SSI ITC Dive Resort Oceans 5 Gili Air Blog Posts
SSI ITC Dive Resort Oceans 5 Gili Air Blog Posts
What Are You Actually Paying For? When comparing scuba-diving prices, it is tempting to choose the lowest number. A fun dive is a fun dive, right? You receive a tank, join a boat, go underwater and return to shore. Why pay more when another dive …
Cannot Control Their Buoyancy A scuba certification gives someone permission to dive within the limits of their training. But does a certification card automatically prove that the diver is currently capable of diving safely? The honest answer is no. Some certified divers return to the …
You finish a beautiful dive around the Gili Islands and look at your pressure gauge.
You have 50 bar remaining. Your buddy still has 90 bar, and the Divemaster appears to have barely used any air.
Does that mean you are a bad diver?
No.
Air consumption varies considerably between divers. Body size, depth, experience, physical effort, current, equipment, buoyancy, stress and even how interested you are in what you see can all influence how much gas you use.
It is natural to want to improve, but air consumption should never become a competition.
The objective is not to return to the boat with more air than everyone else. The objective is to breathe normally, monitor your pressure, communicate honestly and complete the dive with a safe reserve.
Your pressure gauge provides safety information. It is not a scorecard.
Every diver is different.
A larger person will generally need more breathing gas than a smaller person because they have a larger lung volume and their body requires more oxygen. This does not automatically mean that the larger diver is less efficient or less experienced.
Air consumption can also be influenced by:
DAN notes that recreational divers’ breathing rates can vary widely depending on body size, stress and workload.[1] Comparing your remaining pressure directly with another diver therefore tells you very little unless you used identical cylinders and followed the same depth profile under similar conditions.
Even then, you are still comparing two different bodies.
Divers often assume that they used more air because they were nervous or inefficient. Sometimes the main explanation is simply depth.
The deeper you dive, the greater the surrounding pressure. Your regulator must provide breathing gas at the pressure of the surrounding water. This means every breath taken at depth uses more gas from your cylinder than the same-sized breath at the surface.
At approximately 10 metres, the surrounding pressure is about twice the pressure at the surface. At 20 metres, it is about three times the surface pressure. At 30 metres, it is approximately four times greater.
A diver breathing 15 litres per minute at the surface would use the equivalent of approximately:
SSI explains that gas consumption increases with depth and that physical effort raises a diver’s breathing rate.[2] DAN uses the same relationship when teaching divers how to calculate their Surface Air Consumption rate and estimate the gas required for a dive.[3]
This is why a deep dive normally uses more air than a relaxed shallow dive, even when the diver’s breathing pattern feels exactly the same.
It is also why moving a little shallower can sometimes extend a dive without requiring the diver to do anything unnatural with their breathing.
Swimming against a current requires more effort. More effort means the body needs more oxygen and produces more carbon dioxide. The diver must breathe more to meet this demand and remove the additional carbon dioxide.
The same can happen when a diver:
DAN explains that greater exercise and greater depth both increase breathing-gas requirements.[4]
If you are swimming hard at 25 metres while your buddy is relaxed at 18 metres, comparing the two pressure gauges is meaningless. You have not completed the same dive physiologically, even if you entered the water together.
Breathing often becomes faster when a diver feels nervous.
This is common among:
The last example can create a frustrating cycle.
The diver notices that their pressure is dropping, becomes concerned, starts thinking constantly about breathing and becomes less relaxed. Their breathing rate then increases further.
Trying too hard to save air can have the opposite effect.
The best response is usually not to force your breathing. Slow down, establish neutral buoyancy, move a little shallower if appropriate, stay close to your buddy and guide, and allow your breathing to settle naturally.
Some divers try to make their air last longer by pausing for an unnaturally long time between breaths. Others begin skip-breathing: inhaling, holding the breath and then exhaling.
This is not a safe or effective solution.
Holding your breath can allow carbon dioxide to accumulate. An increased carbon-dioxide level can contribute to headache, breathlessness, anxiety and a feeling that you cannot get enough air. It may also create an even stronger urge to breathe.
Most importantly, scuba divers must never hold their breath while ascending. As the surrounding pressure decreases, gas inside the lungs expands. If it cannot escape, the expanding gas can damage lung tissue and potentially cause an arterial gas embolism.[5]
The safer approach is to maintain continuous, relaxed breathing.
