From Gili T, Amelia, plus my two sisters and I were able to catch a local boat to Gili Air. Although called a ‘local boat’ we couldn’t actually see one local on it, in other words it was rammed full of backpackers!
Gili Air is renowned for being a much more laid back place than its big brother ‘party’ island (Gili T). So after our not so wild time on Gili T, we were looking forward to having an even more chilled out time on Gili Air.
When we arrived, with Becci’s 20 odd kilo suitcase literally in tow behind us, we went on the hunt along the sandy paths for our pre-booked accommodation at a place called ‘Kokowa Guesthouse’. As usual we’d done some internet research beforehand so knew roughly where it was, but even with this information and local islanders guidance it was impossible to locate. We must’ve gone up and down the same path leading from one side of the island to the other at least 2-3 times, by which time we were almost ready to give up! Luckily, by complete chance, we bumped into one of the guesthouse workers at a nearby mini-mart. He led us through the maze of un-signposted pathways with a look of bemusement when we mentioned we’d been looking for over an hour.
The rooms we were initially shown to were basic and clean, and would do the job. However, on the way to our basic rooms, they’d taken us past their very nice, newly built air-conditioned huts with hammocks hanging in the porch. So feeling a little green with envy and with illness (I’d started the day feeling a little rough), Beth and I decided to have a chat with the owner. After a little haggling we successfully managed to upgrade to the much nicer huts for less than £2 extra a night, bargain!
After lunch by the seafront, we spent the rest of the afternoon on the beach, with me staying in the shade as I was progressively feeling worse.
For sunset we needed to venture to the other side of the island, so after a little power nap and freshen up, I was feeling better and ready to stroll over. Before we settled on a nice quiet part of the beach, we found a 10m slackline tied between two trees - slacklining is like tightrope walking, but the rope is a strap and less taught. The ‘line’ was only a few feet above the ground, so we all decided to give it a go, I think it’s fair to say me and Bec were the most addicted, and were competing to see who could ‘walk’ the furthest.
We enjoyed the sunset, as always, but it wasn’t spectacular and we were getting cold and hungry, so we didn’t stay too late.
We found a place just opposite a very quiet night market for a bite to eat. But unfortunately whilst looking through the menu my stomach took another turn for the worse, so instead of risking eating in, Amelia and I left Becci and Beth to enjoy their dinners, and we took our food as takeaway and back with us to eat back in our room.
Hoping a good night sleep would help, I was in bed and asleep very early that night.

The early night had definitely helped. So after a pathetically small breakfast at the guesthouse, we went to find bikes to cycle around and explore the island with.
Amelia and I being keen to do some diving whilst on the Gili islands, went in search of a suitable dive shop.
Keeping the bikes going down some of the sandy paths around the island proved very difficult. To the point we actually had to hop off and walk the bikes alongside us. Seeing a local using the damp compacted sand on the beach as a cycle track tempted Becci and I to try the same.
As usual my older sister decided to let me ‘test the waters’ and watch me go first. Unfortunately it didn’t go well, as soon as I set off the back half of the bike would bury itself into the sand, causing me to come to a complete halt. Either I was too heavy or the bike tyres were too skinny, either way the local made it look easy. So without Bec even attempting, we re-joined Amelia and Beth on the path and walked our bikes to the next bit of solid ground.
‘Cycling’ around the island gave us a good opportunity to visit lots of dive shops, but after speaking with many dive guides and instructors, we got the distinct impression that the conditions in Indonesia were often unsuitable for non-advanced divers. So Amelia decided, after having thought about doing her advanced licence for a while, to book onto a course starting the following day.
By the time we’d finished our route around the five or so kilometre track, it was time for lunch so we came to a stop at ‘Ruby’s Café’. Everything on the menu sounded mouth wateringly good. But after speaking with the English owner, we all opted for the beef rendang (an Indonesian curry), which had apparently been in the slow cooker since the night before.
The curry was superb, full of flavour and the beef was so tender it literally fell apart on the fork. Feeling very content we decided to cycle to the beach, bask in the sun and explore the nearby reef.
Hoping the conditions and aquatic life were at least comparable to Gili T, Amelia and I left Bec and Beth on the beach and went off into the sea for a look around.
Unfortunately we were a little disappointed by the lack of activity, it looked like the efforts of human intervention hadn’t helped the area as the manmade reef was pretty lifeless. The only ‘life’ we saw was upon our return to shore, where we saw how the fairly cold water was effecting some ‘organisms’ – two men had decided it was a good idea to go skinny dipping during mid-afternoon in an area popular with snorkelers, not a wise decision.
That evening it was round two on the slackline, Bec and I proceeded to challenge each other on the slackline, whilst Amelia and Beth enjoyed relaxing on the beach. As much as I hate to admit it, Bec had a better posture and technique, but even with Becci’s better technique it’s hard to say who actually ‘walked’ the furthest.
A recommendation from our dive guide in Malaysia led us to a place called ‘Mowies’ where we had some very good quality food sat by the beach on beanbags. Amelia and Bec both had one of their rye based pizzas, Beth had a chickpea dish and I thoroughly enjoyed a huge tuna burger.

