Have you ever seen a green turtle (Chelonia mydas) in its glory? The way it moves at the bottom of the sea is amazingly graceful. Olympic medalists have nothing on green turtles.
You should be able to spot these turtles in the depth of 10-20 meter below sea level.
If you’re interested in observing one, your best bet is to travel to the three Gilis:
Gili Trawangan, Gili Meno, and Gili Air. These are small islands situated in the north of Lombok.
In local Sasak language, “Gili” means “island”. And in Indonesian language, plural is denoted by repeating a noun.
So “Gili Gili” literally means “islands”. So if you catch someone bragging about how often he’s been to “Gili Islands”, he’s either too ignorant or spewing hot air.
From Gili Trawangan, you may keep on traveling to Gili Meno, where you can find a bird park.
And if you’re allergic to crowded areas, you should definitely go to Gili Meno and Gili Air.
Gili Air itself functions more as a residency for locals.
Getting There
Many tour and travel operators from Bali provide tourism package to Gili Trawangan or Lombok. So all you need to do is make a travel arrangement for Bali, which is the easiest part, and contact a travel agent of your choice.
To Do
In addition, for those loving snorkeling can sound out the beauty of underwater of these three Gilis in where blue corals are spread beautifully. This kind of corals is found only in Tiga Gili Island and Caribbean Sea.
At Gili Trawangan, visitors may dive in Meno Wall’s diving spots, to the west part of Gili Meno, at Sunset Point to the south of Gili Terawangan.
In 18-20 meter depth dives will meet and see white pit shark, manta, and turtle. Or at Wreck Point, around 500 meter from Mentigi beach, that in 43 meter depth is found remain of sunken ship full of ridge of rocks.
Enjoying the beauty of under seawater at Gili calls for more money to spend. To rent a diving instrument for those having diving certificate needs US 25 dollar, excluding motor-boat fee and diving guide cost. For snorkeling needs Rp 50.000 per person. Diving course is also available for the beginner costing US 300 dollar, plus certificate.
To Stay
Now that the three Gilis have been internationally known for its underwater splendors and amazing ridge of rocks, there’ve been more lines of hotels, resorts and restaurants from the south to north of the Gili Gili, Lombok. Cafés and bungalows also become easier to find.
Currently there are more than 100 accommodations situated in the area. Mostly at the northern part. Some are even international-scale hotels.
Tags: corals, diving spots, Gili Air, Gili Gili, Gili Meno, Gili Trawangan, Mentigi beach, snorkeling, The Green Turtles
