Gili Islands and Indonesia Gap Year Adventures

Gili Islands and Gap Year Adventures

The Gili Islands are located off Bali, about 2 hours away by fast boat. The Gilis, are an essential part of an Indonesian gap year, in our opinion, a must see. The Gili Islands are made up of Gili Trawangan, Gili Meno, and Gili Air, Trawangan is the largest of the three, although still relatively small, you can walk around its white sandy beach in about an hour. The Gilis, are becoming increasingly popular with backpackers and gap year takers, mainly for its superb diving and also its laid back vibe.

Diving in the Gili Islands

When we say the diving in the Gili islands is superb, we were not joking. When Xtreme went there to research partners, (check out our you tube channel for the video or our blog for a review of the night life) we were stunned by the quality of the diving. The Gilis are home to a huge population of turtles, encouraged by the Gili Eco trust and some what by a local turtle conservation programme. On any one dive you can expect to see several large turtles, sharks even manta rays. The quality of the under water environment has recently lead to the establishment of a Freediving school as well. Xtreme works with a couple of freediving schools across the world – freediving is diving without a scuba tank for the uninitiated), and there are plenty of reasons why you should go freediving in the Gilis. Depth is one of them, Freedivers can get down to 80+ metres in the Gili Islands, ok, so this is not something you are going to attempt on your gap year if you are just trying the posrt out (although don´t be surprised if we get you down to 20 metres). However if you are on the freediving master course, or are already a freediving expert, the combination of great visual stuff to see and the depth of the sea in the Gilis, means you can really expect to do some cool freediving in the Gilis.

Diving and Conservation programmes

One new project we are launching in conjunction with Manta Dive and the Gili Eco trust, which we are particularly pleased about is the Biorock Marine conservation project. The Gili Islands are now home to the largest Biorock project on the planet, in part due to gap year students. Bio Rock technology is pretty new, but an impressive advance in the fight against coral degradation and depletion in the oceans. Biorock essentially used and anode and Cathode with a low voltage electric current to encourage coral growth on metal structures. The results are pretty impressive. With the Marine Conservation project, you learn to dive and also build your own bio rock structure, this is then sunk, and switched on. The Gili Eco trust professionals will then teach you how to harvest and collect coral to attach to the Biorock.

learning to dive in the Gilis

The Gilis is also a great please to learn to dive as well, for the inexperienced there is a wide range of beginner dive sites with plenty to see. We offer Open water courses up to Divemaster. The Divemaster programme tends to be a little shorter than others (7 weeks) as the Gilis is a little bit more expensive than other places in Asia like Thailand, however the diving is much better. The Xtreme Indonesia Experience For those wanting just a taste of the Gilis, and to combine this with a stay in Bali, we have the The Xtreme Indonesia experience, this is a group tour incorporating some unreal surfing in Bali (in changgu – one of the best surf spots in Asia, and then a short hop over to the gilis for a week). Once on the gilis, you get involved in a conservation project, learn to dive or try some freediving. You also get to soak it up on amazing beaches and enjoy some island life nightlife. There plenty of things to do on an , and plenty of exciting activities in Bali and the Gilis. If you want any adive on either of these locations or have some questions regarding any of the programmes mentioned above, send us an email or contact us on skype, as we would love to have a chat with you about these 2 great destinations.