SSI ITC Dive Resort Oceans 5 Gili Air Blog Posts
SSI ITC Dive Resort Oceans 5 Gili Air Blog Posts
The Ocean Doesn’t Start at the Shore When people hear the words marine conservation, they usually look toward the ocean. They think about coral restoration, turtles, sharks, plastic pollution, fishing, anchor damage and divers touching coral. But there is a fundamental problem with that way of …
Shark Etiquette Shark encounters are one of the highlights of diving around the Gili Islands. For many divers, seeing their first shark underwater is an experience they will remember for the rest of their lives. Around Gili Air, Gili Meno and Gili Trawangan, divers regularly …
When people hear the words Marine Protected Area, they naturally think about what lies beneath the surface: coral reefs, turtles, fish, sharks, seagrass and other marine life.
But the ocean does not begin at the shoreline.
Everything happening on a small island like Gili Air can eventually affect the surrounding sea. What we build on the beach, how we manage wastewater, where we place septic systems, how we alter the coastline, how we transport construction materials and whether we respect development regulations can all have consequences underwater.
This is why Oceans 5 Gili Air believes marine conservation cannot be limited to coral restoration, beach clean-ups and underwater projects.
Sometimes conservation means speaking about what is happening on land.
And sometimes that makes people uncomfortable.
Gili Air is surrounded by the Gili Matra Marine Tourism Park, a nationally protected marine area that includes Gili Air, Gili Meno and Gili Trawangan.[1]
It is easy to imagine a line separating the protected ocean from the developed island.
Nature does not recognize that line.
Rainwater runs from land toward the sea. Groundwater interacts with the coastal environment. Wastewater can introduce nutrients and contaminants. Sediment from construction can enter the ocean. Coastal structures can change the movement of sand. Removing natural beach areas can affect wildlife that depends on them.
The reef, beach and island are interconnected.
Protecting one while ignoring what happens to the others is therefore a fundamentally incomplete approach to conservation.
Oceans 5 Gili Air has increasingly spoken publicly about overdevelopment on Gili Air.
We understand that this can be controversial.
We are also a tourism business. We operate a dive resort. We benefit from visitors coming to Gili Air. Development itself is not the enemy.
The question is how we develop.
There are regulations governing development, coastal areas and protected areas for a reason. When those rules are ignored, the consequences do not necessarily remain inside the property where the construction takes place.
A building can belong to one business.
A beach wall can protect one property.
A boat channel can provide access to one development.
But the environmental consequences can become everybody’s problem.
And eventually they can become the marine park’s problem.
Imagine a beachfront business worried about erosion.
Building a seawall can seem like the obvious solution: put a hard structure between the property and the ocean.
But beaches are dynamic systems.
Sand naturally moves along coastlines. Waves, currents, storms and seasonal conditions constantly reshape the shore. Hard coastal structures can interrupt these processes and, depending on their design and location, may contribute to erosion elsewhere along the coastline.[2][3]
That creates an important question:
Are we protecting the beach, or are we protecting a building from the natural movement of the beach?
Those are not necessarily the same thing.
A business might continue serving cocktails safely behind its new wall.
But what happens twenty, fifty or one hundred metres farther along the coastline?
That question matters.
There is another uncomfortable contradiction.
Imagine building a beachfront development and needing large quantities of construction material.
Boats bring the material to the island.
But there is coral between the boat and the beach.
So what happens?
A channel may be created or enlarged to allow boats to approach the shore.
Suddenly an activity taking place on land has required a physical alteration of the marine environment.
This illustrates exactly why Oceans 5 argues that marine conservation cannot stop at the waterline.
We cannot celebrate restoring a few square metres of damaged coral while accepting activities elsewhere that damage or remove reef habitat for easier access.
Prevention should come before restoration.
Construction can also create sediment.
Sand, soil, cement particles and other material can be transported toward the ocean through wind, rainfall, drainage and direct coastal activity.
Corals depend heavily on light and clean surrounding water. Elevated sedimentation can reduce available light, interfere with coral feeding and settlement, and physically stress or smother corals.[4]
The problem does not need to be dramatic enough to create a viral social-media video.
Environmental degradation can happen gradually.
A little more sediment.
A little more nutrient input.
A little less coral.
A little more algae.
A little less beach.
A little more construction.
Each individual change might appear insignificant.
Together, they can change an ecosystem.
Wastewater should be one of the biggest environmental conversations on any densely developed small island.
Hotels, restaurants, swimming pools, bars, dive centers, houses and other businesses all produce wastewater.
Where does it go?
This question becomes particularly important when septic systems or wastewater infrastructure are located extremely close to the coastline.
Research from tropical islands and coral-reef environments has demonstrated that groundwater can transport land-based nutrients and contaminants toward coastal waters.[5][6]
Excess nutrients can alter reef ecosystems and contribute to conditions favorable to algal growth.[7]
This does not mean that every patch of algae around Gili Air can automatically be blamed on a particular septic tank, hotel or restaurant. Environmental science does not work like that.
We need monitoring.
We need water-quality testing.
We need research.
We need evidence.
But the absence of completed research should not become an excuse for ignoring obvious environmental risks.
There is another part of this discussion that is often forgotten.
Before a beach becomes valuable real estate, it is an ecosystem.
Sea turtles have used sandy tropical beaches as nesting habitat for millions of years.
Coastal development, artificial lighting, physical barriers and loss or alteration of suitable beach habitat can negatively affect nesting turtles and hatchlings.[8][9]
This makes the transformation of natural beaches particularly important.
