LOMBOK - THE GILI ISLANDS

Small and sandy, no roads, no cars: the three Gilis are understandably popular with the long term travelers who first made them popular. All three are ringed by reefs and bordered by white sand encapsulating a green interior. Gili Trewangan is the most developed. There isn’t much to do apart from enjoy the sea and, at night, the lively party atmosphere. It’s also definitely the hub for dive centres but as the islands are close together, you can dive around all three from whichever one, or for that matter from the nearby coastal resorts.

Dive sites are hardly ever more than 20 minutes away and conditions are mostly easy, although strong currents occur around the full moon. This, along with the proximity of the reefs, ensure these waters are perfect for novices - many people come here to train. In the past there was a lot of fishing, along with some bombing, and there is evidence of destructive practices. However, ecological moves are resolving much of this and no matter what some will try to tell you, there is some very impressive diving here.

Advanced divers will enjoy the deeper reefs which have vast areas of pristine coral, huge swathes of hard corals and brightly coloured fans. Sharks are quite common and at certains times of the month, so are mantas. The shallower reefs, despite exhibiting lots of rubble patches are just teeming with life. Divers that take their time are rewarded with all sorts of unusual animals, like both species of mantis shrimp, frogfish, octopus and, of course, more turtles than you are likely to see anywhere else.

SOUTH LOMBOK

Lombok’s second dive region is in the far south which borders the Indian Ocean and makes for some highly adventurous diving, unexplored and full of potential.

There are three dive regions: the north side of Lombok’s southwest corner winds past a flat sea dotted with masses of tiny offshore islands. Diving is based in Sekotong and options are plenty. Conditions can be variable depending on currents and due to the shallow waters, visibility is never crystal clear. However, this doesn’t affect the calibre of the dive sites, which are full of bright soft corals and crinoids in a million colours which disguide all sorts of interesting small creatures.

Things change dramatically along the south coast, which edges the Indian Ocean. Kuta Beach has been on the dive map for some time. It could hardly be described as busy although this sandy bay also attracts surfers. Conditions here vary from very rough outside the bay to much calmer inside, and of course, diving is scheduled around that. Deep water dives attract pelagic species.

Nearby Belongas Bay is fairly similar and gaining a reputation as an adrenaline rush destination. Here, the conditions can be extreme and dives are not suitable for the inexperienced, but can be highly rewarding.
In season, roughly June to September, the offshore pinnacles attract many larger species, several types of shark, large rays and so on but even out season the fish aggregations are enormous.