Bucket List Item: Swim With Sea Turtles

December 6, 2017

I didn’t have a lot of expectations or qualifications for Gili T. I just had dreams. Aspirations.

I heard a few weeks back from my scuba instructor that you can find sea turtles over by the Gili Islands, and I tried really hard to keep my excitement at a comfortable “don’t get your hopes up” level. But let’s be honest, I wasn’t doing a very good job at it. I think sea turtles are so cool and chill, and I just really really wanted to swim with them.

When we began our snorkel tour search, we were met with a lot of sketchiness. Different prices, different locations, different time lengths. Honestly, why was this so hard? As we walked away from one snorkeling table, we were approached by a completely random guy. He asked if we wanted to go snorkeling. Christen and I exchanged a “trust nobody” look. But then the man gave us all of the information we were looking, showed us his boat, and gave us a good price.

Should we trust this stranger?

We gave him a 50,000 IDR note as a deposit and prayed we weren’t just scammed.

An hour later, we showed back up to the dock, and low and behold, there was our man! He actually was a trustworthy guy with a team of two other locals. And I got to say, it was such an incredible experience. They were kind and helpful. Our snorkel guide even took amazing photos for us.

Right when you get cynical, you’re reminded of how kind people can be.

AND I GOT TO SWIM WITH SEA TURTLES!

Sea Turtles

 

Sea Turtles

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But it’s all fun and games until you swim into a group of baby jelly. And your body gets welts all over.

Later Christen and I enjoyed the sunset on the other side of Gili T. Sunsets are pretty beautiful everywhere in the world, but I swear they’re extra dazzling here in Indonesia.

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