Dive Sites
Dive sites around the Gili Islands
For many years, Indonesia has been known as one of the top diving destinations in the world. With its rich diversity and over 3,500 marine species, the number of recreational divers visiting the area is continually increasing.
The Gili Islands are one of the most outstanding places to dive in Indonesia. It can be characterized by crystal clear water visibility and have a great variety in the twenty-plus sites throughout Gili Trawangan, Gili Meno and Gili Air that we dive. There are 20+ dive sites to explore around The Gilis. Ideal dive sites for beginners, deep dives for more adventurous divers, wrecks, night dives…we can cover it all. The best news is most dive sites are only within 5 to 15-minute boat ride away from the dive center.
Our deep slopes and off-shore reefs offer pristine corals, blacktip and whitetip reef sharks, rays, green and hawksbill turtles and pygmy seahorses.
In the shallow waters, divers can enjoy bright colours, hawksbill turtles and an array of tropical fish. Shallow sites range from sandy bottoms with brilliant coral heads, vertical walls, wrecks and gentle coral slopes.
Shark Point
Shark Point is one of the most popular dive sites around the Gili Islands. It’s about a ten minute boat ride from Gili Trawangan and is located on the north side of the island. The site starts with a sloping reef with a series of ridges and valleys running parallel to the shore leading into deeper water that goes down all the way to 50 meters depth.
Under the right conditions you can find a shipwreck, Glen Nusa at 28 meters depth while also keeping an eye out for whitetip and blacktip reef sharks that can be an impressive size of two meters. If current is present you can spot schooling batfish, tuna, spanish mackerel and giant trevally. Around full moon every month you may be treated with bumphead parrotfish.
Secret Reef
Secret Reef is one of our favourite dive sites. The site is covered in healthy hard and soft corals. You will find many different species of marine life such as trevallies and large snappers and you can even have a closer look in the seafans and spot pygmy seahorses.
Secret Reef is suitable for all levels of divers and a must for the deep dive lovers. The reef stretches deeper and deeper the closer to Lombok you get. In the shallow part of the dive site we have the very Secret Reef right next door that is home to many colourful reef fish and turtles.
Halik/Deep Halik
Halik is one of the most colorful dive sites around the island and is a favourite for many. It’s located on the north side of Gili Trawangan and is excellent for both experienced and beginners divers. The deeper part of the site has beautiful ridges running parallel to shore, the deepest one lays at a depth of 40 meters.
You have a chance of spotting blacktip and whitetip reef sharks and in the sand between the deep and shallow part of Halik you can see bluespotted stingrays. Look out in the blue and you can see tuna, barracuda, bluefin trevallies and spanish mackerel. The shallow part of Halik is a wall covered with healthy coral in which moray eels, scorpionfish, lionfish, octopus and sea snakes live. You can also spot the juvenile reef sharks in the shark caves located by the side off the coral wall.
Simons Reef
Located to the north of the three Gili islands, this site is independent from the ones closer to the Gilis. Simon’s Reef is an excellent site for more experienced divers. The reef is made up of canyons and massive coral mounds rising from a sandy bottom at a depth of 35 meters. The average depth for this dive site is around 25 meters.
The canyons are all well formed and abundant in superb coral varieties, such as acropora, star and brain corals, gorgonian fans, plate coral and more. The channels in between funnel the currents, concentrating large numbers of schooling fish such as snappers, trevally and tuna. It is also common to spot parrotfish, angelfish, triggerfish, sweetlips and whitetip and blacktip reef sharks.
Shallow Turbo
The shallow end of Deep Turbo has a white sandy bottom dotted with large coral heads with an average depth of 16 meters. Divers here can take their time and relax because the bottom rarely dips below 18 meters.
Around the coral heads you will find large amounts of small invertebrate marine life. You will pass through varied terrain, including small channels with stingrays and fields of garden eels. The corals are colourful and healthy throughout the site and you can find star pufferfish, schools of batfish, triggerfish, trevally and turtles along with a variety of interesting nudibranch species on this dive site.
Takat Malang
With a maximum depth of 40m and an average depth of 25m, Takat Malang is made up of a collection of large coral heads, Takats, in Indonesian language. The site is arranged in a sloping bed beginning with a plateau at 15m. There are about 10 major coral heads and each one is sculpted with overhangs, outcrops and swim-throughs.
This dive site will provide you with an excellent diversity of corals and reef fish. The coral heads are covered in different varieties of soft and hard coral. The coral is growing on top of the stony outcrops, including some very big gorgonian sea fans and table corals. The channels between the Takats are interesting, with a large concentration of bigger reef fish and fascinating topography.
Takat Tunang
Takat Tunang is located to the northwest of Lombok. The reef has recently been discovered and is well worth a visit. Takat Tunang is a deep reef dive site which is suited for the more experienced divers. It has a maximum depth of 45m and an average depth of 35m.
The dive site is a 150 meters long wall with a drop off and has a large variety of pristine corals throughout the site. There is also an coral plateau at 20 meters depht that is filled with soft and hard corals. Different species of sharks are commonly spotted here along with huge schools of pelagic fish, tuna, trevally, barracuda, jacks and large snappers.
Turtle City
In the shallow end of Shark Point known as Turtle City you might find juvenile White tip reef sharks living under some of the many large coral bommies. The dive site is filled with beautiful hard and soft corals where you can also spot different species of moray eels, octopus, lobsters and different kinds of colorful reef fish and you will most almost certainly spot a turtle or two!
Seahorse Bay
Seahorse Bay is located by the cost of Lombok and is our best site for muck diving. As the sun is setting all different type of marine life comes out. What might be looking like a boring bay during the day becomes a heaven for macro lovers at night. The dive site is a sand slope that is filled with the best macro diving around the area. You can spot everything between octopus, scorpionfish, pygmy seahorse, hairy frogfish, ghost pipefish and a lot more.