SSI recommends a deep, balanced and rhythmic breathing pattern while diving.[2] Do not try to take the smallest breaths possible. Breathe normally and comfortably.
Efficient breathing is relaxed breathing—not restricted breathing.
Air consumption often improves as divers gain experience.
This does not happen because experienced divers develop smaller lungs or need less oxygen. It happens because many unnecessary movements, worries and corrections gradually disappear.
With more diving experience, you may become better at:
A beginner may inflate the BCD, rise too far, dump too much air, sink, kick upward and inflate again. Every correction requires movement and attention.
An experienced diver often makes much smaller adjustments. They use their breathing for fine buoyancy control, remain streamlined and allow the water to carry them during a drift dive.
The result is less physical work and usually lower gas consumption.
Making ten dives during one holiday can produce more improvement than completing ten dives over several years.
When divers take long breaks, each new trip may begin with a period of readjustment. They must become comfortable with the equipment, buoyancy, breathing and underwater environment again.
Regular diving helps these skills become automatic.
This does not mean you need hundreds of dives before you can become efficient. Some divers develop excellent control quickly, particularly when they receive focused coaching. Others need more time.
The number in your logbook is less important than what you practise during those dives.
Simply making more dives while repeating the same inefficient habits may produce only limited improvement. Experience is most valuable when it is combined with feedback and purposeful practice.
One of the best ways to improve air consumption is to improve buoyancy.
A diver who is correctly weighted and neutrally buoyant does not need to kick constantly to remain at the same depth. They do not need to inflate and deflate the BCD repeatedly, and they are less likely to contact the bottom or reef.
Good buoyancy reduces unnecessary effort.
It also helps the diver become more relaxed because they feel in control of their position. Less effort and less stress can both contribute to more efficient breathing.
Poor buoyancy can increase gas use in several ways:
Good buoyancy is therefore not only about looking comfortable underwater. It affects safety, gas efficiency and environmental behaviour.
The SSI Perfect Buoyancy specialty is designed for divers who want focused coaching rather than hoping their buoyancy will improve automatically over time.
During the specialty, divers can work on:
SSI recommends the Perfect Buoyancy specialty for divers who want additional buoyancy knowledge and repeated practical exercises.[6]
At Oceans 5 Gili Air, buoyancy is closely connected to our conservation philosophy. A diver can understand marine conservation, avoid deliberately touching coral and participate in beach clean-ups—but without adequate buoyancy control, their fins or equipment may still damage the reef.
Perfect buoyancy makes responsible intentions effective underwater.
It can also make diving feel completely different. Instead of constantly correcting your position, you can relax, observe marine life and move with much less effort.
For many divers, improved air consumption becomes a natural result of that increased control.
It should not be the only reason to complete the specialty, but it can be a valuable benefit.
Trim describes a diver’s position in the water.
A diver in a balanced horizontal position presents a smaller surface area in the direction of travel. This reduces resistance and makes movement more efficient.
A diver in a vertical or head-up position creates more drag. They may need to kick harder to move forward, and part of every kick pushes them upward rather than forward. They then release air or stop kicking, begin to sink and repeat the process.
Equipment positioning also matters. Hanging gauges, alternate air sources and accessories create drag and can damage the reef.
Improving trim does not require a single equipment configuration for every diver. Body shape, exposure protection, cylinder type and equipment choices all affect balance. Moving weights or adjusting cylinder position can make a significant difference.
This is another advantage of professional buoyancy coaching: the instructor can observe what is happening rather than expecting the diver to diagnose their own position underwater.
Scuba diving is not a race.
Swimming quickly usually means:
Around the Gili Islands, many dives are drift dives. When conditions are suitable, the current does much of the work. Divers can maintain position, avoid unnecessary finning and allow the reef to pass beneath them.
Stay behind or beside the guide as instructed during the briefing. Do not repeatedly swim ahead and then fight the current to return.
A slower diver often sees more.
Some divers feel embarrassed to tell the guide that they have used more air than the rest of the group. They may display the wrong number, wait too long to report their pressure or hope that nobody asks again.
This creates a safety risk.
Your Divemaster needs accurate information to decide:
Using air faster is not a problem. Hiding it is.
