Gili Islands, Indonesia

Off the coast of Lombok, Indonesia lie several islands. There are two groups of them. There are three islands in the northwest – Gili Trawangan, Gili Meno and Gili Air. On the southwest side of Lombok, are many small islands, the largest of which is Gili Gede. The word Gili is pronounced “Gilly” and means small. Each of the Gilis can be reached only by boat. After our amazing stay on the west coast of Bali, we took a 90 minute ride on a small boat from Amed to Gili Trawangan. Arriving on the beach was almost a shock because of how different the island was from where we had come from. There are crowds of people, horse buggies, bike riders, many boats along the beach, men trying to sell tours, souvenir vendors on the beach and bars that line the beachfront street. We located our hotel just up the street from where we were dropped off on the beach. It was right in the middle of all the action.

The Manta Dive Hotel where we stayed was wonderful. They offer all levels of scuba diving and training on site. After walking the main road from along the beach we had a better grip on what the vibe of the island was.  As few things we discovered: 1) We were by far some of the oldest people there. Most tourists are in their early twenties. 2) It is a party island. The restaurants and bars offering live music in the evenings as well as drinking games and drink specials. 3) No motorized vehicles are allowed on the island.  Horse carts and bicycles are used for transportation. 4) Gili Trawangan must be great for snorkeling as most of their activities are based around seeing the marine life.

Since we aren’t really the “party all night long” type of people, we opted to make the most of the beautiful beaches and marine life. We jumped at the chance to take a 6 hour snorkel trip around all three Gili Northwest Islands for $14 USD per person.  During our trip, we enjoyed four different snorkel spots and got off the boat to visit both Gili Meno and Gili Air. The other two islands are much more chill with very little commercial business on them. Gili Air has a small shopping area near the beach and a few guesthouses for overnight guests. While it was nice to see the other islands, the snorkeling was the best part.

The area is known as one of the best places in world to swim with sea turtles in their natural habitat. Even knowing that, we were amazed at the opportunity we had to be so close to them and see so many at one time. My favorite spot was actually a dive spot were the water was close to 40 feet deep. Because the visibility is so good, we could still see the bottom, but wasn’t great for photos. However, we were able to see up to six turtles at one time.

During our snorkel trip we also saw the underwater statue off the coast of Gili Meno. It is a piece of art that was put there for visitors and now attracts not only snorkelers but growing coral and many tropical fish. The statue can be seen by swimming from the beach or when dropped off by boat.

 

We ended our day of snorkeling at our last stop at the “Fish Garden”, off the coast of Gili Air. While there isn’t much coral, there were tons of fish swimming all around us. The snorkel trip is a must do when visiting the northwest Gili Islands.

 

On our last full day on Gili Trawangan, we walked to the southwest side of the island. It was amazing how all the craziness and chaos of the main tourist area just drifted away the farther we went. While there are still resorts and restaurants on that part of the island, it is so peaceful.

It is the part of the island we would chose to stay at if we come back to Gili Tranwangan. The beaches are clean and the atmosphere is relaxed. We spent the whole day just lounging on the beach. Robert got a massage from one of the locals that is set up on the beach and I was content to read a book and enjoy the view. Just before sunset, we found a seat at the Paradise Sunset Bar to watch the sun sink below the horizon.

The next morning we were all set to board the fast ferry to Gili Gede but we were informed that all the fast ferries were cancelled. The company we bought the ferry tickets from set up alternate transportation. Which meant that we were ferried on a very small boat to Lombok, then took a private car two and a half hours south and then boarded a local fishing boat to our secluded resort on the cliffs of Gili Gede.

Gili Gede is off the southwest coast of Lombok. It is still an “unknown” tourist destination. There is one small resort, our bungalows and a few small guesthouses on the island. There is a population of approximately 1,000 locals that live and work on and in the water around the island. There are no shops, restaurants, tourist vendors, etc. We ate every meal at the Hula Hoop Bungalows. All of our activities were done from the resort as well. It was the most amazing five days!

Our first day we took an all day private snorkel trip to two of the islands. The visibility was awesome and we even swam with another sea turtle.  The coral reefs around the islands were incredible with so many different kinds and colors. We encountered some interesting marine life during our snorkel trip including two eels (one was a striped snake eel) and a large clam.  Since there were very few tourists in the area, we had the entire area to snorkel all on our own.

Our hotel packed a fried rice lunch, which we enjoyed in a island shelter.  Our guide picked fresh coconuts and cut them open for us to sip the coconut water straight from the shell. When we finished digging out the fresh coconut, we threw them to the cows who live on the island. They loved them. What a wonderful day.

Another day we rented kayaks and paddled to one of the uninhabited islands in the bay, Gili Layar. We walked the beach and found some very interesting creatures that washed up on shore; a yellow lobster type creature, a sea slug, a huge rotund star fish and a spotted eel. It was such fun to be the only ones walking the beach and hunting for unusual things.

The other days we explored the island, walked through the local village, got a massage and relaxed in the shade. Every night we watched the sunset over the water illuminating the shape of the Mt. Agung volcano on the island of Bali. We could not imagine a better place to spend a relaxing week. The people in Indonesia are extremely nice, especially the staff of the Hula Hoop. They treated us like royalty. We can’t thank them enough for our amazing stay. It truly was paradise.

We are leaving paradise, aka Gili Gede, for the island of Lombok.