Explore Gili Trawangan
Gili Trawangan, located in the West Nusa Tenggara region close to Lombok, is a tropical playground for tourists. The busiest of the Gili Islands, Gili Trawangan’s main strip is bustling with lounge bars, amibitious restaurants and a number of dive centres and dive resorts. Those who are looking for some calm, can head deeper into the heart of the island or explore its incredible underwater world.
With easy access to the dive sites on Gili Meno and Gili Air as well as Trawangan there are 20+ sites for divers to explore. Ranging from calm dive sites perfect for novice divers, deep dives and swift currents for the more adventurous and wrecks as well as night dives - Gili Trawangan diving has a dive site for every diver. The islands crystal clear waters are home to a great number of sea turtles, both hawksbill and green, as well as reef sharks and eagle rays. Macro dive sites host a range of weird and wonderful creatures while, when the season is right, visitors have the chance to glide alongside manta rays or spot a whale shark passing by in the blue!
Located on Gili Trawangan are a number of dive centres and dive resorts all a short boat ride away from awe-inspiring dive sites. The calm sites make scuba diving in Gili Trawangan perfect for dive courses, with thousands flocking here to extend their knowledge and training. With easy access to Bali and Lombok by ferry, after diving the Gili Islands, the wonderful dive sites at Padang Bai, Belongas Bay and Seketong are awaiting your arrival. If all the travel seems like too much hassle, liveaboards are available to explore Gili Trawangan as well as many other astounding Indonesian dive locations.
Dive Activity
Diving in Gili Trawangan
In shallow waters, divers can enjoy the bright colours of the thriving reefs located on sandy bottoms, vertical walls or gentle slopes. These sites are also best for dive courses, where students can get used to being underwater in the calm, like at the Secret Reef. For more experienced divers, there are also deep plateaus and walls at Deep Turbo and Takat Tunang. While drifting in the current, you can spot pelagics and admire manta ray gliding effortlessly. At Haan’s Reef you can search the sandy seabed for macro creatures while Bounty Wreck is a great novice wreck dive. There is even the Bio Rock dive site where interested divers can witness corals regrowing at the largest Bio Rock conservation effort in the world - with the creatures here appearing mostly at night.
To Wildlife Sightings in Gili Trawangan
While scuba diving in Gili Trawangan’s dive sites you will often encouter sleeping black-tip and white-tip reef sharks while green and hawksbill turtle glide through the water in search of their next perch. Locations with current often see schooling trevally, barracuda and bat fish while there is a possibility of observing eagle rays and manta ray enjoying the nutrient-rich water. Every full moon, shoals of parrotfish appear, flashing their multi-hued scales and there is even the occasional whale shark moving effortlessly through the water.
At muck and macro dive sites, there’s the chance to see many of the oceans elusive critters. Frogfish, leaf scorpionfish, flying gurnard, mantis shrimp, nudibranch, pygmy seahorse, robust ghost pipefish and the tiny blue ringed octopus all decorate the sea floor. Make sure to bring your cameras.
Wildlife Sightings are Based on User Generated Content
Shutterstock-Shane Myers Photography
10k Sightings
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The image shown is a representative illustration and does not depict every individual animal in this category.
Total number of species: 200
Alamy-WaterFrame
Moray Eel
5.3k Sightings
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Shutterstock-Ed Jenkins
Hawksbill Turtle
3.7k Sightings
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The image shown is a representative illustration and does not depict every individual animal in this category.
Total number of species: 300
Alamy/Reinhard Dirscherl
Octopus
2.5k Sightings
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The image shown is a representative illustration and does not depict every individual animal in this category.
Total number of species: 27
iStock-Global_Pics
Barracuda
812 Sightings
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The image shown is a representative illustration and does not depict every individual animal in this category.
Total number of species: 600
iStock/ultramarinfoto
Wrasse
556 Sightings
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iStock-June Jacobsen
Whitetip Reef Shark
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568
The image shown is a representative illustration and does not depict every individual animal in this category.
Total number of species: 28
Udo Kefrig
Clownfish
7.2k Sightings
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520
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366
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The image shown is a representative illustration and does not depict every individual animal in this category.
Total number of species: 40
iStock-wrangel
Triggerfish
5.2k Sightings
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592
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337
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357
The image shown is a representative illustration and does not depict every individual animal in this category.
Total number of species: 130
AdobeStock-JirinaVFR
Pufferfish
4.6k Sightings
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310
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204
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359
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The best Months to dive in Gili Trawangan
Scuba diving in Gili Trawangan is possible all year round but it is best to avoid December and January, when rainfall is at its heaviest. During this time, rainfall can cause surface run-off which reduces the visibility in sites close to the shore. Peak season for Gili Trawangan diving is from May to September but to see manta rays you’ll need to dip into the water from December through to March. While manta rays appear in the greatest numbers around these months, it is also your best chance to spot a whale shark from January through to March.