Turtle Heaven
Turtle Heaven is, as the name says, a heaven for turtles because of the many cleaning stations around the two pinnacles are located here. Both the hawksbill and green turtles around the Gilis like to come here to get rid of parasites and cleaned by numerous species of cleaner fish, including wrasses, remoras and gobbies. You will spend most of the dive around the beautiful big pinnacle that shelters a big variety of marine life including bluefin trevally, moray eels, scorpionfish, lionfish and many more.
For macro lovers this is an excellent site to spot nudibranchs and pipefish. Turtle Heaven is a very good dive site for both beginners and advanced divers as the conditions are usually calm and because of the variety of marine life you can see at different depths all the way from 35 to 5 meters.
Manta Point
Manta Point is located on the southwest side of Gili Trawangan. It’s a big dive site where you have a chance of spotting whitetip and blacktip reef sharks in the blue. During rainy season when the water is rich in plankton you have a chance of seeing devil rays or even manta rays passing by.
The dive site is popular for divers of all levels. Bommies with hard and soft coral sheltering different species of marine life is all around Manta Point and if you poke your nose underneath one you might find one or two juvenile white tip reef sharks seeking shelter. Oriental sweetlips, batfish, trevallies, tuna and turtles are common sightings here. If you have a closer look at the bottom you can spot peacock mantis shrimp, octopus and nudibranchs.
Manta Point is suitable for everyone due to it’s regular easy conditions. This dive site rarely disappoints.
Meno Wall
The shallow part of the site located northwest of Gili Meno starts at 5m and drops down past a vertical wall to a sandy bottom at 30m. You will find a lot of healthy soft corals growing along the reef. This site offers a good opportunity to spot turtles, lionfish, scorpionfish, clownfish, groupers, sweetlips and snappers.
Meno Wall is an excellent site for night dives as you have a good chance to spot different kinds of crustaceans, crabs, lobster and reef shrimps but and sleeping turtles. Bumphead parrotfish and other large parrotfish, juvenile cuttlefish, scorpionfish and different species of moray eels can also be seen at Meno Wall.
Deep Turbo
Deep Turbo is located in the cannel between Gili Trawanang and Gili Meno and is a perfect dive site for the more experienced diver. The maximum depth is 32m deep with an average depht of 25 meter.
The site has amazing sea mounds and canyon walls in various sizes and an interesting collection of overhangs and outcrops covered in a variety of hard and soft corals including gigantic sea fans. You can also find vaires of marinlife such as barracudas, tuna, triggerfish, snapper, stingrays and you will be entertained by the hundreds of garden eels on the sandy bottom between the coral patches. Whitetip and blacktip reef sharks has also been seen around the site.
Bio Rock
Bio Rocks are a project to help the re-growth of damaged reefs. They are man-made metallic structures which have healthy living corals attached to them and the a small electric current put through them to speed up the procedure of making a new healthy reef.
There are more then 70 Bio Rocks around the Gili Islands. It is the largest Bio Rock conservation effort in the world. The shape of the Bio Rocks and their location provides great shelter for a lot of fish and is a great attraction for macro life. We love doing night dives at this dive site, we look for spanish dancers, flatworms, nudibranchs, crabs, shrimps, surgeonfish and feather stars.
Teluk Nara
This dive site is for more experienced diver who appreciates the small and unusual things. In black sand, bad visibility and a lot of rubbish you will find incredible creatures much the same as you would find in the Lembeh Strait, Sulawesi.
Not many of the dive centres visit this dive site because it is located a bit further away than the Gili Island sites. Keep an eye out for hairy frogfish, flamboyant octopus, seahorses, ghost pipefish and much more. An excellent dive for photographers.
Bounty Wreck
Bounty Wreck is located on the west coast of Gili Meno. The pier where the bounty ferry used to come sank in 1999 and has now become a perfect artificial reef.
The wreck have the structure of a big box with the old stairway, weils and an anchor still attached. It lies at 18 metres depth and rises up to 8 meters which makes it a suitable dive site for divers of all levels.
The wreck is covered in coral and shelters many species of marine life including angelfish, pipefish, groupers, sweetlips and schooling fusiliers. You can also find lionfish, scorpionfish and frogfish hovering around the wreck. Beyond the wreck lies a nice slope where you can look for turtles, clownfish and peacock mantis shrimp.
Hans Reef
This is a gentle sloping reef to the north of Gili Air with a white sandy bottom and various sized coral bommies. The maximum depth is 24m with an average depth of 14m.
This dive site is suitable for all certification levels. Hans Reef is a must for macro lovers, as you will find the smaller and stranger marine life. Hans Reef is great for batfish, angelfish, boxfish, frogfish, leaf scorpionfish, spotted morays, pipefish, mantis shrimps and a variety of nudibranchs.
Meno Slope
A drift dive along the west of Meno is usually quite a ride. You will drop into the channel between Gili Trawangan and Gili Meno and descend to the bottom of the sloping reef at 22m. The average depth for the rest of the dive will be 16m, so this site is perfect for all certification levels.
Towards the end of this dive site you will find yourself exploring the Bounty Pontoon Wreckage. The sunken pontoon is a large intact structure at 12m full of interesting marine life and teeming with schools of reef fish. On and around the pontoon you will find a variety of scorpionfish and lionfish along with various nudibranchs and the odd turtle. Along the sloped reef you find an array of hard and soft corals with healthy amounts of fish life to keep you entertained. It is common to spot, turtles, snapper, triggerfish, moray eels, pufferfish, cuttlefish and octopus on this dive. Also another great spot for a night dives.
