It’s great to see new Instructors working within the Industry, but its even better when you see them following their own passions and teaching the things they love. Former PADI Instructor Candidate Tash has created a brand-new distinctive specialty aimed at teaching divers how to scientifically encounter, observe and interact with sea turtles in a safe and responsible way, whilst also assisting in the conservation and protection of the species.

Gili Trawangan is a great place to be, especially if you’re a Turtle or a diver who loves turtles as most dive sites are thriving with the species offering a guaranteed sighting with some divers seeing over 20 turtles in only one dive. Both the local population and transient tourist volunteers have made great efforts in protecting and conserving the turtle population on their doorstep.

Simply walking around the island of Gili Trawangan you will see that a direct relationship has formed between the local community, tourists and the marine life that surrounds the Gili Islands and right at the top of the list are the turtles and providing a need to educate, protect and conserve the species. You will find Snorkeling and Diving companies offering turtle specific tours and therefore a certain degree of education and information. You will find regulation regarding boat traffic and more importantly for the turtles fishing restrictions. If you go to the beach you will find hatchling guards randomly place on the beach to form a barrier between the beach going tourists lying on the beach and turtle eggs buried below making the area clear of interruptions. If you are visiting the beach in the evenings you may be lucky enough to see new hatchlings making their way to the beach; often accompanied by a group of volunteers assisting in providing a safe path.

Around the Gili Islands you will find both the Hawksbill and Green Sea Turtles in abundance and these will form the subject matter for the course, and as these species are so different from each other they provide a great basis for the study. To enroll on the course divers will need to be over the age of 10 and be certified as an Open Water Diver. The course consists of 2 mandatory Open Water Dives and a classroom-based knowledge development session. If, however you feel that buoyancy and general diving skills could be improved or need to be refreshed there is the option of a confined swimming pool session. During the course, students will learn how to locate, observe, interact and provide a quality scientific analysis of the species and learn more about the behaviors and the collection of data including photographic techniques aimed at identifying individual behavior patterns. This program is designed for anyone as long as you are a certified diver and is a great idea for any level; whether a brand-new certified diver, an experienced diver or even professional level diver.

During the PADI Divemaster Gili Islands Internship Program, trainees will spend a lot of time underwater on the various dive sites around the Gili Islands and will therefore spend a lot of time observing marine sea turtles, so the course provides a great basis to learn more about the surrounding marine life and of course passing that information onto both new and experienced divers which they will be working with. Also, for those thinking of taking the PADI IDC Gili Islands based Scuba Diving Instructor Course (IDC), it will give a direct base knowledge of one of the most populous species seen within the immediate diving environment. Find out more about the Gili Islands Diving with Turtle Specialty activities on offer in Gili Trawangan