At Oceans 5, divers are divided into small groups with a maximum of four certified divers per guide. Grouping divers by experience, air consumption and interests makes it easier to create a pace and profile appropriate for everyone.
Tell your guide before the dive if you know that you normally consume gas quickly. This information helps us plan; it does not create a negative judgment.
Training and experience can improve efficiency, but divers do not all have the same physical gas requirements.
A larger, experienced diver may naturally consume more air than a smaller buddy. Even with excellent buoyancy and relaxed breathing, the difference may remain.
In this situation, using a larger cylinder can make sense.
Oceans 5 offers 15-litre tanks for divers who would benefit from additional gas. The current supplement is IDR 50,000 per tank.
A larger cylinder is not a substitute for monitoring gas or following the dive plan. It simply provides a larger supply and can help buddy teams with different consumption rates enjoy a similar dive time.
There is no shame in choosing the cylinder that best matches your needs.
Good general fitness can support relaxed diving, especially in current or when surface conditions require additional effort.
However, the relationship between fitness and air consumption is not always simple. A highly muscular athlete may still consume more gas than a smaller, less athletic diver. Anxiety, technique, depth and buoyancy can have a greater influence during a particular dive.
Useful areas of fitness for divers include:
The goal is not to become the strongest person on the boat. It is to avoid unnecessary exhaustion and remain comfortable within your personal limits.
If conditions require more effort than you are comfortable with, inform the guide. Changing the site or dive plan is better than trying to prove that you can keep up.
If you want to use your gas more efficiently, focus on the complete dive rather than only your breathing.
Progress is easier to see when you compare similar dives over time.
There is nothing wrong with wanting to improve your air consumption.
Using gas more efficiently can lead to more relaxed dives, longer bottom times within safe limits and better compatibility with your buddy. It can also reflect improvements in buoyancy, trim and overall comfort.
But pressure remaining at the end of a dive does not define the quality of the diver.
A diver who surfaces with 70 bar after following the plan and communicating honestly has completed a better dive than someone who surfaces with 100 bar after holding their breath, hiding their pressure or ignoring their buddy.
More diving can help. Regular experience allows you to become calmer, reduce unnecessary movements and develop better awareness.
Focused training can help even more. The SSI Perfect Buoyancy specialty gives you the opportunity to work directly on weighting, trim, control and efficient movement with professional feedback.
At Oceans 5 Gili Air, we would rather help you become comfortable and controlled than tell you simply to “breathe less.”
Relax. Maintain your buoyancy. Stay close to your buddy. Report your pressure honestly and enjoy the dive.
Your air consumption will often improve naturally as the rest of your diving improves.
Yes. Body size, depth, workload, stress, experience, fitness and cylinder size can all affect gas consumption. Two divers should not expect to finish every dive with identical pressure.
No. It may indicate areas that can be improved, such as buoyancy or relaxation, but some people naturally require more breathing gas. Safe monitoring and honest communication are more important than having the lowest consumption.
Dive regularly, improve buoyancy and trim, slow down, avoid unnecessary movement, remain streamlined and breathe continuously in a relaxed rhythm. Do not restrict your breathing.
It often does. Regular diving can increase comfort, reduce stress and make equipment use, buoyancy and movement more automatic. Focused practice and instructor feedback usually produce better results than merely collecting dives.
Yes. The specialty focuses on weighting, neutral buoyancy, trim, streamlining and efficient underwater movement. These skills can reduce unnecessary effort and may therefore improve air consumption.
No. Holding or skip-breathing can contribute to carbon-dioxide accumulation. Holding your breath during an ascent can cause serious lung injury. Maintain continuous, relaxed breathing.
Yes. The regulator supplies gas at the surrounding pressure. As depth and pressure increase, each breath removes more gas from the cylinder.
Report your pressure whenever requested and at the limits agreed during the briefing. Never delay or give an inaccurate reading because you feel embarrassed.
Yes. Oceans 5 offers 15-litre tanks for an additional IDR 50,000 per tank. Tell the team in advance so the correct equipment can be prepared.
