Blue Marlin Dive Gili Trawangan

Together with my daughter we did the Advance Open Water Training. From the first moment we entered the office till the last drink on the Monday evening party, we had a great time! Very well balance between the relax holiday attitude and super professional guidance in our dives! All credits to BMD, and specially Grant (our dive instructor) to make it a life time memory.

We've had an amazing time and a fantastic experience with Blue Marlin and the entire diving team. From the first conversation we were provided with clear information and transparency on pricing. The diving school is very professional, incl. equipment, knowledge and quality of the diving team. We've completed our PADI Open Water courses as a family, incl. three children, and the Blue Marlin team has done an amazing job to train all of us and respond super flexibly to any needs or requests. Highly recommend to go with them for a dive or a course.

We are a family of 4 with boys aged 17 and 22, who although Padi qualified had not dived since 2019. From the minute we came into the meet the team through to the dive the experience was friendly, calm and totally professional. Such a wonderful experience and cannot recommend them enough. Evan was our dive instructor - calm, patient, full of knowledge and made the dive experience safe and incredible. The boat crew were also wonderful - taking our diving gear of us as we got back to the boat and helping to bring it back to the base.

Our review refers to the dishonesty of this company and not about the actual service they provide. We inquired a week before we wanted to dive about the options. Everything seemes good. The day we came back we sent a message to the manager for diving the next day. I sent him several questions (availability price etc.)and he just responded "we go center tomorrow". In the eve we passed by at the dive shop to book dives with them the next day and he replied that five minutes ago the last spots were booked. So far so good, this can happen although we contacted him in the afternoon. First he tried to convince us to go with them the day after tomorrow. As we kept telling him that we'll leave the day after tomorrow and how important the diving at Komodo (main reason why went to Flores) to us is he pretended that he was willing to help us. He said that he was checking their Whatsapp group (apparently all dive centers have a joined group) and told us that there was only one other company out the next day which was full either. No need to ask around as he can see it in the group who goes. Of course we didn't like this answer and asked at other dive shops. This is what really disgusted us. The first one we asked (dragon dive) had spots free and would go the next day and they are also part of the WhatsApp group which i asked before writing this review. A company that does apparently not compete fair even though they can not satisfy customer needs. P.S also the arguments to convince us (equipment at other dive shops isn't that good, crowded diving spots which wouldn't happen to blue marlin as they have a speed boat and thus are always ahead of others) were not right. Although on a slow boat it was very comfortable and the equipment was excellent and no crowded spots. Last but not least it hast to be mentioned that the company charges its customers 400k for the entry to the national park although it costs just 275 k. And no, I am not talking about weekends. From a moral point definitely no company to recommend.

We choose Blue Marlin Diving especially as we knew Dive Instructor Chris Gamlin had began working for the shop. Both my Girlfriend and I had dived with him in Thailand and had such and amazing and professional experience with him. Yet again we had an amazing Dive with him seeing lots of marine life and feeling safe & comfortable that we were being lead by a real professional. Blue Marlin is the oldest and most prestigious dive shops on Gili T. If you’re interested in recreational or Tech diving at any level this is the shop you should visit. Chris Gamlin - IG - scuba._.chris