Day 14: Off to the Gilis!

Even though we are on vacation - sleeping in doesn’t seem to be on the agenda. Today the alarm went off early again, and we were picked up at the hotel at 6 am. Since there was no breakfast available at that hour, we received a breakfast box last night. Well.
Still in the dark, we drove through early morning Amed towards Padang Bai.

For the 50km, we needed about 1.5 hours. Despite the early hour, there was already a lot happening on the roads. The many mopeds and daring overtaking maneuvers made the trip an adventure again. Traffic rules seem to be merely rough suggestions in Indonesia - overtaking happens always and everywhere, if necessary the third lane is just created. And the mopeds weave in between and like to overtake on both sides at the same time.

We arrived at the pier on time and boarded the speedboat to Gili Trawangan after saying goodbye to our guide.
The crossing took 1:45 hours. The boat was rather cramped and reminiscent of an uncomfortable travel bus.

Upon arriving in Gili Trawangan, we were received by a hotel staff member. With two small horse-drawn carriages - the 'Island Ferraris', we headed to the hotel. Fortunately, it was only about 500m - I felt sorry for the poor horses.

At the hotel, we could already check into one of the two rooms. We changed into swimwear and walked to the dive center. Since we had the day at our leisure, we had booked a dive in advance. Since our last dive was already a year ago, we had to take a refresher course beforehand. It started right away with a quiz. Together, we answered almost all the questions correctly. The practical exercises in the pool were no problem either - according to the instructor, the course actually wasn’t necessary. But the regulations in Bali require it that way.

After a quick lunch, our dive started at 2:30 pm. We took a small boat to the dive site. We spent about 45 minutes underwater. Besides many colorful corals and small and larger fish, we also saw quite a few turtles, green sea turtles, and even the rare loggerhead turtle.

Back on land, we had a crêpe for a boost of energy before heading back to the hotel.

Since we skipped lunch today, we had dinner at the hotel. So, we were able to enjoy a BBQ buffet right on the beach to wrap up the day.

Statistics:
Traveled: 50 km
Walked: 5 km
Overnight: Hotel Villa Ombak Gili Trawangan