The first thing I achieved is this blog. It had been on my mind for years to write a travel blog, especially about my dive travels, and I eventually got it up and running. The second thing is my trip to Gili Trawangan!
This wasn’t my first trip to Gili T., but the other time I went there was with mates and we just partied all the time and didn’t go diving. This time was different. This time was for me!
Even though I work in the city of Kuala Lumpur, in quite a stressful job, I managed to get a long weekend away. Air Asia do flights from KL to almost everywhere. Now that they fly into Lombok, getting to Gili T. is a lot easier than it used to be. A three-hour flight lands at 6.45pm and the taxi was waiting for me. Ok, so travelling alone isn’t so cheap when a 90 minute taxi ride and private speedboat are used, but this was a lot cheaper than many may think. The taxi was 300,000 IDR and the speedboat was 500,000 IDR (about 230 Malaysian Ringgits). But it was well worth it because I was in my hotel before 10pm and even had time for a couple of beers. All ready to get in the water as soon as possible the next morning!
Even though I’m an Advanced Diver, I hadn’t dived for a couple of years, so I did a scuba refresher in the pool at Gili Divers before going in the sea. It was a great idea of the dive centre’s for me to refresh my skills before going in the sea. I am sure it helped me to get more time out of my tank of air.
Gili Trawangan is the largest of the three Gili Islands off of Lombok, and most of the best dive sites are nearer to Gili T. than the others. Also, there are more dive shops to choose from there. I chose Gili Divers on a friend’s recommendation. I owe that friend a beer! Anyway, my instructor DM was a Spanish guy called Ibai Álvarez. He was very friendly, professional, patient and experienced. I did the pool session with Ibai and most of my fun dives, too.
Over the course of 3 days I dived at Shark Point, Bounty Wreck, Deep Turbo, Manta Point, Meno Wall and some more. Deep Turbo was the best, but now that there is a wreck at Shark Point, that was also cool. I’m posting some shots that were taken on my dives, and because you’re not supposed to dive and then fly for 24 hours I got to go out on a bit of a session on my final day. I met some other guys and girls who I had made friends with at the dive shop, and some of us got pretty drunk. Ibai turned up later in the evening and so did some other instructors.
Sadly, the next morning I had to take my sorry ass and hungover head back home. Once again, Gili Divers’ speedboat (The Bitch) took me to Lombok and a taxi too me to the airport. The flight was at lunchtime, but I was still feeling sorry for myself. Not just for the hangover, but for having to say goodbye to such a wonderful island with such awesome people and marine life.
I will be back… for sure! Watch this space.
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