Pickup from Kuta Station Hotel works like a breeze, 8:30, to the jetty of Gili Getaway, Speedboat to Gili Air with a short stopover at Gili Trawangan.
 |
| Goodbye Bali |
 |
| Speedboat Bali to Gili Air. Cruise time 2,5 hours |
There is no jetty on Gili Air, Speedboats simply drive onto the beach. Taking it easy there, I have a small Bintang at the bar, well, a bamboo shack with a fridge,
before I change 20 Euros to Rupiah for paying the horse carriage that brings me to Manta Dive Resort. 100.000 Rupiah for a 10 minutes ride, aprox. 7,5 Euro.
 |
| The typical Gili Air horse carriage |
Originally, I had planned a five day stay and wanted to meet a colleague of mine, Nicola and her friend Hendrik.
 |
| Hendrik and Nicola |
But after contacting Julia on Hawaii I decided to shorten the stay on Gili Air to two nights, and leave for Hawaii earlier, so I could join a dive trip there. More on that later.
But I met Nicola and Hendrik as planned, actually it wasn't even planned that way, we just found out our paths would cross here, when we talked about our traveling plans back home in Berlin some months ago...;-) We're even in the same resort, the Manta Dive Gili Air Resort
They come from a hiking tour on Lombok, I come from Raja Ampat, our paths cross here on the Gilis. We have a chilled first day, going into the village, center island (better bring a torch), for dinner. It feels strange to speak German, after communicating in Spanish for the last ten days.
Nicola tries to update me with office gossip, but that's all so far away, so far away...
And of course we went for some diving on the second day :-)
Gili Air is a pretty laid back spot, no cars, no mopeds, only horse carriages, bicycles, and some few electric mopeds. No roads, just gravel paths.
 |
| Bildunterschrift hinzufügen |
 |
| Gili Air. Lombok in the background |
You won't find too much coral around Gili Air, the bottom is mostly covered with dead coral rubble, but there are spots with colors.
Easy Diving, Nicola is OWD, max. depth is 18 meters.
 |
| The dive boat |
 |
| Ready for dive 1 |
 |
| Trim looks good |
We see some small sharks in a cave, and turtles, a huge Octopus, a beautiful Mantis Shrimp, juvenile boxfish, the ubiquituous moray eels, Cowry shells, Giant Clam, Lionfish, Stonefish and a lot more.
 |
| Reef Boss |
 |
| Cowry shell, Kaurimuschel |
 |
| huge coral helmet |
 |
| lots of turtles |
 |
| it's like hair, blue. Maybe a mermaid lost her wig hair...? |
 |
| juvenile boxfish |
 |
| tutles flying by |
 |
| Take some rest at Marlin Hill |
 |
| Mantis shrimp. I love the colors |
 |
| Giant Clam |
I take some pictures on request of the two diving together, and with our guide, Opik
Nicola wants a foto of herself underwater while doing handstand, I try, but the best I come up with looks like a Jumping Jack turned upside down ;-))
And then it's drying time again
 |
| When your balcony looks like this, you know you're on a dive trip and travel tomorrow |
We all leave on May 24th, Nicola and Hendrik have an earlier boat, they continue to Nusa Lembongan for more diving, I will fly to Honolulu, crossing the date border counterclockwise somewhere between Tokyo and Hawaii.
I book some more tickets for my trip, the Internet connection is pretty slow. Pia, the resort manager helps out with printing the tickets.
Had a nice relaxed two day stay here, and was happy we actually met here.
Walk back to the beach where the boats leave, saving 100.000 Rupiah, spending a third of it for a last Gili Bintang.
After the speedboat I get transfered to Bali Airport, where I start my 44 hours trip to Hawaii.
See you under water
No comments:
Post a Comment