Imagine sitting behind a beach wall, drinking a cocktail while watching the sunset.
It might look beautiful.
But what was there before the wall?
Was this once an open beach?
Could turtles once crawl above the high-water line?
Could they nest there?
Would they still be able to do so today?
Development changes more than the view.
Sometimes it changes what an ecosystem can do.
Modern marine conservation has a strange problem.
Some conservation activities are extremely marketable.
Coral restoration photographs beautifully.
A diver attaching coral fragments makes great social-media content.
Turtle releases attract attention.
Beach clean-ups create impressive piles of collected rubbish.
All of these activities can have value when they are carried out responsibly.
But prevention is much harder to photograph.
There is no dramatic Instagram picture of pollution that didn’t happen.
Nobody takes a selfie beside the beach wall that wasn’t built.
There is no viral video of the coral channel that wasn’t dug.
There is no photograph of the turtle nesting beach that simply remained a beach.
And there is rarely a grant celebrating the building that followed the regulations from the beginning.
Yet these may be some of the most important conservation victories of all.
This is also why Oceans 5 Gili Air opens its voice.
It would be much easier not to.
We could concentrate exclusively on diving.
We could take guests underwater, show them turtles, post beautiful reef photographs and say that we support conservation.
That would be comfortable.
But if we believe the health of the marine park is connected to what happens on Gili Air, remaining silent about development pressures would contradict that belief.
Speaking about illegal or inappropriate development, coastal construction, beach walls, wastewater management, channels through reef areas and protected-area regulations can create conflict with other stakeholders.
We understand that.
But conservation cannot mean speaking only when everybody agrees.
Oceans 5 is a business.
We employ people.
We accommodate tourists.
We operate boats.
We use electricity and water.
We create waste.
We have an environmental footprint too.
So this discussion should not become about pointing fingers and pretending that one business is environmentally perfect while everybody else is the problem.
Nobody operating on Gili Air has zero impact.
The goal should be to reduce that impact collectively.
Businesses can make money while respecting environmental regulations.
Tourism can exist while beaches remain beaches.
Development can happen without every available metre becoming concrete.
And economic growth should not require sacrificing the natural assets that created Gili Air’s tourism economy in the first place.
There is an important principle that should guide conservation in the Gili Matra Marine Park:
Environmental consequences don’t stop at property boundaries.
The coral does not know which hotel produced wastewater.
A turtle does not know who owns the wall blocking part of a beach.
A current does not care which business created sediment.
Sand does not recognize property certificates.
Fish do not understand tourism revenue.
Nature responds only to the physical changes we create.
That is why environmental responsibility has to be bigger than individual business interests.
Oceans 5 believes criticism alone is not enough.
We need data.
That is why cooperation between tourism businesses, government authorities, conservation organizations and scientific institutions is so important.
Through cooperation with organizations and institutions including BKKPN and the University of Mataram, Oceans 5 supports a more science-based understanding of the Gili Matra marine environment.
Water quality needs monitoring.
Changes in coral cover need monitoring.
Algal growth needs investigation.
Coastal erosion needs to be understood.
Groundwater and wastewater deserve serious attention.
Only with long-term data can we separate assumptions from evidence and identify the pressures that genuinely threaten the marine park.
This brings us back to the original question:
Can a Marine Protected Area work if we only protect what is underwater?
We don’t believe it can.
Not on a tiny island surrounded by coral reefs.
Marine protection must include the relationship between land and sea.
It means protecting coral.
But it also means thinking about wastewater.
It means protecting turtles underwater.
But it also means preserving the beaches where turtles can potentially nest.
It means restoring damaged reefs.
But more importantly, it means preventing unnecessary damage in the first place.
It means questioning whether another beach wall is really the solution.
It means asking whether construction belongs in certain coastal areas.
It means respecting zoning and building regulations.
And it means understanding that the economic interests of today cannot automatically take priority over the environmental health of tomorrow.
Perhaps this is the most important question.
Not:
How many tourists can we bring to Gili Air next year?
Not:
How many new rooms can we build?
Not:
How close can we legally—or illegally—build to the ocean?
Instead:
What kind of Gili Air do we want to leave behind?
Do we want an island surrounded by walls, concrete and channels, where small sections of coral are continuously restored to compensate for much larger environmental pressures?
Or do we want an island where development recognizes that the beach, groundwater, coastline, reef, turtles, businesses and community are all part of the same system?
Oceans 5 Gili Air chooses the second option.
That is why our conservation work does not stop when we climb out of the water.
And that is why we will continue to speak when activities on land could threaten what we are all trying to protect underwater.
Because sometimes the best way to restore a reef is to make sure we don’t damage it in the first place.
Because activities on land can affect the marine environment. Coastal construction, sediment, wastewater, shoreline modification and loss of natural beaches can all influence coastal ecosystems. Protecting reefs therefore requires looking beyond activities happening directly underwater.
No. Oceans 5 is itself a tourism business. The issue is not whether development should exist, but whether development is appropriate, follows applicable regulations and considers its environmental consequences.
Not necessarily. The effects of coastal protection structures depend on their location, design, surrounding shoreline and local conditions. However, scientific literature shows that hard coastal structures can alter natural sediment movement and beach morphology and may contribute to beach loss or erosion in some circumstances.[2][3]
No. Establishing a specific cause requires scientific investigation. However, research elsewhere demonstrates that nutrients and contaminants can travel through groundwater into coastal ecosystems and that nutrient enrichment can affect coral-reef communities.[5][6][7] This is why Oceans 5 supports monitoring and research rather than making unsupported conclusions.
