Swimming with Turtles in the Gili Islands - A Slow Living Adventure
I am ashamed to admit that it took me nearly 7 years from when I first touched down in Indonesia, to visit the Gilis - the three pint sized islands located just off the coast of Lombok. I gave myself a word that I would not complete this year’s Bali trip without taking a few days off to see the Gilis and I stayed true to my intentions (thanks to my amazing boyfriend, who volunteered to stay home and take care of our domestic commitments). It was a four day trip I will never forget!
Setting off the newly renovated Sanur Harbour at 7am a day before Nyepi (the Balinese day of silence), I sailed to the Gilis, making a brief stop at Nusa Penida (Penida Island, Bali Regency). To be honest I was lucky to get my hands on a ticket. Many tourists were ager to escape Bali for Nyepi, and it took some negotiating with the boat company to book a last minute pass off the island. I have spent three Nyepi holidays in Bali over the past 7 years. During the 24 hour period of Nyepi, the island shuts down (and I mean, completely), all the stores, the airport, everything. No one is allowed outside on the street with the exception of the Pecalang (religious police), who walk around making sure that every Bali resident is inside their home, adhering to the code of silence. there is no internet , there are no lights. During Nyepi night you can witness the most incredible display of stars in the sky. As the island is completely dark, the sky lights up with millions of stars, even the Milky Way is clearly visible. It’s a real treat.
This year however I decided that Nyepi was the perfect time to leave Bali and maximize my time to explore somewhere new. After making a stop at Nusa Penida we set off on an hour journey across the channel to the Gilis. I had read short descriptions of all three islands (Gili Trawangan - Party Island), (Gili Meno - Snorkelling Island), Gili Air (Hippie and laid back). I decided to make Gili Air my point of entry. I booked a seat on a commercial speedboat - it’s a medium sized vessel for about 80 passengers. It tends to get stuffy inside, so everyone wants to sit on the deck (which only has about 8 spots). My invitation to getting a coveted seat on the deck came early via an offer to buy a Bintang (local beer), which the boat staff kept in a stealth cooler under the seats. For IDR 50,000 ($4 USD) I was given a beer and escorted to the upper deck where I joined 5 other passengers (also beers in hand) for the entirety of the trip. It was a really fun ride. I ended up running into one of my friends from Bali - a magician from Venezuela on board. We shared beers and chatted about our gig schedule the entire way to the Gilis. It was a great start to the trip.
Before I go into detail about my awesome trip to the Gilis I would like to mention a cautionary tale. The day I took a boat over to the islands, another boat company left Bali on the same route. Two of my acquaintances were on that boat (with instagram story accounts of what happened). After making a half hour trip to Nusa Penida the passengers on that boat were told to leave the boat because it allegedly ‘broke’ after which the crew promptly left the harbour and the passengers stranded for several hours (without food or water). In late afternoon another boat showed up to pick up the passengers but with room for only 80 people. There were approximately 120 passengers stranded according to first hand accounts, none of whom were willing to spend another minute on Nusa Penida, so allegedly the company allowed all passengers to board a 80 capacity boat and left for the Gili islands. Halfway into the trip the boat broke down suffering engine failure, leaving the passengers and the crew stranded in the middle of the ocean on a boat that was packed over capacity (at this point the sun had set so they were in the dark). Eventually the crew managed to fix the engines and deliver the passengers to the Gilis. What was supposed to be a 1.5 hour trip turned into a nearly 12 hour ordeal. To be honest those people were lucky the boat did not capsize. The reason I decided to share this tale is because boat companies all over the world sometimes overload vessels trying to turn an extra profit. After this incident was reported, the port authorities were thoroughly checking all the boats leaving the Gilis and Lombok, and I’m sure Bali too. Our boat did not leave for Bali until the officer saw everyone seated. Overloading a vessel is a serious offence and the local authorities do their best to take strict measures to make sure it never happens, however sometimes incidents like this happen. DO NOT get on a boat that’s over capacity. Those people were lucky they didn’t end up at the bottom of the ocean. I am happy everyone made it to the Gilis safe. Ok, now back to my trip.
