Location: Gili Islands
First full day in Gili! We had an early start this morning as both the Open water divers and the already certified divers headed to the island in the dinghies for a full day onshore. The open water divers headed straight out for their two dives, while those who weren’t in the morning group had a free morning to explore the island. Gili is a fascinating dive tourism hub with no motorized vehicles, and most of our day was spent exploring the main road that is lined with shops and a highway for horse/donkey-drawn carts. After two weeks with no internet, many of us also found cafes with free wifi to contact family and do some quick research for upcoming assignments. The island provided a nice dietary change. My personal menu consisted of Nutella crepes, a brownie with ice cream, a banana split, and a Toblerone.
The main focus of the visit to Gili was diving, which didn’t disappoint. We went to two awesome dive locations, including a wreck, and were able to identify lots of the species we have been learning about in our OCB (Marine Biology class) to include in our species ID books for the semester.
We made our way back to Argo in time for a delicious dinner and cake, as today is Kris’s birthday! Tonight, we will be doing passage prep to get Argo ready and leaving for Bali later tonight, which everyone is looking forward to.
Finally, getting into a routine aboard Argo and am excited to be heading off into the Indian Ocean soon!