White sandy beaches, palm trees, beautiful turquoise water and perfect sunshine. If you think that we are talking about paradise, you are not completely wrong. This almost-too-good-to-be-real piece of heaven can be found hidden in Indonesia on the Gili Islands. Diving in and around Lombok can be divided into two regions: The Gili Islands and Sanggigi. The Gili Islands – Gili Trawangan, Gili Meno and Gili Air – are aligned off the north-western coast of Lombok like the pearls on a beautiful necklace. Sanggigi is found on the western shore of Lombok itself, near the largest city of the Island: Mataram.
The third and final island of the Gilies is Gili Air. No cars or motorcycles are allowed, thus creating a relaxed atmosphere and the ambiance of a quiet and small island. Transportation is provided by small, quaint horse carts and bicycles. Diving Gili Air leaves you with several top rate options. The Air Wall for example in the West of Gili Air is a very beautiful wall that, due to the soft coral cover, shines yellow-orange depending on the position of the sun. The highlight of this wall is a coral block at 22 m in which leaf fishes (scorpion fish) found their home, surrounded by shrimps, pipefish, white-banded cleaner shrimps and thousands of glass fishes... Look out into the deeper parts for white-tip reef sharks.
Situated south of Gili Air is the Japanese Wreck, the wreck of an old 20 m (66 ft) long Japanese patrol vessel from World War II times with large number of lionfish, scorpionfish, barracudas and jacks swimming around. Be sure to either involve decompression or enriched air as the wreck itself lies in a depth of 45 m (147 ft)
One of the most favourite dive spots is Frog Fish Point in the East of Gili Air, famous for small things and rarities. A huge coral block from 5 m – 18 m welcomes you - there are a lot of sandy areas, where the garden eels let off steam and corals are overgrown with anemones and their clownfish. You can find for example ghost pipefish, frogfish and a lot of scorpion fish or have a manicure there by one of the many cleaner shrimps.