Gili Air 2024 Daily Summaries
Day 4: April 25, 2024
Happy Thursday from Gili Air. This morning we woke up to a cloudless sky, and by the time we got our life jackets on to walk to our first snorkel site the sun was out in full force and the water felt as refreshing as ever. We saw a few more turtles and some great coral. After a break in the shade and re-application of sunscreen, we were trained on how to harvest corals for our restoration project. Students went duck diving down about 2 meters to find still living coral fragments. We collected them and brought them to shore where we cleaned them and put them into fresh seawater ready for tying to metal structures after lunch. The structures will be deployed into areas of the reef where regrowth is needed. The students were excited and invested in this service project. Later today we will shower a bit earlier than usual and walk to the west side of the island to see the sunset. We will have a bbq dinner and roast some marshmallows tonight, our last on Gili Air. Tomorrow we will visit a pearl farm on the north side of Lombok before heading to the airport to fly back to Jakarta. All is still well here, and the group is in good spirits. See you all tomorrow back at JIS.
Day 3: April 24, 2024
It was another great day here in the Gilis. After a banana pancake breakfast, the group took the boats across to Gili Meno, the middle of the three Gili islands. Here we broke into Group A and Group B. Group A went to a local kindergarten and some student ran sports activities with the young ones while others worked with the 5-6 year olds to put together IKEA bookshelves that we donated. It was incredible to see our Dragons leading by example and teaching with such kindness and empathy. It was a special morning indeed. Meanwhile, Group B was planting mangroves and managed to plant almost 100. After lunch, Groups A and B switched venues so all students got a chance to do everything. I’m sure the opportunity to meet and work with the local students will be a highlight from this trip. The kids were super cute and fun. We are now back on Gili Air and enjoy an hour of activity time on the beach. There is beach volleyball going on while other relax and play cards. The sun has come out and it’s a beautiful afternoon here. We will have another dinner near the beach later tonight and then get our rest for tomorrow. Tomorrow we will snorkel and do a reef restoration activity. Our group is healthy and doing great. Hope you are all well in Jakarta.
Day 2: April 23, 2024
What an exciting day today was. The cloudy and drizzly start to the day, didn’t damper any spirits as we took the snorkeling boats across to two snorkel sites near Gili Trawangan and Gili Meno. There we witnessed the difference between a more protected reef, and one that is overrun by tourism. There are efforts to regrow the reef using manmade structures and our students asked great questions to the staff here at Ecofieldtrips about this process. After lunch back on Gili Air, we snorkeled at two more sites on the east side of the island. These were the best two sites of the day as we saw numerous large green and hawksbill sea turtles, moray eels, and dozens of other fish species. We are all now enjoying an hour of pool time before showers and dinner by the beach. It looks like it will be a beautiful night. Tomorrow we are off to Gili Meno where we will plant mangroves and meet students from a local primary school. Student groups have prepared various activities for the local students and I know it will be meaningful when they interact and have fun with the kids. The group really is doing well and enjoying this moment. All students and teachers are well and happy.
Day 1: April 22, 2024
Greetings from Gili Air. After a long but smooth travel day we have arrived at our accommodation and everyone unpacked with a lot of giggles and excitement to be in this new place. We have also already tried out our snorkeling equipment, checking that we can all clear our snorkels and masks if they fill with water. The team here from Ecofieldtrips (our vendor) has greeted us warmly and has everything ready for us for this week. We will have a nice dinner near the beach tonight and then head back to our accommodation for some rest before a big day tomorrow. We will go snorkeling tomorrow and hopefully see sea turtles and lots of other marine life. All are well and happy.