Female sea turtles require suitable sandy beaches for nesting. Coastal development, barriers and artificial lighting can reduce nesting habitat or interfere with nesting females and hatchlings.[8][9]
Coral restoration can be useful, but restoration does not eliminate the underlying causes of reef degradation. Effective conservation should combine restoration with prevention, monitoring, enforcement, research and responsible coastal development.
Businesses can respect building and protected-area regulations, manage wastewater responsibly, avoid unnecessary alteration of beaches and reefs, reduce pollution, support scientific monitoring and consider the environmental consequences of development before construction begins.
It means that the reef cannot be separated from the island surrounding it. What happens on land can eventually affect the sea. Marine conservation therefore needs to consider the entire coastal ecosystem rather than focusing only on what divers can see underwater.
[1] Ministry of Marine Affairs and Fisheries, Republic of Indonesia (KKP) / BKKPN Kupang. Information and management resources relating to the Gili Matra Marine Tourism Park (Taman Wisata Perairan Gili Matra).
[2] Dugan, J.E., Airoldi, L., Chapman, M.G., Walker, S.J. & Schlacher, T. (2011). Estuarine and Coastal Structures: Environmental Effects, A Focus on Shore and Nearshore Structures. Treatise on Estuarine and Coastal Science.
[3] Nordstrom, K.F. (2014). Living with shore protection structures: A review. Estuarine, Coastal and Shelf Science, 150, 11–23.
[4] Fabricius, K.E. (2005). Effects of terrestrial runoff on the ecology of corals and coral reefs: review and synthesis. Marine Pollution Bulletin, 50(2), 125–146.
[5] Lapointe, B.E., O’Connell, J.D. & Garrett, G.S. (1990). Nutrient couplings between on-site sewage disposal systems, groundwaters, and nearshore surface waters of the Florida Keys. Biogeochemistry, 10, 289–307.
[6] Wear, S.L. & Thurber, R.V. (2015). Sewage pollution: mitigation is key for coral reef stewardship. Annals of the New York Academy of Sciences, 1355, 15–30.
[7] Lapointe, B.E. (1997). Nutrient thresholds for bottom-up control of macroalgal blooms on coral reefs in Jamaica and southeast Florida. Limnology and Oceanography, 42(5), 1119–1131.
[8] Witherington, B.E. & Martin, R.E. (2000). Understanding, Assessing, and Resolving Light-Pollution Problems on Sea Turtle Nesting Beaches. Florida Marine Research Institute Technical Report TR-2.
[9] National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA Fisheries). Guidance and conservation information concerning threats to sea turtles and nesting habitat, including coastal development and artificial lighting.
Marine Conservation When people hear the words marine conservation, what do they imagine? Coral nurseries. Reef restoration. Coral transplantation. Artificial reefs. Beach clean-ups. Divers attaching fragments of coral to structures underwater. All of these activities can have value. But there is an uncomfortable question that we …
Marine Conservation Marine conservation has become an increasingly important part of the diving industry. Dive centres organise beach clean-ups, participate in coral restoration projects, share conservation messages on social media and encourage divers to behave responsibly underwater. At Oceans 5 Gili Air, we believe all …
For decades, scuba students around the world have learned diving skills while kneeling on the bottom. It creates a stable platform, makes it easier for an instructor to organize a group, and allows students to concentrate on one skill at a time.
But once we move from the swimming pool into the ocean, should we still teach this way?
At Oceans 5 Gili Air, we believe we shouldn’t.
Our philosophy is straightforward: in the ocean, we teach scuba skills neutrally buoyant.
The swimming pool is a controlled training environment. We use it to introduce and practice skills and help students become comfortable underwater. But the ocean is different. Once we enter open water, we want our students to behave like divers.
Certified divers don’t normally swim to the bottom, kneel down, solve a problem, stand up again and continue their dive. They deal with situations while diving.
So why should we teach open-water skills differently?
There is another important reason behind our philosophy. Oceans 5 operates inside the Gili Matra Marine Conservation Area, surrounding Gili Air, Gili Meno and Gili Trawangan.
For us, the seafloor isn’t a classroom floor.
It is part of an ecosystem we have a responsibility to protect.
Many certified divers will recognize the traditional underwater classroom.
Students descend to the bottom and kneel in a semicircle around their instructor. The instructor demonstrates mask clearing, regulator recovery, air sharing or another skill. One by one, the students repeat it.
There are understandable reasons why this method became popular.
The bottom provides stability. Students don’t need to think as much about depth control while performing a new skill. The instructor can easily keep everyone together.
It makes teaching easier.
But there is an important question:
Does making something easier to teach automatically make it better training?
Once students become certified, we expect them to maintain neutral buoyancy, control their depth, stay with their buddy and avoid unnecessary contact with the underwater environment.
If those are the behaviors we want from certified divers, we believe those behaviors should already be encouraged during their open-water training.
At Oceans 5, we make an important distinction between confined-water training and training in the ocean.
The swimming pool is a controlled learning environment.
It is where students become familiar with scuba equipment, learn how breathing underwater feels and practice the different skills required during their course.
Depending on the exercise and stage of training, instructors can use the pool environment in the way that best supports the student.
We have two large training pools at Oceans 5, which gives our instructors plenty of space and allows students to practice without being rushed.
