Where the hell is Tim?: The Gili islands

Although we spent over 5 days on the Gilis there's not much to tell about our stay. It wasn't boring or anything and those islands are truly beautiful but we spent most of our time chilling and hanging around which is why I don't have any really interesting stories.
But I'll start with our arrival. We took the shuttle bus from Senggigi and then one of the public boats to the island. We had decided to go to Gili Travangan, the largest of the three Gili islands because it has the reputation of the party island and it's the cheapest. Even with a shuttle service it can become quite hectic in Bangsal, the harbor from where the boats leave, and we were glad to get on to one without too much trouble. The boat was slow and played one noisy and high pitched Arabian song all the way to the island but at least we had enough space. It was still quite early in the morning and a lot of people were arriving or leaving the island so the beach and the road were full of tourists and guides but the crowds cleared quickly after walking a few meters. As usual there were a lot of people trying to get you to the "cheapest place in town" but we ignored them and headed towards the cheapest in the Lonely Planet. On the way we heard someone calling rooms out for 50-60k and we decided to follow dis directions to the Sunset Bungalows. These simple bungalows were a fair bit out of town but the cheapest option we could find. Tired of all the walking we relaxed for a few hours and then decided to go for a swim. The bungalow was a little bit past the southern point of the island and because the wind blew fairly strong from the east we decided to go north to look for a beach. After a short walk, some sun baking and a swim in the shallow waters between the coral (I didn't find a proper beach to swim) we went back to the bungalow because it was meant to be the best spot to watch the sunset.
After the sun had gone down we walked into the town. I keep calling it town but it is more the one spot on the island where there are more than five houses together. The main road which runs parallel to the beach around the whole island has got everything you need. There are surf shops, diving centers, all sorts of accommodation, food carts, restaurants, mini markets cafes information etc. It is particularly nice in the evenings when all the restaurants open and offer a fresh seafood BBQ with huge selections of freshly caught fish.
The next day was a bit different than the others because we rented sets of snorkeling gear and spent the whole day down at the beach. The underwater world of the Gilis is highly praised and we where keen to finally do some snorkeling. It is always so beautiful to dive underwater, back everything else out which is above the surface and enjoy the quietness around you. It was great. We saw heaps of fish and also a few sea turtles. I love it how they just float around with so much tranquility, just drifting through the water. The coral were a bit disappointing though. We thought we could see lots of colorful coral and sponges and that sort of stuff but the ground was dominated by grey an brown and a lot of dead coral pieces. Also the second and third dive were not as good as the first because we saw the same fish and coral and never anything else. It didn't spoil the fun but helped us with the decision whether we should go snorkeling the next days.
That was about all we did except from hanging around. Our days started to structure themselves. Every day we woke,had a banana pancake, went into town, had a juice and checked the internet, went to the beach, swum, sunbathed, walked around, ate, went back to the bungalow, watched the sunset, walked to town and had dinner. At night we usually watched a movie and that was it. It sounds like a lot but it's really not, when yo have a whole day to fill but that was great. It felt like exactly the thing we needed and we enjoyed it every day. One night we decided to spend some more money on local drinks and I really regretted it the next morning. And it was Bekki's one year travel anniversary so we took ourselves out for dinner in one of the better restaurants of the island. It definitely was the most enjoyable time of the trip and came exactly at the right time, after the exhausting bike trip and all the traveling to Lombok.