Friend’s review

“The best on Gili Air…….great diving, great accommodation”

Reviewed October 18, 2011 NEW

This is our third visit to Gili Air and our first to Oceans 5. We stayed for three weeks.
Sanders and Simone have created a great dive school and accommodation on a spacious piece of land, with the best pool on the island. The four bungalows are light and airy, king size beds, cotton sheets, AC, outdoor shower, simply but beautifully outfitted (thanks Simone). The bungalows face over the pool toward the harbour, offering a great view and observation of the life of the island passing by. It is very quiet at night, making a very peaceful stay.
The bungalows are lovingly cleaned each day. Water bottles are refilled and sheets and towels changed when you want, evidence of the environmental awareness of Oceans 5. The grounds are well planted and maintained and the beruga’s tempt you to spend time lying around and chatting. The atmosphere is warm, happy and welcoming

The diving was fantastic. Our local dive masters, Hamdi and Jmal, were knowledgeable about the dive sites and had a refreshing sense of humour. They accommodated our diving wishes, eg photography stops. Jmal’s love of finding small creatures was a delight.
We saw nudibranch, cuttlefish, moray eels, reef sharks, sea snakes, numerous lovely small fish, decorator crabs on the night dive, and on our last dive at Hans Reef were treated to the sight of a herd of bump-head parrotfish. Hans Reef is truly a photographer’s delight.
We completed our Advanced Open Water and Nitrox specialty, my partner completed the Underwater Photography Specialty. We finished up with about 30 dives each. Thanks to the dive instructors, Mel and Phil. Excellent instructors, we felt in safe and knowledgable hands.
The local staff who carried gear and manned the boats, and the boat captains, were friendly and helpful. They were always there to help you with managing gear which is of good quality, new and well maintained. Our friends visited uncertain about diving and completed both their open and advanced, now completely hooked on diving, a testament to the quality of Oceans 5.

Sanders, Simone and Fanny are friendly and approachable, arranging dives to suit our needs, when possible, and were always available to answer questions. They were very knowledgable about the island and the ocean life, and happy to share. Simone is running a recovery project to help the endangered turtle population.

Breakfast was served by the lovely ladies and Bari (Mr Fixit) was always ready for a chat and a joke. There’s local food available at the harbour or a short stroll up into the village at several warungs. The main restaurants are about a ten minute walk away, or by a trip by the local pony and cart, the cidomo.

The H2O Yoga school is a must visit, fifteen minutes walk into the village from Oceans 5. It’s worth your while to ask Sanders to call Mr Mi’in, local masseur, for an attentive and therapeutic massage.

Romantic sunsets, with views to Mt Agung, Lombok and Mt Rinjani are to be had on the 60 minute stroll around the island.

We felt our bungalows were very reasonably priced. They are building some bungalows available for a lower rate, due to be finished very soon.
This is a fantastic place to stay to have a relaxing holiday, everything you could wish for is here highly recommend. Hope to return soon.

Room Tip: all great !!!
See more room tips