But once we enter the ocean, our philosophy changes.
At Oceans 5 Gili Air, open-water skills are taught neutrally buoyant.
We don’t take students to the seafloor simply because it creates a convenient platform for performing skills.
The reason is simple.
The ocean is where students learn to become divers.
In the pool, we teach you the skills. In the ocean, we teach you to perform those skills while actually diving.
Imagine a student performing a mask-clearing exercise.
If the student is kneeling on the bottom, there is very little need to control depth. The bottom is doing that job.
Now imagine performing exactly the same exercise neutrally buoyant at 10 metres.
The student needs to clear the mask while continuing to breathe, maintain position, control depth and remain aware of the instructor and buddy.
That is much closer to what would happen during an actual dive.
The same principle applies to regulator recovery, air sharing and many other diving exercises.
At Oceans 5, we therefore don’t see buoyancy as something completely separate from the other skills.
Buoyancy is part of diving.
And once students are in the ocean, we want them to combine their skills with actual diving.
Does this mean an Oceans 5 student is never allowed to touch the bottom?
Of course not.
Students are learning.
Their buoyancy isn’t perfect yet. Sometimes they will descend too far. Sometimes they will become vertical. Sometimes a fin might touch the sand.
That is part of becoming a diver.
Safety also always comes first. An instructor may need to stabilize or assist a student.
There is an important difference between accidental contact while learning and deliberately taking an entire group to the seafloor because it is easier to conduct a lesson there.
Our objective isn’t to punish students for touching the bottom.
Our objective is to avoid teaching them that the bottom is the normal place to perform scuba skills.
This becomes especially important when we are diving inside a protected marine area.
Gili Air, Gili Meno and Gili Trawangan are surrounded by the Gili Matra Marine Conservation Area, managed within Indonesia’s national marine conservation framework.
The area contains coral reefs, seagrass habitats and an enormous diversity of marine life.
Some organisms are obvious.
Everyone recognizes a coral colony, turtle or large sea cucumber.
Others are much harder to see.
What appears to a diver to be an empty patch of sand can contain small organisms or form part of a much larger ecosystem.
This is why we don’t believe the ocean floor should automatically become a classroom just because it is convenient.
One group kneeling on a sandy area may appear harmless.
But multiply that behavior by thousands of students, hundreds of instructors and many years of dive tourism.
Small impacts can become cumulative impacts.
More importantly, training creates habits.
If divers learn from their first open-water dives that sitting on the bottom is normal, we shouldn’t be surprised when they continue doing it after certification.
Oceans 5 isn’t simply a dive center located next to some beautiful dive sites.
We operate inside a marine conservation area.
That creates responsibility.
The coral reefs, seagrass ecosystems, turtles, fish and other marine life around the Gili Islands are a major reason people travel here.
They are also an important part of the local tourism economy.
A dive center earns money because people want to experience this underwater environment.
We therefore believe protecting that environment cannot be separated from running a dive operation.
Conservation isn’t something that should happen only during an organized cleanup or special conservation day.
It should influence everyday decisions.
Where we take divers.
How we brief them.
How our guides behave.
How instructors demonstrate skills.
And how we teach students in open water.
Oceans 5 works together with BKKPN, the Indonesian government authority involved in managing and protecting the Gili Matra Marine Conservation Area.
This relationship has helped Oceans 5 become more involved in understanding what is actually happening underwater around the Gili Islands.
Marine conservation isn’t simply about telling divers:
“Don’t touch the coral.”
Real conservation requires much more.
It requires observation.
It requires data.
It requires research.
It requires long-term monitoring.
And it requires cooperation between government authorities, scientists, local communities, conservation organizations and tourism businesses.
Dive centers have an interesting position within this network.
We are underwater almost every day.
Our instructors and Divemasters see the reefs continuously.
We notice changes.
We see areas becoming healthier.
We can also see when something doesn’t look right.
That makes cooperation between dive operators and organizations responsible for marine management extremely valuable.
Oceans 5 also works closely with the University of Mataram (Universitas Mataram).
This relationship connects diving with marine science and education.
Marine-science students need more than classrooms and textbooks.
To understand marine ecosystems, they need access to the ocean.
They need to observe reefs.
They need to collect data.
They need practical experience.
But underwater research requires infrastructure.
Researchers may need boats, diving equipment, tanks, experienced divers and people with detailed knowledge of local conditions.
A professional dive center already has much of this infrastructure.
Oceans 5 believes that infrastructure can be used for more than tourism.
We can also use it to support science.
By supporting students and marine research, we help create stronger connections between tourism, education and conservation.
And we learn from them as well.
Scientists help us understand the environment we dive in every day.
That knowledge can then influence how we operate and how we educate our divers.
It creates a circle:
Science → Understanding → Conservation → Education → Better Divers → Less Impact
Our conservation philosophy also includes cooperation with Marine Conservation Indonesia and other organizations working to protect Indonesia’s marine ecosystems.
No single organization can protect a marine park on its own.
BKKPN has an important management role.
Universities provide scientific knowledge and research.
Conservation organizations can support monitoring, education and practical conservation activities.
Local communities have generations of knowledge and depend directly on healthy marine resources.
Tourism businesses interact with visitors and the marine environment every day.
Each has a different role.
The strongest conservation happens when these groups work together rather than separately.
Oceans 5 wants to be part of that cooperation.
Within the diving industry, conservation is sometimes treated as an additional activity.
