Ever since I did my PADI Open Water at Ko Tao back in 2005, I have been obsessed with diving. The feeling of complete freedom and serenity when you're below water is heaven for me, and now I just can't get enough of it. That is why I understood that the Gilis were crucial for my latest trip to Indonesia. padi idc gili air I had heard of the small island of Gili Trawangan by a buddy who had lived there for 6 weeks, working as a dive master. She had firsthand experience of the brilliant diving in this region and I only needed to talk to her for five minutes before I was convinced.

Since I was going along with my sister and another friend, the two of whom hadn't dived before, she recommended that we went to Big Bubble Dive since the groups are small, and the teachers are friendly. The Gilis are the ideal place to learn how to dive. The atmosphere is nice and relaxed, with lots of divers of different degrees of experience. You're also sure to see a huge range of fish on each dive, and lots of the dive sites are shallow enough for training dives.

You will find 16 dip sites situated around the three Gili Islands; Gili Trawangan, Gili Meno and Gili Air. You may reach all of the websites by Jukung ships and the travel period is no more than about 25 minutes. This usually means that you don't need to spend half your time travelling to reach the dive site! This really is a big plus point for me as I have a tendency to get a little sea sick, especially after a dive, as a result of salt water intrusion of my nose.

I have done a total of 8 dives, and each one was absolutely fantastic. I saw plenty of amazing items including cuttlefish, octopus, black tip reef sharks, boxfish (my personal favorite), pufferfish and turtles, to mention but a few.

In my last dive, I had been due to buddy up with my recently qualified sister. But, among the Dive Masters suggested that I go with another group to perform a more experienced drift dive since it was, in his opinion, the best dive site in the region. Thank God I did! This is the most spectacular dive I have ever done. I was fortunate enough to see a gorgeous, 2 metre long bumphead parrot fish. padi idc gili air This fish was unbelievably incredible to observe, polished deep green in crystal clear waters. This dip was truly the highlight of my entire trip.