Plan your trip
Four honest, practical guides to the things people ask us weeks before they arrive: how to get here, when to come, what to pack, and how we keep diving safe.
Why we wrote these
Most of the questions we get have nothing to do with diving yet. They arrive weeks before anyone gets in the water: which boat from Bali, is September a good month, do I need to bring a wetsuit, how long before I can fly home. We answer them one message at a time, so we decided to write the answers down properly.
These guides are about Gili Air and the reefs around it, not about diving in general. Where we know a number we give it. Where it moves with the season or the operator we give a range. Where we don't know, we say so. Fares and boat times in particular change often, so treat them as an order of magnitude and check the current schedule when you book.
GUIDE 01
Fast boats from Bali, flying via Lombok, the crossing from Bangsal harbour, hopping between the three Gilis, and how you get around an island with no cars on it.
Read the guide
GUIDE 02
Dry and wet season, water temperature, visibility, currents and crowds — and what you can honestly expect to see in any given month.
Read the guide
GUIDE 03
The packing list nobody publishes properly, the shape of a dive day from briefing to surface interval, what we provide, and what you pay separately.
Read the guide
GUIDE 04
The medical questionnaire, the no-fly window and the Rinjani caveat, where the nearest hyperbaric chamber actually is, dive insurance, and our code on the reef.
Read the guideHow to use them
Pick your dates first. The seasons guide tells you what changes between April and October and the rest of the year, and how little of it actually affects the diving. Then book your travel: the getting-here guide covers the two routes that work and the one place on the journey where it pays to know what you're doing.
Closer to the trip, the packing guide takes about four minutes and will save you carrying things you don't need. Read the safety guide before your last dive day rather than after, because the one number on it that catches people out is the gap between your last dive and your flight home.
None of this replaces a conversation. If your question isn't answered here, message us — a real person on Gili Air reads it.
The guides are the planning half. These are the pages that tell you what we actually do in the water.
Never dived before? A briefing, a pool session and one real dive on the reef.
SSI coursesFrom Open Water beginner to Divemaster, taught four students to an instructor.
Fun divesAlready certified? Guided dives on our reefs, walls and turtle sites.
Dive sitesThe reefs we dive, what lives on each one, and which level they suit.
FreedivingMolchanovs freediving on Gili Air, from your first breath-hold onwards.
Find usWhere we are on the island, and how to walk to us from the harbour.
Ready when you are
Message us on WhatsApp with your dates and your level. We'd rather answer it now than have you guess.
