Molchanovs · Trip
Reef & Turtles Trip
An easy 4-hour trip, 9:00 to 13:00 across two different spots, to explore Gili Air's marine life on a single breath, guided by a freediver.
Molchanovs · Trip
An easy 4-hour trip, 9:00 to 13:00 across two different spots, to explore Gili Air's marine life on a single breath, guided by a freediver.
Just for the joy of it
No course, no pressure: a relaxed 4-hour trip (9:00 to 13:00) across two different spots to glide with turtles and reef fish on a single breath, guided by a freediver.
This is not a course. There is no syllabus, no exam and no depth to reach: just four hours on the water, two different spots, and a freediver in the water with you pointing out what you would otherwise swim straight past.
All prices in IDR · Marine Park fee of IDR 100,000 applies to reef sessions.
What is the Reef & Turtles trip?
This is not a course. There is no syllabus, no exam and no depth to reach: just four hours on the water, two different spots, and a freediver in the water with you pointing out what you would otherwise swim straight past.
Freediving over a reef is a very different experience from snorkelling it. Without a tank there is no noise and no bubbles, so animals stay where they are and let you come closer, and a single calm breath is usually enough to drop down, hang for a moment beside a turtle, and come back up.
Gili Air is one of the best places in the world for that. Green and hawksbill turtles are seen on almost every dive here, along with reef fish, cuttlefish, octopus, moray eels, blue-spotted stingrays and, for anyone who likes looking closely, plenty of macro life on the sand.
It suits people who have just done a Discover day and want to use what they learned, certified freedivers who want a relaxed morning rather than a training session, and confident snorkellers curious about what the ocean looks like from a few metres down.
From 9:00 to 13:00, with the running order set by the conditions on the day.
We go through the plan, the safety, the buddy system and a few basics on breathing and duck diving, so nobody is figuring it out in the water.
In the water with your guide, taking it slowly. Time to settle, find your breathing, and see what the reef is doing that morning.
A move to a different site, which usually means different life and a different feel, with everyone far more relaxed than they were two hours earlier.
Message the freediving crew on WhatsApp to join a Reef & Turtles trip.
Good to know
The trip is open to anyone comfortable in the ocean. You need to:
Why Gili Air
The reefs here start shallow and sit five to fifteen minutes away by boat, which is why a morning is enough for two proper spots. Green and hawksbill turtles are seen on nearly every dive, and the island's reef life is unusually easy to approach on a breath.
The water is 27 to 30 degrees all year, so a 3mm suit or a shorty is plenty, and visibility runs from around 10 metres in the wet season to 35 in the dry. April to October brings the calmest sea and the clearest water.
Ocean-obsessed, and patient with it.
Real, personalised attention at every step.
Warm, calm, clear water on your doorstep.
Safe and supportive: become a family member.
No. There is no certification requirement and no depth to reach. You need to be a comfortable ocean swimmer and happy in open water, and your guide handles the rest.
As deep as feels easy, which for most people on a first trip is a few metres. There is no target and nobody is counting. If you want to go deeper properly, that is what the Discover day and Wave 1 are for.
Almost certainly. Green and hawksbill turtles are seen on nearly every dive around Gili Air, which is why the island has the reputation it does. Everything else, the cuttlefish, octopus, moray eels and stingrays, is the reef's decision on the day.
You are on the same reef, but you go down to it. A guide who freedives shows you how to breathe up, duck dive and stay relaxed, so instead of watching from the surface you spend a few seconds at a time down among it. No bubbles also means animals stay put.
Four hours, from 9:00 to 13:00, across two different spots. The order and the sites depend on the conditions that morning.
The Gili Matra Marine Park fee of IDR 100,000 per person applies to reef sessions. It is a one-off, valid for around 30 days of unlimited use, and paid to the park rather than to us. An optional IDR 50,000 donation to the Gili Eco Trust supports reef restoration and island clean-ups.
Swimwear, a towel, reef-safe sunscreen and a water bottle. Equipment is provided. Leave jewellery at your accommodation, and please do not touch or stand on the reef: no touching, no taking, nothing left behind.
It is the ideal follow-up. A Discover day gives you the breathing, the duck dive and the relaxation, and the trip is where you get to use them somewhere beautiful with no syllabus attached.
