Gili Trawangan, located in the West Nusa Tenggara region close to Lombok, is a tropical playground for tourists. The busiest of the Gili Islands, Gili Trawangan’s main strip is bustling with lounge bars, ambitious restaurants and a number of dive centres and dive resorts. Those who are looking for some calm, can head deeper into the heart of the island or explore its incredible underwater world. 

With easy access to the dive sites on Gili Meno and Gili Air as well as Trawangan there are 20+ sites for divers to explore. Ranging from calm dive sites perfect for novice divers, deep dives and swift currents for the more adventurous and wrecks as well as night dives - Gili Trawangan diving has a dive site for every diver. The islands crystal clear waters are home to a great number of sea turtles, both hawksbill and green, as well as reef sharks and eagle rays. Macro dive sites host a range of weird and wonderful creatures while, when the season is right, visitors have the chance to glide alongside manta rays or spot a whale shark passing by in the blue!

Located on Gili Trawangan are a number of dive centres and dive resorts all a short boat ride away from awe-inspiring dive sites. The calm sites make scuba diving in Gili Trawangan perfect for dive courses, with thousands flocking here to extend their knowledge and training. With easy access to Bali and Lombok by ferry, after diving the Gili Islands, the wonderful dive sites at Padang Bai, Belongas Bay and Seketong are awaiting your arrival. If all the travel seems like too much hassle, liveaboards are available to explore Gili Trawangan as well as many other astounding Indonesian dive locations.

While scuba diving in Gili Trawangan’s dive sites you will often encounter sleeping black-tip and white-tip reef sharks while green and hawksbill turtle glide through the water in search of their next perch. Locations with current often see schooling trevally, barracuda and bat fish while there is a possibility of observing eagle rays and manta ray enjoying the nutrient-rich water. Every full moon, shoals of parrotfish appear, flashing their multi-hued scales and there is even the occasional whale shark moving effortlessly through the water.

At muck and macro dive sites, there’s the chance to see many of the oceans elusive critters. Frogfish, leaf scorpionfish, flying gurnard, mantis shrimp, nudibranch, pygmy seahorse, robust ghost pipefish and the tiny blue ringed octopus all decorate the sea floor. Make sure to bring your cameras.

Two of the most popular dive sites around Gili Trawangan are in exactly the same location. Located on the north side of the island, Shark Point and Turtle City give divers the chance to dive alongside their favourite megafauna. Shark Point starts with a sloping reef with a series of ridges and valleys running parallel to the shore that descend all the way down to 50-metres. The Glen Nusa shipwreck can be found at 28-metres where white-tip and black-tip reef sharks patrol the area in search of their next meal. When there is current, you can spot schooling batfish, tuna and mackerel. The shallow region of Shark Point is actually a dive site of its own, Turtle City. Here you may find white-tip reef sharks sleeping under large coral bommies while sea turtles have decided to take charge of this site, with many roaming the waters. Located in the cracks of hard and soft corals, moray eels, octopus and lobsters hide.

Secret Reef is suitable for all levels of divers while offering deep divers the chance to descend to places the light doesn’t quite reach. In the shallow part of the Secret Reef, witness thriving corals surrounded by trevallies and giant snappers. Peer into the giant gorgonian fans to search for pygmy seahorse and delight in the colours of the multitude of reef fish flitting around you. Halik also provides a shallow part for novice divers as well as the Deep Halik for the more experienced. In the shallow part of this wall dive, you can see moray eels, scorpionfish, octopus and sea snake hiding in the wall cracks and crevices. Head deeper where you’ll find beautiful ridges running parallel to the floor and black-tip and white-tip reef sharks resting in the sandy depths.

Located in the channel between Gili Trawangan and Gili Meno is Deep Turbo. Deep Turbo is the perfect site for the more experienced diver with an average depth of 25-metres. Drift in challenging currents across sea mounds and canyon walls which harbour a variety of marine life such as barracuda, tuna, triggerfish and stingrays. Watch garden eels dance as they sway in the strong current and keep your eyes peeled for passing reef sharks. One thing’s for sure, the Deep Turbo dive site will be sure to help you improve your buoyancy and trim.