No. Nitrox changes the proportion of oxygen and nitrogen in the cylinder, but it does not significantly change how quickly you breathe the gas. Nitrox can offer decompression-related benefits when used correctly, but it is not a solution for high gas consumption.[7]
The 27–28 August TCN survey and the announced beach clearance may mark a turning point—but only lasting enforcement will protect the marine park Gili Air, Gili Meno and Gili Trawangan are not simply three popular holiday islands. Together with their surrounding waters, they form Gili …
What Divers Should Know Before Entering the Water The equipment is ready. The tanks are on the boat. The water looks inviting, and everyone wants to start diving. Then the Divemaster begins the dive briefing. For some experienced divers, this can feel like information they …
“What is the best dive site in the Gili Islands?”
It is one of the questions we hear most often at Oceans 5 Gili Air.
Some divers arrive with a famous name already written in their logbook: Shark Point, Deep Turbo, Turtle Heaven, Halik or the Bounty Wreck. They have seen photographs, watched videos or received a recommendation from another diver.
These are all excellent dive sites—but that does not mean they are automatically the best choice today.
The ocean is constantly changing. Currents, tides, wind, waves and visibility can transform a dive site within hours. A location that offered a gentle drift dive yesterday may have a much stronger current today. Another site that receives less attention online might suddenly offer calm water, excellent visibility and remarkable marine-life encounters.
That is why experienced dive centers do not simply choose the most famous name. They select the site that provides the best combination of conditions, safety, diver ability and underwater experience at that particular moment.
A dive site is not a swimming pool.
Conditions are influenced by tides, currents, weather and the movement of water between and around the three Gili Islands. Tides involve changes in sea level, while currents describe the movement of water. Tides can generate currents, but wind, waves and local underwater topography can influence water movement as well.[1]
This matters around Gili Air, Gili Meno and Gili Trawangan because water must move around islands, across reef slopes and through the channels separating them.
The same dive site can therefore feel completely different from one dive to the next.
It may offer:
Understanding waves, tides and currents is an important part of evaluating a dive environment. SSI specifically teaches that these conditions can affect both the safety and enjoyment of a dive.[2]
Divers understandably want to visit the most famous locations.
However, choosing a dive solely because its name is popular can lead to disappointment. If the current is unsuitable, visibility is reduced or too many boats and groups are already present, the experience may not match the photographs that made the site famous.
Meanwhile, a less-publicized site may provide beautiful coral, abundant marine life and a much more relaxed dive.
The name of the site does not determine the quality of the dive. The conditions do.
A responsible dive center should be willing to change the plan when another location offers a safer or more enjoyable experience. This is not a failure to deliver what a guest requested. It is professional dive planning.
At Oceans 5 Gili Air, we listen to where our guests would like to dive and what they hope to see. We then consider whether that request matches the conditions and the experience of the group.
Sometimes the requested site is the right choice. Sometimes another site will provide a considerably better dive.
Current is part of diving around the Gili Islands. It can create an effortless drift dive and bring nutrients that support active marine ecosystems. However, current diving requires preparation, suitable skills and good judgment.[3]
Before selecting and entering a site, the dive team considers:
Predictions are helpful, but they are not the complete answer. Conditions must also be evaluated at the site. A local current check can confirm whether the original plan remains appropriate.
The willingness to change the site, entry point or route is part of good decision-making.
The best site for an experienced drift diver may not be the best site for someone who has recently completed an Open Water Diver course.
Certification level is important, but it does not tell the entire story. We also want to know:
Two divers with the same certification can have very different abilities and comfort levels.
This is one reason Oceans 5 keeps its groups small, with a maximum of four certified divers per guide. Smaller groups make it easier to match divers according to their experience, interests and air consumption. They also allow the guide to give each diver more attention.
There is no single definition of a perfect dive.
One diver may dream of seeing reef sharks. Another may happily spend an hour searching for nudibranchs, frogfish or tiny crustaceans. Some want turtles, while others prefer coral landscapes, wrecks, deep reefs or underwater photography.
Around the Gili Islands, different sites offer different possibilities:
Wild animals can never be guaranteed. However, local guides build knowledge through daily observation. Recent sightings, seasonal changes and familiarity with the habitats of different species help them select locations that offer realistic opportunities.
A map can show the name, depth and approximate location of a dive site. It cannot tell you exactly what the current is doing today.
Local knowledge develops through repeated experience.