First you learn to dive.
Later you might take a marine ecology specialty.
Maybe you participate in a beach cleanup.
Perhaps you join a coral restoration project.
Those activities are valuable, but we believe environmental responsibility should begin much earlier.
It should start during your first scuba course.
A diver doesn’t need to complete a marine ecology course before understanding that standing on coral isn’t acceptable.
A student shouldn’t need an advanced buoyancy course before discovering that controlling their position above the reef is important.
These behaviors should become part of normal diving from the beginning.
And instructors play an enormous role in creating them.
Students copy their instructors.
If an instructor kneels on the bottom, students learn that kneeling is normal.
If an instructor touches the reef unnecessarily, students see that behavior.
But if the instructor remains neutrally buoyant while demonstrating skills, students see something different.
They see what a diver should look like.
This philosophy becomes especially important during our SSI Instructor Training Courses at Oceans 5 Gili Air.
An instructor candidate isn’t simply learning for themselves.
They are learning how to teach hundreds or potentially thousands of future divers.
That means teaching habits multiply.
Imagine an instructor who teaches 500 Open Water students during a career.
Those 500 divers may dive all over the world.
Some may eventually become Divemasters.
Some may become instructors themselves.
They will take the habits they learned during their first courses with them.
This is why Oceans 5 places so much emphasis on realistic teaching during our SSI Instructor Training Courses.
In open water, our instructor candidates learn to teach skills neutrally buoyant.
We don’t want to train instructors simply to pass an Instructor Evaluation.
We want to prepare them for their future jobs.
Our instructor training is based around a simple question:
How would this situation happen during a real dive?
Take an out-of-air exercise.
In reality, an out-of-air situation probably isn’t going to happen while two divers are conveniently kneeling next to each other on a sandy bottom.
It could happen while swimming over a reef.
There may be current.
The divers need to communicate.
They need to establish an alternate air source.
They need to remain together.
They need to control their buoyancy.
And they need to deal with the situation safely.
That is what training should prepare divers for.
The same principle applies to many other skills.
We want training to resemble diving.
Not an underwater examination.
During our SSI Instructor Training Courses, Oceans 5 also uses video analysis.
Instructor candidates can watch themselves teaching.
Where were you positioned?
Could you see all your students?
Where was your Divemaster?
Did you maintain neutral buoyancy?
Were your students positioned correctly?
How did you react when something unexpected happened?
Did you actually solve the problem?
Seeing yourself on video can be very different from remembering what happened underwater.
Instead of an Instructor Trainer simply saying that someone’s positioning could have been better, the candidate can actually see it.
The objective isn’t to create a perfect demonstration purely for an evaluation.
The objective is to develop a better instructor.
Our neutral-buoyancy philosophy isn’t only about protecting the environment.
It is also about creating more capable divers.
A diver who can comfortably maintain depth has more mental capacity available to deal with other situations.
Imagine an unexpected problem at 15 metres.
The diver may need to communicate with a buddy, solve the problem, monitor depth, control breathing and maintain awareness of the surroundings.
If maintaining buoyancy already requires all of the diver’s attention, everything becomes more difficult.
Good buoyancy gives divers more capacity to think.
They aren’t constantly fighting to stay up or down.
They can concentrate on what is happening.
This is why buoyancy isn’t simply an environmental skill.
It is one of the foundations of good diving.
Yes.
Kneeling is easier.
And that is part of the reason it has been used for so long.
But we should ask another question:
Easier for whom?
Sometimes it is easier for the student.
But it can also be easier for the instructor.
A group sitting on the bottom is simple to organize.
Teaching a group while everyone maintains position in the water column requires more instructor awareness and control.
At Oceans 5, we believe instructor convenience shouldn’t automatically determine how open-water skills are taught.
This is also one of the reasons we believe in small training groups.
Smaller groups give instructors more time to watch individual students, correct problems and allow people to progress at their own pace.
If someone needs additional practice, we would rather give that student more time than simply use the bottom to make everything easier.
People travel thousands of kilometres to visit the Gili Islands.
They come to see turtles.
They come for coral reefs.
They come for tropical fish.
They come because they want to experience an underwater world that is completely different from life on land.
It would be contradictory if the way we teach people to experience that environment contributed unnecessarily to damaging it.
Most divers don’t intentionally damage reefs.
They simply repeat the behaviors they learned.
That is why good training matters.
If neutral buoyancy and environmental awareness become normal from the beginning, divers don’t constantly need to remind themselves:
“Don’t touch the bottom.”
They simply don’t need to touch it.
They are diving.
At Oceans 5 Gili Air, we don’t believe conservation should be something a dive center talks about only on social media.
It needs to be reflected in everyday decisions.
Our cooperation with BKKPN matters.
Our partnership with the University of Mataram matters.
Our work with Marine Conservation Indonesia matters.
Supporting marine research matters.
Monitoring changes to our reefs matters.
Beach cleanups matter.
Education matters.
But conservation should also be reflected in something as ordinary as how an instructor conducts an Open Water course.
We cannot tell people that coral reefs need protection while unnecessarily using the seafloor as a classroom.
Our teaching methods should support the same conservation principles we promote outside our courses.
Conservation starts with behavior.
Students are students.
Accidental contact will happen.
Sometimes an instructor may need to stabilize or assist someone.
Safety will always come first.
But should sitting or kneeling on the seafloor be the standard method for conducting open-water scuba skills?
At Oceans 5 Gili Air, our answer is no.
