Gili Air, Lombok

While in Bali, we realised that we could cross from Amed (Bali, close to Talemben) to the Gili Island in Lombok, without going as south as Padangbai.

After a rather stressful crossing (52 people on a boat probably meant for 30), in slightly rough seas, we arrived on Gili Air. The postcard paradise beaches that everyone dreams of when in the office...

A typical breakfast...

Our favorite snack

Our daily sunset from the bungalows...

Although pretty touristic, Eva* enjoyed the pizze, burgers and brochettes (restricted to dinners to keep our budget traveller's soul) so much that we stayed 10 nights there, completing an Advanced Open Water (3 days) and a Rescue Diver (5 days) courses with 3W, a bunch of French divers which we recommend! We enjoy diving so much that we also bought some diving computers, to use later in our trip.

Diving really is THE thing here, with more than 20 dive centers across the islands...everyone tries different methods to attract the tourists!



The diving was less spectacular than Pulau Weh, but there are more sites and more variety (lionfish, turtles, white and black tip sharks, monster crabs, octopi, squids, etc...). Our favourite site in terms of landcapes was Air Wall, an amazing underwater scarp. For the coral and widlife, Bounty was beautiful. The snorkelling is also very good.

The island really has a good vibe (more than Trawangan), but it is likely to change very quickly, with more and more developments every year...at least least they keep the beaches public.

(*ok, Sven enjoyed it as well, he admits)