As we write this post, our Blue Marlin Dive Tech Team is on the lookout for new spots to add to our growing list of technical dive sites around the Gilis. With growing interest in deep technical diving at Blue Marlin and other shops around Gili Trawangan, it’s in our (and our customer’s) best interest to go where the only bubbles you’ll see are your buddy’s.
With the assistance of a depth finder and GPS, Will and his team have been able to single out locations only minutes from the dive centre that seem to have all of the right ingredients for some excellent deep adventures.
The first of these is the aptly named “Fish Bowl,” which at the right timing of tidal movement and current flow produces some great schools of pelagic fish. The shape of the reef is an elongated mount that tops out around 20 metres but drops down closer to 40m along the baseline. There are a few other mounts around this main one, but they have yet to be fully explored. Both soft and hard corals are scattered along the surface and on our last visit, there was a cute juvenile octopus hiding just under a table coral on the western side.
Most of the group maintained a maximum of 35 metres with our single tank nitrox blends, but Will being ever the explorer, pushed deeper on his JJ-CCR. “They must be at least 4 metres high” he exclaimed about the grove of whip coral he found below 40m but there’s no way to know for sure until we strap on the twins and go check out the area again for ourselves remember everything appears larger underwater than it may actually be (jk). In fact, it would be great to get some photographers out there with us as well in order to really document the site properly.
Literally less than 2 minutes from Blue Marlin, this location could be a great dive for the PADI Deep Diver Specialty or another place to take off your mask and follow the line as you complete the maskless swim on your TDI Advanced Nitrox and Deco Procedures courses. Without all of the stress of having other divers around, we’re sure more marine creatures will make appearances, fingers crossed we see one of those pilot whales or dolphins that love the channels between the islands so much.
If you are interested in deep water exploration, send us an email. In between teaching courses, Will Goodman will be out on the tech boat trying to catch the next ping on the radar. Maybe you will be the lucky one to name the next reef, although there is quite a lot of chatter in the shop for naming the next one “Thunder Reef.”