In the swimming pool, students learn and practice their skills in a controlled environment.
But once we enter the ocean, we teach those skills neutrally buoyant.
Because that is how divers dive.
Because it creates more realistic training.
Because it develops better buoyancy.
Because it prepares students to solve problems while actually diving.
And because we operate inside a marine conservation area that deserves our respect.
Ultimately, scuba education shouldn’t be about completing a checklist of exercises and receiving a certification card.
It should be about creating a diver.
A diver who is comfortable underwater.
A diver who can control their buoyancy.
A diver who can solve problems.
A diver who remains aware of their buddy.
A diver who respects marine life.
And a diver who understands that entering the ocean means entering an ecosystem—not an underwater playground.
At Oceans 5 Gili Air, our teaching philosophy, instructor training and conservation activities are all connected by this idea.
Working with the University of Mataram helps connect us with science.
Working with BKKPN connects us with the management and protection of Gili Matra.
Working with Marine Conservation Indonesia connects us with broader marine conservation efforts.
And teaching our students to remain neutrally buoyant in the ocean connects conservation directly to everyday diver education.
Because conservation doesn’t always require a major project.
Sometimes it starts with something much simpler:
Don’t use the seafloor as your classroom.
Learn to dive in the water column.
Better training creates better divers.
And better divers help us protect the underwater world we all came to enjoy.
Oceans 5 specifically applies its neutral-buoyancy teaching philosophy to open-water training in the ocean.
The swimming pool is a controlled environment where students first learn and practice their scuba skills. Once training moves into the ocean, however, we teach skills neutrally buoyant rather than routinely taking students to the seafloor.
For us, there is an important difference between learning a skill in a swimming pool and demonstrating that skill while actually diving.
Students are learning, so accidental contact can happen. Safety also comes first, and an instructor may sometimes need to assist or stabilize a student.
Our philosophy isn’t about criticizing a beginner for accidentally touching the sand. It is about not deliberately using the seafloor as the standard classroom for open-water skills.
Because it more closely resembles real diving. If a diver experiences a mask, regulator or air-sharing problem during an actual dive, they will normally need to manage the situation while maintaining depth and buoyancy.
It can initially be more challenging, which is why students first learn and practice their skills in the swimming pool. Small groups and individual attention also allow instructors to give students additional time when necessary.
Yes. Gili Air, Gili Meno and Gili Trawangan are surrounded by the Gili Matra Marine Conservation Area. This is another reason Oceans 5 believes dive operators have a responsibility to minimize unnecessary contact with the underwater environment.
Our partnership helps connect dive tourism with marine science and education. Oceans 5 can provide practical diving infrastructure and local underwater knowledge, while researchers and students help improve our understanding of the marine environment around the Gili Islands.
BKKPN is involved in the management and conservation of Gili Matra. Cooperation between marine-park authorities, researchers, local communities, conservation organizations and tourism operators is important for understanding and protecting the area.
Because instructors multiply behavior. One instructor may teach hundreds or thousands of divers during a career. If we teach future instructors to use realistic, environmentally responsible teaching techniques, those practices can be passed to the next generation of divers.
[1] Ministry of Marine Affairs and Fisheries of the Republic of Indonesia (KKP) — information and management framework for Indonesia’s marine conservation areas, including Gili Matra.
[2] Balai Kawasan Konservasi Perairan Nasional (BKKPN) Kupang — information, monitoring and management activities concerning the Gili Matra Marine Conservation Area.
[3] BKKPN Kupang — coral reef and ecosystem monitoring within Gili Matra, including monitoring around Gili Air, Gili Meno and Gili Trawangan.
[4] Universitas Mataram — Faculty and marine-science activities related to marine ecosystems, research and conservation in West Nusa Tenggara.
[5] Marine Conservation Indonesia — marine conservation, research, education and ecosystem-protection activities in Indonesia.
[6] Scuba Schools International (SSI) — diver education standards and training philosophy relating to buoyancy, environmental awareness and responsible diving.
Introduction Dive Have you always wondered what it feels like to breathe underwater, but you have never tried scuba diving before? At Oceans 5 Gili Air, you have two opportunities every day to start your Introduction Dive: at 08:30 and at 15:00. You don’t need any previous …
10 Things to Check Before Booking Choosing a dive center can have a much bigger influence on your diving experience than choosing the dive site itself. When people plan a diving holiday, they often compare three things first: location, reviews and price. They search Google, …
If you have never scuba dived before, choosing where to take your first breaths underwater is an important decision. You want warm water, interesting marine life, professional instructors, good training facilities and, most importantly, an environment where you can learn without feeling rushed.
So, is Gili Air good for beginner divers?
The short answer is yes. Gili Air is an excellent place to learn to scuba dive, and thousands of people have discovered the underwater world around the Gili Islands for the first time.
Warm tropical water, abundant marine life, a variety of dive sites and relatively short boat journeys make Gili Air particularly attractive to new divers. But there is another important factor: the Gili Islands also experience currents. Learning here therefore shouldn’t simply be about completing the minimum requirements for a certification. Good training should teach you to become comfortable, confident and environmentally responsible underwater.
At Oceans 5 Gili Air, we believe your first diving course creates the foundation for everything you do later as a diver.
Gili Air is one of three small islands located off the northwest coast of Lombok, Indonesia, together with Gili Meno and Gili Trawangan. The waters surrounding the islands form part of the Gili Matra marine protected area.[1]
For a beginner diver, the location offers something special: within relatively short boat rides you can find coral reefs, sandy areas, slopes, walls and different underwater environments.
