(Island of Gili's)
After 4 days in Bali, we went to Gili Island. I regretted spending just 2 days in Gili. Eventhough i love Bali so much being in Gili is like jumping of to another heaven. After a lot of research, we decided to take fast boat to Gili with Ekajaya since its most convenient and cheaper option then taking a flight. We find out from other traveler that we can get cheaper price when we email them instead of directly booking from the website.
It took us 1 hour boat trip to Gili Trawangan which is the biggest island of Gili's and the most lively. You can request them to drop you off to any island of your choice. Ekajaya also provide free pick up and shuttle service from hotel to Padang Bai jetty. If you take flight, you need to go to lombok airport, take an hour car ride to jetty and another 10mins speed boat to Gili. This is what we did when we left Gili island since we need to catch a flight back from Bali airport. If you considering taking a flight you need to know that Indonesia domestic flight always delayed. Our flight to Bali from Lombok was 2 hours delayed and we are lucky since we make an early start.
As everybody raved about Gili, the islands is indeed beautiful with white sandy beaches and crystal clear water. When we arrived that afternoon, we took our time to explore the island. We rent a bicycle, go around as far as we could and stop at every beach we found. It was hot and the beach was packed with traveler. Even though its packed, you definitely will find your own space, tranquil and relaxation you looking for since there's no "noisy asian" if-you-know-what-i-mean around. *I should feel bad since i say this to my fellow asian lol
(we definitely get tanned after biking around)
(Please take note that you cannot go topless in Gili)
(Clear water isnt it?)
(Snorkeling from one of Gili Trawangan many beach)
(Shallow water and i love this picture)
There's nothing much to see if you snorkeling from the beach but swimming is definitely good. A lot of people go as far as they could when snorkeling. You can definitely see fishes and if you lucky, turtle even come to shallow water which mean as near to the beach.
On the second day we took snorkeling trip with bottom glass boat. This boat can take as many as 30-40 people in single trip. but you got nothing to worry since this is all the people you will see during your snorkeling trip. Honestly snorkeling in Gili wasn't so impressive. There's not much coral to see you have to go to deeper water to explore. I believe diving will be better option.
(Gili Diving and Snorkeling site)
From Gili Trawangan, if im not mistaken our first stop was Meno Wall. Everybody definitely can't wait and simply jump from the boat.
(If its that clear who not going to jump isn't it?)
Our second stop was turtle point which our tour guide made a joke that his colleague will find us turtle no matter what. Everybody excitedly jump off the boat as soon as they allowed and follow the guy in order to see turtle. 10 mins later (or less), there's still no sign of turtle, at one point i believe everybody felt that they going no where and nothing much to see since we are in deep water where everything just dark blue and empty down there.
Suddenly, deep from the bottom, out of nowhere a turtle make a grand appearance and everybody go frantic. Our tour guide give us signal to follow the turtle and everybody between those who can and cannot swim started to go as fast as they could, dive in to touch the turtle, take as many picture as we could before we losing it. It was amazing to see the turtle swimming like he got the sea all by himself and enjoying all the attention he gets. The sunny day make it a picture perfect for the rest of us and definitely something to tell when we get back home. *Please look at my video on the left side to know how close we are to the turtle :)
( I call this his passport picture)
Everybody was obviously tired and hungry after chasing turtle and we request to have our lunch first before heading to our last stop. They took us to Gili Air which is the smallest island of all three. It was beautiful there. No one swim tho since its really hot and everybody just wait for food and took picture.
After lunch we made a last stop for snorkeling, there's few people who stayed on the boat and didn't bother to go down. I went down for a while and went back to the boat since nothing much to see here except fishes.
This entry doesn't have any information about night life since we getting old and didn't bother to go to party anymore lol. But no worries, Gili Trawangan offer a lot of bar for those who want to party. On our last night in Gili we had an early night after a visit to spa and dinner since we have to wake up early the next morning and catch boat to Lombok.
I am not a morning person but waking up early to see the magnificent Gili sunrise is something that should be added in everyone itinerary when they visit Gili. I really enjoyed our short stay here and definitely will be back again one day for a longer stay.