Gili Air
As we approached the Gilis I was taken aback at how small they are in real life, and how close together they are located. We first made a stop at Gili Trawangan to offload some passengers and headed to Gili Air. When we docked everyone on the boat was charged a IDR 10,000 ($.70 USD) island tax and I was free to go. Did I mention that I didn’t pre-book any accommodation? What can I say, I love an adventure. It was about 4pm and I walked down the dirt road adjacent to the shore stopping at a couple of small boutique hotels. They were all full. I started getting a little nervous but if worst came to worst I could always catch a boat taxi to Lombok or find a hammock on the beach? The next place I checked had a guesthouse available (Sunset Beach Apartments next to Jasmine Spa), which ran me about $17 a night, plus $4 bike rental. It was simple, clean, adorable and right in front of the beach. I would say that accommodation on Gili Air runs at about $10-$200+ / night depending on what you are looking for. On trips like this, where I plan to be out all day diving and snorkelling I tend to go with a more budget accommodation. When I plan on staying mostly indoors I opt for luxury stays. My overnight stay in Gili Air was laid back and lovely. It took about 40 minutes to bike around the entire island. Ladies, be prepared to get cat called by men on all three islands. Some local guys said really inappropriate things to me as I passed by. I just ignored them, it sucks but what can you do. Having travelled the world I take it on the chin, you have to, otherwise it’ll ruin your day. There are no public cars or scooters on Gili Air, just bicycles and horse drawn carts. I strongly discourage anyone from using the horse carts as I do not believe that it is a humane practice. The horses are no larger than a pony, often malnourished and foaming at the mouth from heat. It’s a really sad sight. When it comes to bicycles, they are unusable when you hit patches of sand as the tyres are not thick or textured enough to power through so if you don’t want to wipe out, just get off and walk the bike - it’s all part of the experience, enjoy it. The beaches around Gili Air are be-a-u-tiful and full of broken coral so be prepared to ‘ouch’ your way into the ocean if you have bare feet. Other than that, the water is clear as glass and very pleasant to sit or float in, especially at sunset. The beaches are lined with restaurants and there were a couple of Nyepi parties blasting music late into the night. I got a great massage at the spa next to my guesthouse and settled in for the night. There was a lovely western-style cafe across from my guesthouse where I had the best avocado toast I’ve ever had for dinner, and made friends with the cafe manager and its 4 adorable resident baby kittens.
To be completely honest, by nightfall I felt like I saw most of what Gili Air had to offer so I decided to hop islands on to Gili Meno the following day.
A view of Lombok from Gili Air
Enjoying a coconut on the beach (unfortunately they only have plastic straws, so bring your own if you want to take care of the environment)
A beautiful Gili Air sunset
Gili Meno
The island, which has a permanent population of just 500 people, is known for its turtle population and its ecosystem.
At around 8:30am I caught a public boat to Gili Meno. It was the cost of a bus fare and took under 10 minutes. I was the only passenger who came off the boat to what seemed like a completely deserted island. If Gili Air had little shops and cafes lining the dirt road, Gili Meno had nothing for about a kilometre. I walked up the road asking for available accommodation and was again shocked to find out that everywhere was full. This was very odd to me as I literally saw only 5 people my entire was from the harbour stop (about a 30 minute walk at that point). I made my way up to Turtle Point, a marker on the map close to a dive shop called ‘Divine Divers’. The dive centre has a small hotel but it was also full, however the owners of the centre - a couple from Germany made me feel extremely welcome. They helped me clean my dive mask and watched my things while I went for a snorkel in front of the shop. At about midday I went to rent some fins and the fin rental offered me a private snorkel tour of the islands for a really good price, so off we went. On our first stop I got to swim with a large beautiful turtle - my first up close and personal experience with this creature. I have encountered turtles on my scuba dives but always from afar. Trying to get closer would spook them and they’d vanish into the great abyss. This one however, was fearless. My guide Abdul explained to me that after the turtles lay eggs on the islands the locals collect the baby turtles and nurture them in a conservation area until they are big enough to survive in the wild. Then they set them free in the ocean. This may account for the unusual friendliness of these turtles in their relationship to humans. The love the local people have for these turtles is incredibly touching.
Gili Meno Island. I’ve never been this close to a turtle before. It was exhilarating.
Abdul took me to three snorkel spots around Gili Meno and just off Gili Trawangan. The length of the tour was just under 3 hours, which was plenty to see some incredible sea life, turtles and the famous Gili underwater sculptures. A tip for those of you who want to see the sculptures, go early in the morning. As post Covid tourism has ramped up, there are droves of tours taking hundreds of snorkelers to the same three spots. There can be more than one hundred people above the same spot with ten boats circling around which makes for a stressful and not very safe snorkelling experience. But if you choose your time wisely, you may get some privacy and some incredible photos. All the underwater photos you see here were taken on my GoPro Hero 5 Black housed inside a GoPro underwater case.
