🐢🐢🐢

Today was all about the turtles! Went and met the tour group at 9, sorted flippers and waited as the group grew to about 40 people, thankfully we were split into 3 groups. My group's first stop was turtle spotting. This was on Gili Trawangan so it didn't take long to get to. Within minutes of jumping off the boat and into the incredibly clear and warm water we saw our first turtle! She was quite happily floating around, eating weeds. I nearly crashed into her, back swimming is not easy! Our guide gave me a piece of weed to feed to her and she took it from my hand. We also saw a smaller turtle at this stop. Embarrassingly, I threw up in the sea, not sure if it was the waves or what but felt better after 🤦🏼‍♀️

Second stop was the underwater statues at Gili Meno. This was cool but so over crowded. We didn't stay long, our guides took us into the island to see some baby turtles that had been rescued as eggs but were not big enough for release yet. They could have fit on the palm of your hand.

The last snorkeling spot was coral by Gili Air. Sadly it was largely bleached but saw so many fish (including parrot fish). Also saw 2 more turtles. Had a bit of a repeat of the first stop, not sure why as I was fine on the boat which was very choppy! We had lunch on Gili Air and a bit of time to wander.

The boat back was insanely rough, they kept surfing the the biggest waves but at times it felt like we would tip out. Got completely drenched which is fine as we had just been in the sea but it's a lot less refreshing when it's more like someone chucking a bucket of water over you. Chatted to an Italian family on the way back, who were nice. If I have kids, I definitely want to take them to places like this family.

In the evening I went to an open air cinema and watched Finding Nemo (fitting considering how I spent the day). It was free to watch on these big beanbags and the coconut mojito and pizza I ordered made a great night. The way there I walked a different way, cutting across the middle of the island. It was interesting to see the difference between the loc area and the tourist bit, the locals seem to leave damage properties and not clear the sites until they are going to be repurposed so seems a lot messier. The way back I took the longer route along the road as the bit in the middle would have been pitch black. The stars were amazing to see.Read more