Blue Coral Gili Gede

Blue Coral Gili Gede is an intermediate dive site off the southern coast of Gili Gede in Southwest Lombok, named for its remarkable colony of blue coral (Heliopora coerulea) that extends across a broad reef flat at 12 meters depth. This living fossil species, with its distinctive blue skeleton visible where the living tissue has receded, creates a unique underwater landscape found at few dive sites worldwide. The surrounding reef slopes to 20 meters with healthy hard coral gardens and prolific fish life including schools of snapper, sweetlips, and humphead parrotfish grazing on the coral. Reef sharks occasionally cruise the deeper edges, and the sandy bottom beyond the reef harbors stingrays and flatfish. The calm, protected waters and moderate depth make this an accessible dive, while the rare blue coral colony provides a genuine point of scientific and photographic interest that sets this site apart from anything else in the Secret Gilis.