The next morning I woke up feeling awful, the bug I thought I’d rid of seemed to of come back with a vengeance! I was literally bed and toilet bound all day. While Amelia started her advance open water scuba course, starting with PPB (peak performance buoyancy). And Bec and Beth spent the morning back at the beach.
Amelia returned to shore for lunch, so herself Bec and Beth met up for a bite to eat before coming back to being me boiled rice and bananas.
Amelia was delighted with how the first part of her course had gone. Not only had she seen a gigantic turtle, but apparently she'd completed her skills extremely well. She’d learnt a lot and her instructor was more than happy with her profile and buoyancy control underwater.
Unfortunately after lunch Bec was also starting to feel a little under the weather too, so once Amelia had returned to the boat to continue with her course (underwater navigation), we were left to feel sorry for ourselves whilst Beth hung around keeping herself busy.
Later that day, Amelia returned from her afternoon on the boat. Apparently her underwater navigation hadn’t gone as well as she’d hoped, but I think she was being too hard on herself, as it sounded like her instructor was still very pleased with how things were going.
For dinner that night, Beth and Amelia went out to enjoy a dinner date for two at a nearby Sumatran style restaurant, whilst Bec and I continued to feel sorry for ourselves. By morning I was feeling better, I even managed to get up and join Amelia for her early morning breakfast before she went back to ‘Blue Marine Diving’ to start her next module – fish identification. After a subdued morning by Becci’s bedside and making sure she was topped up with ‘Dioralyte’, Beth and I decided it was safe to venture out as we were both going a little stir-crazy!
We needed to confirm our places on the speedboat back to Bali. So after finding the company’s satellite office on Gili Air and booking our seats, it was time to go and meet Amelia.
Beth and I arrived at the dive shop just in time to see the boat coming into shore. Amelia looked very happy, and after her de-brief, she explained that it’d gone very well. She saw some cool stuff including purposely sunken bikes, and a boat platform with a resident frogfish. Unlike the manmade reefs off the beach, it sounded like the artificial reefs Amelia had seen on her ‘Fish ID Dive’ had attracted a lot of life.
By lunchtime Bec still couldn’t venture too far from the toilet, so she decided it was best to stay in the room whilst Beth, Amelia and I went out for lunch at a nearby ‘warung’ (Indonesian name for eatery). The place was called ‘Harmony Family Café and Restaurant’. It was a reputable establishment on TripAdvisor, and had received awesome reviews for its take on Mexican food. As usual TripAdvisor was spot on, the food was fantastic, and we've made sure to add our own more than complimentary review.
Amelia and I, since the start of our trip always make sure we carry ‘Ciprofloxacin’ – an over the counter antibiotic in SEA. I haven’t used it, but Amelia can vouch for its particularly good properties at fighting stomach bugs! A handy thing to have travelling SEA. Bec, only having a few more days of her holiday left, decided it was worth taking, despite not being able to consume alcohol whilst on them.
During the afternoon, whilst Beth was monitoring Bec, Amelia and I went back to Blue Marine's dive shop to arrange a few things. Amelia’s last dive to obtain her advanced licence was a night dive, which was understandably making her feel a little anxious.
I’ve been indescribably proud of Amelia’s determination to overcome her phobia, ever since she completed her discovery dive with her mum back in Ko Lanta. So to see her nearing the end of her advanced qualification was almost overwhelming. Despite not being fully recovered, I booked on to ‘tag along’ as I thought it would be nice for her to have a helping hand which would hopefully go towards settling her nerves.
When we returned to Kokowa, we were glad to see Becci was still alive and not having an anaphylactic shock! In fact she was already feeling better. The Ciprofloxacin, yet again had come to the rescue!
As the sun was setting, Amelia and I gathered our things, and once again walked back to the dive shop, where a horse and cart awaited us - not the normal transportation for a dive! Most of the workers (including the boatman), being Muslim, were breaking fast. So Blue Marine had arranged the alternative transportation to the other side of the island for a shore dive.
When we arrived, in style, at the harbour for Amelia’s first night dive, Bec and Beth were sat waiting for us. It was good to see Bec up and out of bed looking a lot spritelier! And I think it was comforting sight for Amelia who had gone fairly quiet by this point.
The dive was a new experience for me too, as although I’ve completed a night dive before (Ko Tao) I have never entered the water from the shore before, so with our fins in hand and gear on, not forgetting the submersible torches, we trundled towards the water and waded out until it was deep enough to fit our fins. We then finned out with Amelia’s instructor and a master diver (in training) to a nearby buoy, which we then used as a decent reference.
Although Amelia felt very nervous, she hid it well, and as usual used the least air in the group (a sign of a good diver!). We didn’t see much during the first half of the dive, but the sight seemed to come alive during the second half! We saw an abundance of life including shrimps, a massive hermit crab, cockatoo waspfish, robust pipefish, lion fish, a huge 5m long active sea cucumber and to our delight, whilst completing our safety stop, a long armed octopus too! All having sufficient air left, we hovered around for longer than needed to complete the safety stop - trying not to touch the dozens of sea urchins and lion fish whilst in awe of the octopus.
We both thoroughly enjoyed the dive, but Amelia was of the same mindset as me after my first night dive – much prefer to dive during the day!

The next morning, we packed our belongings and waited at the harbour for a boat to take us back to Bali..