That variety is valuable during training.
A beginner isn’t simply learning how to breathe underwater. You are learning how to control your body, manage your equipment, communicate, monitor your air, equalize your ears, control your depth and become aware of the environment around you.
And after mastering those skills, there is a very good chance that you will be doing all of this while watching a turtle swim past.
One of the challenges when learning to dive in colder destinations is dealing with thick wetsuits, gloves and additional weight.
Around the Gili Islands, the water is generally warm throughout the year. For beginners, that can make training considerably more comfortable.
Less exposure protection generally means less bulky equipment and greater freedom of movement. Instead of thinking about being cold, students can concentrate on their breathing, buoyancy and surroundings.
Comfort should never be underestimated when learning to dive.
The more relaxed you become underwater, the easier it usually becomes to concentrate on developing your diving skills.
Another advantage of learning to dive around Gili Air is that interesting marine life isn’t reserved only for advanced dive sites.
The Gili Islands are particularly well known for their sea turtles, and both green and hawksbill turtles can be encountered around the islands. Depending on the dive site, beginners may also see anemonefish, angelfish, butterflyfish, moray eels, pufferfish, triggerfish, surgeonfish, lionfish and many other tropical species.
For someone completing their first open-water dives, seeing a turtle underwater can be unforgettable.
It also creates an important connection.
Suddenly, the skills you practiced in the swimming pool have a purpose. Buoyancy isn’t just something you need to demonstrate to your instructor. Good buoyancy allows you to observe a turtle or coral reef without crashing into the bottom or damaging the environment.
Divers Alert Network describes buoyancy control as an important element of diving safety and notes that poor buoyancy can contribute to problems including excessive descents, increased gas consumption and uncontrolled ascents.[2]
At Oceans 5, we therefore put a lot of attention on developing good buoyancy from the beginning.
The ocean is exciting, but your first experience with scuba equipment doesn’t have to start there.
Oceans 5 Gili Air has two purpose-built training swimming pools. This gives beginner divers an opportunity to become familiar with their equipment and basic diving skills in a controlled environment before going into the ocean.
This is especially valuable if you are nervous.
Your first experience breathing through a regulator feels unusual. You suddenly discover that you can breathe while your face is underwater. Then you learn how to clear water from your mask, recover your regulator, control your buoyancy and communicate using hand signals.
There is no reason to rush this process.
If you need to repeat something, you repeat it.
Confidence underwater isn’t created by pushing someone beyond their comfort level. It develops through understanding, repetition and experience.
A beginner diver needs attention.
At Oceans 5 Gili Air, we deliberately keep our training groups small, with a maximum of four students per instructor.
This allows an instructor to see what is actually happening with every student.
One person might immediately understand mask clearing but struggle with buoyancy. Another may have excellent buoyancy but need more time equalizing their ears.
Learning speeds are different.
Scuba diving shouldn’t be an assembly line where everyone must perform a skill at exactly the same speed.
Small groups give instructors more opportunity to recognize problems early and help students become comfortable before progressing.
This is probably the most important point when discussing whether the Gili Islands are suitable for beginners.
Yes, there can be currents around the Gilis.
The islands are located in an area where water movement can produce anything from almost no current to enjoyable drift dives and, at times, stronger conditions.
Does that make Gili Air unsuitable for beginners?
No.
But it makes good dive planning extremely important.
Beginner students shouldn’t simply be taken to a dive site because that is where everyone else is going. The dive site and entry point should be selected according to the conditions and the experience of the divers.
At Oceans 5, our dive professionals check the conditions and currents before dives. We can adjust the entry point, dive site or dive plan when necessary.
Learning to dive in an area where some current exists can actually give students useful experience. You learn that the ocean isn’t a swimming pool and that conditions can change.
The important difference is that this experience should be introduced gradually and under professional supervision.
Not everyone knows immediately whether they want to complete a full diving certification.
For those people, the SSI Basic Diver program can be a great introduction.
The SSI Basic Diver program includes an academic component, pool or confined-water training and an open-water introductory dive. SSI allows Basic Divers to dive to a maximum training depth of 12 metres under the required professional supervision.[3]
The minimum age is 10.[3]
An additional advantage is that the Basic Diver program can be credited toward the SSI Scuba Diver or Open Water Diver program when the applicable requirements are met within six months.[3]
That makes it ideal for someone thinking:
“I would love to try scuba diving, but I’m not sure yet whether I want to become certified.”
You can first experience diving and then decide.
If you already love snorkeling, enjoy being in the ocean or simply know that you want to become a diver, the SSI Open Water Diver course is usually the better option.
At Oceans 5 Gili Air, we offer Open Water Diver courses throughout the year.
The course combines digital learning, confined-water training and four open-water training dives. SSI describes Open Water Diver as its globally recognized entry-level scuba certification.[3]
But obtaining the card shouldn’t be the only objective.
The goal should be to finish your course feeling that you can actually dive.
That means developing good habits from your very first course:
These principles remain important long after your Open Water course. DAN similarly recommends equipment checks, pre-dive checklists, reviewing dive plans with your buddy or dive professional and regularly practicing fundamental skills such as buoyancy and emergency procedures.[4]
Being nervous before your first dive is completely normal.
Some people worry about breathing underwater. Others are concerned about their ears, removing their mask or simply being below the surface.
Tell your instructor.
