This good dive site on Gili Trawangan is a beach dive made up entirely of an artificial reef. Known as Bio Rocks, this was a project developed to create new homes for marine life in the area because of the damage done to some of the local reefs. It is now home to many different species of fish and many different types of coral have taken over the site.
The artificial reefs are in a 20-metre square area and go down to a depth of around 35 metres. The dive site has a tunnel shaped steel foundation layered with copper wires. Electrodes have been attached to this wire to transmit electrical current at a low voltage into the ocean water around the steel structure. An onshore solar panel powers this structure and provides the electricity to the electrodes. The current allows dissolved minerals in the ocean to crystallise and this forms a limestone coating over the steel. This is the ideal base for coral larvae, which were placed on the reef as the starting blocks. The electrode-based structure has meant that the coral has grown five times faster than normally.
The site is now home to many different fish and divers can spot Christmas trees, Damsel Fish, Moorish idols, and many different types of nudibranchs and other reef fish. It is a very unusual dive site and one worth visiting just for its uniqueness.