Oceans 5’s certified Indonesian SSI Divemasters dive around the Gili Islands throughout the year. They observe how sites change with different conditions and learn where marine animals are frequently seen. They also understand suitable entry points, underwater routes, sheltered areas and potential exit locations.
That experience helps answer practical questions:
SSI training materials emphasize that knowledge of local tides, currents and underwater navigation features contributes to successful dive planning.[4] Local expertise is therefore not merely helpful—it is an important part of responsible diving.
Imagine that a group requests Shark Point.
The weather looks good and the site was suitable during the previous dive. However, after arriving, the guide checks the current and discovers that it is considerably stronger than expected.
There are several possible responses:
The least professional response would be to ignore the conditions simply because the site was promised.
Dive plans should be flexible. The objective is not to place a tick beside a famous name. The objective is to provide a safe and enjoyable dive.
DAN advises divers to obtain local information and evaluate site conditions when planning dives affected by currents.[5]Sometimes the best decision a dive professional makes is deciding not to follow the original plan.
Large, mixed groups make dive planning more difficult.
If beginners, photographers, experienced drift divers and people returning after a long break are placed together, the guide must choose a plan that attempts to accommodate everyone. This often means that nobody receives the experience best suited to them.
At Oceans 5, we organize small groups based on factors such as:
This makes it possible to send different groups to appropriate locations or allow them to follow different routes at the same site.
A photographer interested in macro life should not be rushed behind a group searching for sharks. A newly certified diver should not feel pressured to enter conditions intended for highly experienced drift divers.
The dive site should match the diver—not the other way around.
Oceans 5 does not require every diver to commit to a compulsory two-dive, full-day package.
Our diving schedule provides several opportunities to dive during the day. Guests can choose the dives that fit their holiday plans, while our team can reassess the conditions and site choices throughout the day.
This flexibility has several advantages:
Flexibility is not only convenient. It can improve the quality of dive planning.
Some of the most memorable dives begin with a change of plan.
A diver may arrive determined to visit one famous reef but instead discover a quieter site with excellent visibility, a gentle current and very few other divers. A guest searching for large animals may unexpectedly become fascinated by a frogfish or a tiny nudibranch shown to them by a local guide.
This is part of the beauty of diving.
The ocean does not offer a fixed performance, and marine animals do not appear according to a timetable. Every dive is different. The more willing we are to respond to the conditions, the greater our chance of enjoying what the ocean offers that day.
It is perfectly reasonable to tell your dive center which sites you want to visit and what you hope to see. That information helps the team design an experience around your interests.
But it is equally important to remain flexible.
Ask your guide:
A professional guide should be able to explain the decision.
At Oceans 5 Gili Air, we do not believe that the most famous site automatically produces the best dive. We believe the right site is the one that matches the ocean conditions, the group’s abilities and the interests of the divers.
Sometimes that will be Shark Point, Halik, Turtle Heaven, Deep Turbo or the Bounty Wreck.
Sometimes it will be somewhere you had never considered.
And that unexpected site may become the best dive of your holiday.
There is no single site that is best every day. The answer depends on currents, visibility, weather, diver experience and what marine life you hope to see. Famous sites such as Shark Point, Turtle Heaven, Halik and Deep Turbo can all offer excellent diving when the conditions are suitable.
Yes. At Oceans 5, guests are encouraged to tell us which sites they would like to visit and what they want to see. The final decision must also consider the conditions, safety, certification levels and experience of the group.
Predictions do not always show exactly what is happening locally. The team may change the site, entry point or route after checking the current, waves, boat traffic or other conditions. This flexibility is part of responsible dive planning.
Currents are common, but their direction and strength vary between sites and throughout the day. Many dives are enjoyable drift dives. The site and plan should always be matched to the experience and comfort of the divers.
Yes. The Gili Islands offer sites and sections of reef suitable for beginners, but conditions must be evaluated daily. Oceans 5 separates divers into small groups and chooses locations appropriate to their abilities.
No responsible dive center can guarantee encounters with wild animals. However, experienced local guides understand the habitats of different species and use recent sightings and local knowledge to improve the chance of appropriate encounters.
Local Divemasters have extensive knowledge of the reefs, currents, underwater routes and marine life around the Gili Islands. Oceans 5 uses certified Indonesian SSI Divemasters to guide its certified divers, combining professional training with valuable local experience.
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 …