Friday, March 3rd, we were up early and had breakfast at 6:30 am. After saying goodbye to our homestay family we walked out to the road and met our ride at 7:00 am. Our mini bus driver made a couple more stops around Ubud and then along with the music of Bryan Adams and Bon Jovi we made our way to the port in Padangbai. After a little wait here we were on our way to the Gili Islands.
The Gili Islands are a group of 3 tiny islands, Gili Trawangan, Gili Meno and Gili Air, in Indonesia, near the coast of Lombok.
Each Island has its own character. Trawangan, known as Gili T is the most developed, Gili Air has the strongest local character and Meno, in the middle, is simply a desert island getaway.
These miniscule islands are known for their white sandy beaches and coconut palm trees. They're also famous for their coral reefs and superb scuba diving.
The boat stopped at Gili T before we continued on to Gili Air. We arrived there about 11:30 am. We walked passed the "chidomos" which are traditional horse drawn carriages and headed inland to the Si Pitung Bungalows.
These bungalows are nestled amongst the palm trees near the centre of the island. Except for chickens, the sound of passing horses and the call to prayer, we were pretty much left in silence. It was a nice spot and we ended up staying there for three nights.
Whenever we come somewhere like this it still amazes me how much travelling has changed these days thanks to the accessibility of Wifi. Here we were on a small island in the middle of nowhere and yet we could do online banking, access Google Maps, make reservations through Expedia not to mention keep in constant contact with friends and family back home.
On the Gili Islands there are no motorized vehicles and the power was a bit hit and miss at times yet for the most part we were able to get online and connect with the world. In 2017 high speed internet seems to be something that people assume is everywhere. In a world where often more emphasis is placed on the internet than plumbing, connectivity is now an expectation.
One evening as we sat under the stars on the beach I started to hum the music from Gilligan's Island... "No phone, no lights, no motor car, not a single luxury, like Robinson Crusoe it's primitive as can be" Then I thought about the Wifi... Just imagine what the Professor could have done with that!
Anyway, on Saturday, March 5th. we headed out to explore our little Island and check out some of the dive shops, which was the main reasons we came here.
We settled on a small dive shop called Gili Divers on Air. We liked the small size of the shop and the friendly staff. We ended up doing three dives on three separate days with them.
The first day we did Turtle Heaven close to Gili Meno, the second day we did a dive at Han's Reef close to our Island and the last day we did a dive at Bounty Wreck which was over an old sunken bardge near Gili T.
All three dives rewarded us with calm waters, little to no current, great visibility and loads of marine life. They were probably three of the best dives we have ever done. We loved the small group atmosphere and the one day we had the dive master and the boat to ourselves.
Camilla, our young Danish dive master was great. She pointed out a lot of hidden fish and took lots of time to discuss the dives and fill in our logbooks with us.
On Monday, March 6th, we left Si Pitung and made our way up the sandy beach side path to the Pelangi Bungalows, a nice little spot we found a couple of days earlier located right on the beach.
It was a great location for snorkeling because there was a reef right out from the beach and from there we could go straight out from our bungalow. The little reef seemed to be a magnet to marine life and we were able to see lots of fish and even a couple octopus.
One day we walked around the whole island; however, most of our time we were in the water snorkeling or diving. Each evening was spent just hanging out on the beach and listening to reggae music from the nearby beach side restaurants and bars.
On March 10th, we had a horse and carriage pick us up at 10:00 am and bring us to the pier area. We took the Ekajaya fast boat back to Bali.
After fighting our way through the taxi touts near the pier we managed to make our way to the shuttle bus that took us to Seminyak Beach, just north of Kuta Beach where we spent our last few days in Bali.
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