Guide · On the day
What to bring
and how the day runs
Nobody publishes a decent packing list for a tropical dive day, so here's ours — plus what actually happens between walking into the centre and getting back out of the water.
Guide · On the day
Nobody publishes a decent packing list for a tropical dive day, so here's ours — plus what actually happens between walking into the centre and getting back out of the water.
The short version
All the dive equipment is included: mask, fins, wetsuit, BCD, regulator, weights and tanks, in a full range of sizes, along with your guide or instructor and drinking water, tea and coffee on the boat. We also film your dives and hand you the footage afterwards. So the honest packing list is short.
What's worth getting right is the small stuff — reef-safe sunscreen instead of the usual kind, your certification card if you have one, and something to keep a phone dry. And knowing the shape of the day means you arrive at the right time, which is the single thing that makes a dive morning relaxed rather than rushed.
Packing
This is the whole list. Everything else is either provided or unnecessary.
On our side
Everything you need to dive: mask, fins, wetsuit, BCD, regulator, weights and tanks, well maintained and in a full range of sizes, plus your SSI instructor or divemaster guide. A 3 mm shorty or full wetsuit is all this water asks for, and that's what we have.
On the boat there's free drinking water, along with tea, coffee and fruit for the surface interval. We carry oxygen, first aid and life jackets, because that's what carrying divers means.
On courses you also get the SSI digital learning materials and logbook, all your equipment for the duration of the course, and your certification fee. We teach a maximum of four students to an instructor, and fun dives get the same cap: never more than four divers per guide.
We film the dives with a GoPro and give you the footage. You don't have to ask for it and it doesn't cost anything.
The rhythm
We run several boat trips a day — morning, late morning and afternoon — with night dives on request. Exact times shift with the season and the group, so we confirm yours when you book. Here's what one trip looks like from the inside.
Come to the centre around half an hour before your trip. That's the window in which paperwork gets signed, equipment gets sized and fitted to you, and nobody has to hurry. If it's your first dive with us, give it a few minutes more.
Your guide walks the group through the site: the shape of the reef, the depth, where the current is likely to run, what we hope to see and what we do if the plan changes. Ask your questions here — it's the cheapest place in the day to have them answered.
Every site we dive is five to fifteen minutes away. Gear goes on the boat, you go on the boat, and by the time you've finished your coffee you're there. Short crossings are one of the quiet advantages of diving from Gili Air.
A typical dive here runs about three quarters of an hour, most of it drifting gently along the reef while the boat follows your bubbles. Groups are capped at four divers per guide, so nobody is being herded.
Back at the centre between dives — water, coffee, fruit, shade, and a chance to log the dive while it's still fresh. A morning trip usually runs two dives with the interval in the middle; the afternoon trip is a single dive.
Your guide fills in the details you missed, we hand over the video, and if you liked something enough to want it again tomorrow, that's the moment to say so.
Money
Everything in the first list is part of the price of your dives or your course. Everything in the second is paid separately, most of it in cash and on the day.
Gili Matra is a marine protected area, and every diver pays a one-off park fee of around IDR 100,000. It isn't ours — we collect it and pass it on. It covers you for roughly thirty days across all three islands, and you pay it once however many days you dive. Bring it in cash.
Separately, we invite an optional donation of around IDR 50,000 to the Gili Eco Trust, the local non-profit behind the reef restoration and the clean-ups here. That one is genuinely optional, and it goes straight to the work.
Two things worth sorting first
Seasickness is rarely an issue here, because the crossings are so short — five to fifteen minutes rather than an hour of open water. If you know you're susceptible, take your remedy well before you board rather than on the boat, and check with us first: several of them cause drowsiness, which is not what you want at eighteen metres.
If you're certified but haven't dived in about a year or more, book a refresher before you join the fun dives. It's a pool session plus an easy first dive, half a day, and it turns a slightly anxious morning into a good one. Nobody has ever regretted doing one.
And if you're on a course rather than fun diving, expect longer days — figure on around five hours between theory, the pool and the ocean, spread across two or three days. The Open Water page sets out exactly how that's laid out.
Swimwear, a towel, reef-safe sunscreen, a water bottle, and cash in rupiah for the Marine Park fee. If you're certified, bring your certification card and logbook. We provide all the dive equipment in a full range of sizes. Leave jewellery and valuables at your accommodation.
No. Mask, fins, wetsuit, BCD, regulator, weights and tanks are all included and come in every size. Bring your own if you prefer it, and do bring your own mask if you have one you like — a mask that fits you properly makes a real difference.
We run several trips a day — morning, late morning and afternoon — plus night dives on request. The exact times move with the season and the group, so we confirm yours when you book. Arrive about 30 minutes before your trip for the briefing.
A dive runs around 45 minutes. Every site we use is five to fifteen minutes from the centre by boat, which is why a morning here comfortably takes in two dives with a surface interval back on shore in between.
Never more than four divers per guide, and four students per instructor on courses. It's safer, it's calmer, and it means more of the dive is spent actually looking at things.
A mineral one, based on zinc oxide or titanium dioxide, and nothing containing oxybenzone. Better still, cover up with a rash guard and use less of everything — what goes on your skin ends up on the reef.
Bring cash in rupiah for the Marine Park fee, which is paid on the spot, and for the optional eco donation. There are ATMs on Gili Air, and wifi in most places, but the small transactions on the island tend to run on cash.
Ready when you are
Message us your dates on WhatsApp. We'll confirm the boat times and tell you exactly what to bring.