Goooooooood Morning Divers!
The second day of diving has arrived! We plan on going to Deep Turbo & Halik. I am quite excited about Deep Turbo since currents can be quite strong which I love.
I have also been exploring the island a little bit more in my free time. As it's quite nicely divided into "sections". The island's eastern coast is where you will find the main boulevard, with most of the bars, restaurants, and organized day trips. If you stay or walk around the island, you will find some surf schools mostly on the southern side, and a more chill vibe with beach bars and restaurants along the western coast.
The northern part is the least developed in my opinion. Even the main road stopped and I had to continue walking along the beach to the next point of interest.
The real discoveries are to be made more inland as I've said before. If you just walk more towards the center of the island, you will soon find the "real island". As in, real people, living their life. Small houses and restaurants with local food and children playing on the streets.
I've missed this feeling since Indonesia is very good in my opinion in holding up this "holiday paradise feeling", almost feeling ashamed perhaps, with a lack of better words to show their real life and culture.
People are friendly, talkative, and welcoming. Try a nasi campur somewhere you haven't been before and discover and explore the "real Indonesia"!
If you want to go to Gili Trawangan you can use the link below.
First Dive "Deep Turbo": We depart at 9.30 AM after a short briefing me and Yohan, my guide get on the boat and we sail for about 10 minutes just north of Gili Trawangan. Deep Turbo is a dive site best appreciated in my opinion when you're able to dive to 28 meters. We drop down to 22 at first and soon descend to 28. The Dive site is very interesting in its topography. There are about 5 pinnacles with 10-meter gaps between them in which the currents can be quite strong which makes pinnacle hopping fun!
I must say: When I say pinnacle it's more like mounts. In between the pinnacles, you can see lots of pelagic fish and you can see sharks, sea snakes, and of course turtles.
Second Dive "Halik/ Coral Fan Garden": The second dive started again at 1:30 PM and this time we wanted to go to Halik. A very cool dive since it also has a deep part and a "shallow" part. The shallow part starts at 5 meters and you can hover over the coral garden around 15 meters deep which is very nice and relaxing. However, we started to descend to 28 meters and the currents were nice and strong, so no need for heavy swimming just relax and take it all in. The dive site is mostly like a slope, a very long one. You will see many schooling fish and also turtles, octopus, cuttlefish, ribbon eel, mantis shrimps and we even got to see a large blacktip reef shark passing by! The site is absolutely bursting with life and it was hard to ascend after 55 minutes because I wanted to stay longer!
Want to visit Gili Trawangan yourself? Book your stay and/or travel guide here!
Don't forget to check out the clips I've made below!