About 100 meters off the shores of Gili Meno, underwater lie 48 life-size human statues, forming a circle. The Gili Meno underwater sculptures were commissioned by BASK, a beachfront eco-resort on Gili Meno. They were cast from real people and account for being one of the most fascinating underwater attractions in the Lombok area. The statues are made from a PH neutral environmental-grade concrete and were designed to help create a manmade reef where coral can quickly grow. The statues have been arranged in a circle to represent the circle of life and it is actually forbidden to touch them because it interferes with the growth of the local Marine life.
The piece was created by Jason deCaires Taylor, a well-known underwater sculptor. His sculptures are found in places like the Caribbean, the Canary Islands and even in the Thames in his home country of Britain.“First and foremost Nest is an environmental space. The figures are arranged in a circular formation as an echo of the circle of life, and they will soon teem with life. Soft corals and sponges should flourish quickly paving the way for delicate hard corals and a fully established reef.”- Jason deCaires Taylor.
As luck would have it after I got back from my snorkelling adventures, a bungalow next to Divine Divers freed up and I was able to stay there overnight. I ended u going snorkelling again by myself in front of Divine Divers again and to my delight encountered three more turtles. A word of caution to novice swimmers, the currents around the Gili islands can get very strong. Snorkelling just 8 meters from the shore I was pulled by a current while following a turtle and came up a half a kilometre downstream without even noticing. I was very confused when I was told that I had to walk back 500 meters back to find my bungalow.
In the late afternoon I had a delicious meal at the Divine Divers restaurant Bubbles and was welcomed in for an evening jam and some rice wine by the divers who had just returned from the day’s trips. after the sun set they decided on a spontaneous night trip to Gili Trawangan. Although Gili T wasn’t a place I had planned on visiting, I took the opportunity and joined them on the boat.
Gili Trawangan
Gili T is only a 5 minute boat ride away from Gili Meno. We docked beside a sister dive shop and spent the evening singing and eating yummy food from a nearby Warung (Indonesian diner). As the evening went on more and more alcohol was consumed by members of our group and at around midnight I realized that I didn’t have a way back home because everyone had drifted off to various bars, clubs and the like. I was absolutely exhausted and ran out of cash, having left my bag on Gili Meno. Luckily while roaming the busy streets of Gili T I stumbled on two of my companions and we collectively took a water taxi back to Gili Meno at around 1 in the morning. What an adventure that was. To be honest Gili T fulfilled my expectations of being nothing special - a local version of Kuta (Bali) with bars and shops and lots and LOTS of partying. Wasn’t really my vibe. I was thrilled to be back on Gili Meno.
The following day I spent a few more hours snorkelling, got severe sunburn that is still healing a week on, said goodbye to the amazing team at Divine Divers and headed back to Gili Air to relax for the night and grab an early sail to Bali the following morning. The trip was a success, the turtles were my favourite part of it. I cannot wait to come back.
GILI ISLAND TRAVEL TIPS
Travel light
Prebook your tickets to and from Bali (Roundtrip should run you 700k), otherwise be prepared to pay 700k one way.
One of the companies I recommend for you trip to the Gilis is Wijaya Buyuk
If you miss public boats that hope between islands a water taxi is a good option, it will run you IDR 200-350k
Do the snorkelling tours early in the morning to avoid crowds
DO NOT touch the marine life or the coral. Follow the divers’ mantra “Take nothing but photos, leave nothing but bubbles”. The bacteria on our skin is foreign and harmful to many sea creatures and plants in the ocean and can disrupt their feeding regimens, infect and/or kill them. I know it’s tempting to touch everything underwater because it’s so fascinating, but please conserve the oceans and the creatures living in them and admire their beauty without touching them. Touching certain marine life can also be dangerous and lethal to humans. The Gili Islands are famous for their turtles, please treat these creatures with love and respect. It is their home, they are not there to entertain you.
If you go to Gili Meno scuba dive with Divine Divers, they rock
If you want to do a snorkel tour on Gili Meno go with Abdul (Of Course Boat Trip tel. +6281907684660). He will also give you a good water taxi rate
If you are coming from Bali be aware that the culture in the Gilis and Lombok is a lot more conservative than Bali because the majority of the population are Muslim. Behave accordingly to avoid misunderstandings.
Here’s what I packed in my backpack for this four day trip.
3 Bikinis
a scuba mask and a snorkel
a GoPro camera with an underwater case and a handle
four changes of clothes (shorts, tank tops, undies)
A big cotton shawl/sarong thing
Enough cash to last me for a week (don’t rely on ATMs here)
an iPad (which I didn’t use)
a phone (which I used a lot)
sunscreen (which I wish I used more)
a dry bag (which I used a lot on the boat)
a pair of sunglasses
a big bottle of water (which you’ll finish way before you land on the Gilis)
In Partnership with Tropical Nomad Coworking Space