This year seems to be the season of diving. We spend a week in Bali and made the excursion to Gili Trawangan where we took two dives organized and led by Manta Drive. This company is located close to the beach and operates a number of boats for the 3 to 4 dive excursions per day.
(click on individual pictures to get a downloadable, large version of a picture)
Both dives were drift dives. You have to be comfortable to back-roll off the boat boat into the water before you get to experience warm (29C), crystal clear water.
Our first trip took us to Shark Point which is a popular destination about 15 minutes by boat northwest of the island. As the name suggests there is a good chance to see reef sharks in the 18m - 35m deep water. We saw a few of them, however there was only one who decided to serve as a photo model.
Exiting the water when we got picked up by the boat turned into a bit of a challenge due to the many jelly fish that also liked the warm water.
Our second dive brought us to Turtle Canyon. This is another popular diving spot where. The water is a bit shallower (~20m) and as the name implies there are turtles. We saw a number of them and enjoyed diving with them.
All in all we can only recommend the diving there. The dives were (relatively) speaking inexpensive, the water was warm and clear and the sea life was plenty.