Gili Meno
The three Gili islands are an idyllic set of islands off the coast of Bali. A fast boat from Bali will take you there within two hours. One of the islands is known as party island, one as a resort island for locals and the last one, Gili Meno, is apparently the most beautiful but also the least developed one. I decided to go to Gili Meno mainly based on recommendations. Beforehand, I read an online review saying that Gili Meno is “a paradise under construction”. I thought that this description was very fitting. The island is not very developed and lots of hotels are still being built, others are left abandoned. The hotel where I stayed, Blue Coral, was a fine place to stay, but also had many half-working features to it. For example, the shower was a salt water shower and for whatever reason, they decided the bathroom didn’t need roof (unlike the rest of the hotel room).
The island itself was stunning with its beautiful clear turquoise water and the water was too warm to be true: 28 degrees celsius! I could go snorkeling just by the beach in front of the hotel and see many colorful fishes. If you were lucky, you could even see turtles (I wasn’t lucky…). The island itself is small and you can walk around it within an hour. There are no cars and no motorcycles on the island, the only way to get from one place to another is on foot or using a horse cart. Gili Meno was also perhaps the only place in Indonesia where I didn’t like the food. I blame it on the fact that they have to bring all of the food from a neighboring island…
I didn’t do much in Gili Meno. I stayed for 2.5 days and went snorkeling, diving, spent some time on the beach reading. The diving was really excellent. I went to bounty wreck and saw lots of corals and fishes. I also saw a gigantic turtle that was much larger than I. The area around the wreck was fun as they installed many toy elements for divers. For example, there were some underwater bicycles that you could play with and ride! So overall, I spent some very relaxing days on this idyllic island.
See more images here.
Practical Information: I stayed at Blue Coral and spent 250,000 IDR a night. It is perhaps the cheapest place you will find on the island. The bungalows are right by the beach, but are very basic. It was a fine (but not the greatest) accommodation.
I went diving with Blue Marlin and spent 370,000 IDR per dive. The diving and the people at Blue Marlin were excellent.