Of the Gili Islands, Gili Air is the closest to Lombok and has a completely different atmosphere to its sister island Gili Trawangan. As soon as you step onto Gili Air, you feel as if you have entered a close knit local community who are happy to share their tropical island paradise with you. Walk among sandy streets and enjoy the slow-paced lifestyle or immerse yourself in the crystal clear water to discover a whole host of incredible dive sites.
With a few dive sites located directly from Gili Air’s coastline, in a matter of minutes you can find yourself in swift drift dives or finning slowly along thriving coral reefs with sea turtles. With Gili Meno and Gili Trawangan only a stone's throw away, scuba diving in Gili Air enables you to visit the diverse waters surrounding all of the Gili Islands. Macro photographers will delight in sandy sea-beds covered with an array of tiny critters while there’s also the chance to dive alongside graceful manta rays. There are sites where reef sharks are present in large frenzies and even the chance to see a majestic whale shark gliding effortlessly through the waves.
On Gili Air there are a number of dive centres that will assist you with your underwater adventures. Some of these dive centres have dive resorts where it’s possible to enjoy luxury accomodation and superb diving. Gili Air diving is great for completing dive courses as there are calm dive sites as well as deep dives and drift dives for speciality courses. Being only a short ferry ride away, you have easy access to the stunning dive locations of Lombok and Bali. If arranging all of the travel to hop from island to island seems too intense, plenty of liveaboards are available in the West Nusa Tenggara region. You can even find yourself waking up to a brand new dive location every day!
Many of Gili Air’s dive sites are sheltered from strong currents making them perfect for dive courses. Air Slope provides a gentle drift dive across a flourishing patch reef while the stronger current and deep wall dive at Air Wall is great for those taking part in advanced courses. At Takat Malang you can find yourself drifting through various overhangs, outcrops and swim throughs while sites like Haan’s Reef and the Secret Reef provide an ideal opportunity to hunt out the multitude of ‘small stuff’ that shelters in Gili Air’s seabed. Search in black sand muck dives or discover artefacts of long-lost wrecks sitting at the bottom of the ocean.
Gili Air diving will invite you into a world where you can glide among eagle rays and manta ray while schools of barracuda, dogtooth tuna and batfish surround you enjoying the strong current. At calm sites you can search black and white sand seabeds for frogfish, leaf scorpionfish, mantis shrimp, pygmy seahorse, spotted morays, pipefish and a variety of nudibranch - you’re certain to leave the water reaching for your species ID books. Reef sharks are common visitors and green and hawksbill turtles flourish due to sea turtle conservation projects in the area. Under the power of a full moon, huge schools of parrotfish circle dive sites and occasionally spotted whale sharks or playful dolphins can be witnessed during surface intervals!
Wildlife Sightings are Based on User Generated Content
The image shown is a representative illustration and does not depict every individual animal in this category.
Total number of species: 200
The image shown is a representative illustration and does not depict every individual animal in this category.
Total number of species: 300
The image shown is a representative illustration and does not depict every individual animal in this category.
Total number of species: 28
The image shown is a representative illustration and does not depict every individual animal in this category.
Total number of species: 130
The image shown is a representative illustration and does not depict every individual animal in this category.
Total number of species: 90
The image shown is a representative illustration and does not depict every individual animal in this category.
Total number of species: 12
The image shown is a representative illustration and does not depict every individual animal in this category.
Total number of species: 40
The image shown is a representative illustration and does not depict every individual animal in this category.
Total number of species: 8
Scuba diving in Gili Air is possible all year round but it is best to avoid December and January. Around December and January rainfall is at it’s heavist which can cause reduced visibility in dive sites close to the shoreline. Most people come to Gili Air betweenb May to September but if you plan to see manta rays you’ll need to visit from December through to March. It’s also the best time to see whale sharks, with these elegant giants appearing in the water from January through to March.