There is no prize for pretending that you aren’t nervous.
A good instructor wants to know what concerns you because then they can work with you.
One of the advantages of starting in a proper training pool is that everything can happen gradually. You can stand up. You can put your face underwater and breathe. You can swim in shallow water. You can move deeper when you are comfortable.
Step by step, something that initially feels completely unnatural starts feeling normal.
Learning to dive isn’t only about what happens underwater.
Gili Air has developed into a popular holiday destination while maintaining a smaller-island atmosphere. There are restaurants, cafés, accommodation options and beaches around the island, while distances remain short.
That makes it easy to combine your diving course with a holiday.
You can complete your morning training, have lunch, relax around the pool or beach and review your SSI digital learning later.
For couples or families where not everyone wants to dive, this is particularly useful. One person can complete a diving course while others enjoy snorkeling, the beach or simply island life.
Oceans 5 Gili Air has been teaching scuba diving on Gili Air since 2010.
Today, Oceans 5 is an SSI Instructor Training Center, teaching everything from beginner programs through Divemaster and professional-level instructor education.
For beginners, however, the philosophy remains simple:
Don’t rush the student.
We have two dedicated training pools, experienced SSI instructors and small training groups. Our dive boats depart directly from Gili Air, and most dive sites around the three islands can be reached relatively quickly.
More importantly, Oceans 5 isn’t interested in becoming a diving factory.
Learning to scuba dive should be personal.
Some students need additional time.
Some students are nervous.
Some students learn quickly.
Some have dreamed about scuba diving for years.
The certification requirements may be standardized, but the people completing them aren’t.
Your first scuba course should also teach you something beyond diving skills.
It should teach you that you are entering an ecosystem.
Corals aren’t decorations. Turtles aren’t underwater attractions to chase for photographs. Marine animals shouldn’t be touched, moved or harassed.
As divers, we are visitors.
This is especially important around the Gili Islands because the reefs are part of a designated conservation area.[1]
Good buoyancy therefore becomes more than a diving skill. It becomes a conservation skill.
A diver who can control their position can observe coral without standing on it, photograph marine life without crashing into the reef and move through the underwater environment with minimal impact.
That is the type of diver we want our students to become.
Absolutely.
Gili Air combines warm tropical water, diverse dive sites, abundant marine life and the possibility of seeing turtles during your very first dives.
But what makes a destination good for beginners isn’t simply the number of turtles or the water temperature.
It is the quality of the training.
Choose a dive center where you feel comfortable. Ask about group sizes. Look at the training facilities. Talk to the instructors. Ask how much pool training you will receive and how they select dive sites when conditions change.
Your Open Water course isn’t just another holiday activity.
It is the beginning of your life as a diver.
And Gili Air is a pretty amazing place to begin.
Yes. Many people complete their first scuba experience or full Open Water certification on Gili Air. Beginners can first learn fundamental skills in a swimming pool before progressing to open water.
Currents do occur around the Gili Islands, and conditions vary between dive sites and throughout the day. This makes appropriate dive-site selection and professional supervision particularly important for beginners.
It is certainly possible. Turtles are commonly encountered around the Gili Islands, although marine-life sightings can never be guaranteed.
You don’t need to be a competitive swimmer, but entry-level certification involves water-comfort and swimming requirements. SSI requires students in entry-level programs such as Open Water Diver to complete a water-fitness evaluation.[3]
Tell your instructor. Nervousness is common among first-time divers. Starting in a controlled pool environment allows you to become comfortable with breathing, equipment and basic skills gradually.
SSI lists a minimum age of 10 years for programs including Basic Diver and Scuba Diver.[3][5] Age-related training and depth limitations apply to younger divers.
If you simply want to experience scuba diving before deciding whether to become certified, Basic Diver is a good introduction. If you already know that you want to continue diving, starting the Open Water Diver course usually makes more sense.
SSI specifies a maximum open-water training depth of 12 metres/40 feet for the Basic Diver program.[3]
No. SSI specifically identifies Basic Diver as an introductory recognition rather than an entry-level scuba certification. To become a certified diver, you need to complete an appropriate certification program such as Scuba Diver or Open Water Diver.[6]
Buoyancy allows you to control your position and depth while using less effort. It is important for both diving safety and protecting the underwater environment. DAN identifies good buoyancy control as a fundamental component of safe diving.[2]
[1] Ministry of Marine Affairs and Fisheries, Republic of Indonesia (KKP) — Documentation concerning the Gili Matra conservation area covering the waters surrounding Gili Air, Gili Meno and Gili Trawangan.
[2] Divers Alert Network (DAN), The Importance of Buoyancy Control. Reviewed and updated March 2026.
[3] Scuba Schools International (SSI), Basic Diver Program — program requirements, minimum age, training sessions, depth limits and progression toward Scuba Diver/Open Water Diver.
[4] Divers Alert Network (DAN), Safe Diving Practices — equipment checks, pre-dive planning, checklists and fundamental diving skills.
[5] Scuba Schools International (SSI), Scuba Diver Certification — minimum age, training requirements and 12-metre certification limit under professional supervision.
[6] Scuba Schools International (SSI), Basic Diver Completion Record — clarification that Basic Diver is a recognition rather than an entry-level scuba certification.
Open Water Diver Course If you already love snorkeling, you probably know the feeling. You are floating at the surface, looking down at a beautiful coral reef. Below you are colorful reef fish, perhaps a turtle, a moray eel disappearing between the rocks, or something …