Between Gili Meno and Gili Air
Secret Reef
Flat on top — then the reef steps down, layer by layer, until the bottom disappears.
Between Gili Meno and Gili Air
Flat on top — then the reef steps down, layer by layer, until the bottom disappears.
Secret Reef sits in the water between Gili Meno and Gili Air. You arrive on a flat coral top at around fourteen metres, which gives away nothing about what the site actually is.
Swim to the edge and the reef starts stepping down — terrace after terrace of coral, each one a little deeper and a little bluer, until the last one falls away and there is nothing below you but open water.
The terraces themselves are colourful and well covered, with gorgonian fans on the deeper steps and snapper schooling along the drops. The reason this is Ang's favourite is not a species; it is the edge.
What you come for
The top of the reef is already at fourteen metres and the whole dive is about following the steps down from there, so how far you get depends on your certification: eighteen metres on an Open Water card, thirty on Advanced. The crew sets the plan on the boat.
Ang has dived every site on this list more times than he can count, and this is the one he picks. Not for what lives on it — for the moment the last terrace drops away and the blue takes over.
The same for every site on this list.
Diving works all year here. April to October is the dry season and gives the clearest water, with September, October, May and June the sweet spot; July and August are the busiest. November to March brings plankton and less visibility, and with it a better chance of something big passing through.
Small groups, four divers to a guide, and a crew that picks the site by the conditions rather than the timetable. Message us on WhatsApp and we will tell you what the water is doing today.
Book on WhatsAppEvery site on this page is dived from Gili Air, most of them within a fifteen-minute boat ride.
