Gili T - turtle diving & reggae dancing
for me Gili T is Koh Tao but with more horse poop and better diving.
partied every night and danced my heart out to reggae music - reedd reddd wiiine & girl i want to make you sweat, sweat till you can’t sweat no more 🎶
had the best turtle-filled dive at Turtle Heaven which was a magical underwater land that i never wanted to leave. the turtles were bigger than me and there were so many fish i have never seen before. i was worried i was breathing too fast and using up air cause i was so excited, but we were down there for 45 mins. my fave is when a turtle decides to venture from the bottom and they swim past you up, up, up into the light at the surface. Egy from blue marlin dive was my little munchkin with afro dreads and he took me on all 3 dives. dive #3 was only 17 mins on account of getting swept away in an insane current to a depth i will not disclose as an open water diver. but there was a magical moment in the deep when we saw a giant manta ray - like bigger than my apartment - in the dark depths of the sea and then it bolted away into the abyss. i thought it was a dream. officially hooked on diving i want it all. the. time. !!!
rented a bike and went around the island to watch sunset with british Mat from blue marlin - banana daiquiris at exile. the next night same thing with Jules and Jess from Aus, and when the sun went down the locals built a bonfire and played the drums. i hula hooped, hoping to apply full time but tbd if they’ll hire me.
danced at sama sama every night, lil monsoon party at Gili Mansion with some obnox australian fetuses, ladies night cocktails at Irish Bar, dancing at Blue Marlin with my fave twirler from Sky Garden. living my bestest life in my classic se asia dance uniform. one of my absolute FAVE parts about Gili - the friendly, hilarious locals who yell whatever the hell they please. they LOVE life and i LOVE them.- hello! where you go! come back to me!- canada? justin bieberrr (roll the r)- I LOVE ME! I LOVE MY MOM!- lalalalala girrll i want to make you sweat. (or any other reggae song))- HAPPY NEW YEAR!- how are you? good you? better than you! i don’t think so! OHHHH!- see you again! you come back? ya in two weeks. two WEEKS?!?
stayed at Gili Castle one night and switched to Turtle Bay resort because wifi and toilet paper. take the fast boat from Serangan and take a gravol. banana shakes are $1 more than Thailand but still are life. restaurant right next to sama sama (?) i got the poke but jules got the pasta it was AMAZINGGGGG. fyi the beaches are rocky, but if you go to turtle point you can snorkle with turtles right off the shore. also fyi no motor vehicles on the island, only bikes and horse & carriage. also got some presh macrame wall art to deck out my apt bali-style.
Gili i will see you again someday!