beach. I stopped at a recommended local restaurant right around the corner from my place. It was called Maria's and the food was delicious!

 

 I had fried noodles with chicken and they had a really nice flavor to them! Definitely different than Thai fried noodles! 

 

After lunch I walked down to the beach. The water was absolutely beautiful! The area I was at is the same area that a lot of boats go in and out of so I didn't really swim too much, but it was still gorgeous! I laid on the beach for about an hour before deciding I was too hot! 

 

I walked back to my bungalow and jumped in the pool! It was so refreshing and the area around the pool is gorgeous. So green and bright and pretty! I laid by the pool and read/napped all afternoon! 

I met a really lovely girl at the pool from Vancouver! She's a yoga teacher and was living in Ubud for a couple months. We chatted for a good couple of hours which was really nice! The accommodation is so chill and relaxing. Such good vibes and so easy to just lay around...by the pool, in a hammock, on your porch or wherever! 

 

I decided I should grab dinner so I hopped in the shower and got ready to find something to eat. I walked along the beach and finally decided on the Lembongan Beach Club. It was fancier (a pricier) than I was looking for but I was hungry so I didn't mind. After dinner I walked back and chilled on my porch reading my book for about 30 minutes before calling it a night! I was exhausted from all the travels and was excited to get a good night sleep IN a bed!  I am diving tomorrow afternoon and am so excited! :)