Here is a little overview of our SUP trip to Bali. Sorry if it is a bit long (six minutes) but we were there for 3 weeks & had such a great time. I included all the hotel & pool shots for the non-surfing partners.
In another month or so we should have heaps more video of the surfing (our photographer friends are still travelling - lucky buggers!).
Cheers
Mel
Thanks Guys,
Yes, it was a fab trip. Not so fab to be home! We left 35 degree temperatures to arrive home into 8 degrees and a flat battery in the car!
Thank heavens long term parking has this happen all the time & they have a jump start kit at the kiosk!
We stayed in some awesome hotels: Sanur - Ari Putri, Balian - Pondok Pices, Bingan - Kembang Kuning & Kuta - Kuta Puri Bungalows. If anyone is going and wants more info, happy to provide! Can recommend them all.
Yeah, the crowd factor was a big shock!
Medewi 15 years ago, Jason was the only guy out most days. This time there were about 60-70 out! Jason went miles out to sea and got a few great waves. I only got a couple of smaller ones but loved it!
Balian most days varied from 15-50 but there were loads of peaks and take-off options.
Bingin has a take-off spot the size of a five cent piece and one day I counted 38 short boards on it. Needless to say we paddled off down the coast to Dreamland where Jason caught the biggest wave I have ever seen in 'real' life (ie not videos). For the 30 seconds after he disappeared down the face of this 3 storey monster I was having visions of my life as a single woman! I was sure it was gonna kill him.
But no, another few seconds and a tiny head popped up above the green lip & then disappeared down again, completely oblivious to my panic, happily surfing his way up and down along the wall! He calmly flicked off the end and paddled back out as if it was nothing but the grin on his face said it all. The fact that we didn't hang around for another also said a thing or two LOL!
Padang Padang left was just starting to fire the second time we went there (paddled around from Bingin). Probably 20 on the inside right and another15-20 on the left.
Impossibles always had 20+, but there are so many take-off spots that everyone got waves (all with the same ending of course! - it isn't called impossibles for nothing).
As the outer reef was firing we had Kuta halfway reef to ourselves. Perfect SUP waves bit over head high, not too fast. Perfect!
Great vid, I'm off to watch pulp fiction again now
5 weeks to go
Anyone know any kid club friendly hotels in seminyak,legion with easy beach access for the late sesh.
heading there in 2 weeks, the vid got me pumped!!!! what was the sup v shortboard vibe like at balian and medewi? how do the locals react to a sup in the line-up? and how much was it per night to stay at your balian accom? thanks mate.
shimmyshazbo said... heading there in 2 weeks, the vid got me pumped!!!! what was the sup v shortboard vibe like at balian and medewi? how do the locals react to a sup in the line-up? and how much was it per night to stay at your balian accom? thanks mate.
Balian accom was awesome. The 7 day 'surfer package' included 7 nights accom, breakfast daily, 2 massages each, 2 day trips up to Medewi (5 hours each) & one bbq dinner for the huge sum of $600 (for 2 people). Several restaurant options for lunches and dinners where you could fill up on mee goreng and a couple of bintangs for about 5 bucks a head. We chose the riverside half of this hotel as the pool is in that section & we thought we might have been able to paddle out from the river, but it is too shallow at the mouth. This just meant we had to walk up the hill to the restaurant for breakfast & carry our boards down the track to the beach.
Check it out
http://pondokpiscesbali.com/index.php?option=com_zoom&Itemid=57&catid=1
Would absolutely stay here again. They are pretty solidly booked though. We loved it so much we wanted to stay longer but they could only give us one extra night.
We only saw one other SUP the whole time we were over there and it was one of the Bondi Rescue guys helping lifeguard at Padang!
Vibe was friendly enough and Balian had quite a few options. Jason went right out the back and rode both the left & right (right was pretty fast though) & I mostly rode the inside left. Enough waves to go around no problem. The usual though with a couple of wave-hogs in the line-up (won't say what sort of board they were on............)
Medewi was just full-on. Jason got quite a few good ones as he just went way way out, but any further along the line and the crowd was just so thick that it was damn near impossible. I sat towards the end and just grabbed what others crashed and burned on..... that's if the kids didn't snake me. But again, the vibe was still pretty cool. Kids and some of the locals were having a bit of laugh & cheer when I got good ones.
Photographers on the beach charge $20 for about 100 digital photos. When the cameraman could see that I wasn't being forceful enough to get any set waves, unbeknown to me he paddled out, set himself upon a screamer and then invited me onto the wave & he pulled off. T'was awesome thank you very much!
Second time we went to Medewi we headed about half a km south on the beachies and got stacks of waves. Only us and about 5 short-boarders out.
I am still pumped from the trip & already looking for sale fares to go again!
Nice vid mate. Brought back memories of Kuta arvos watching the sun go down with a cold Bintang or 20 at the huts on the beach - until the Javo's burnt them down.
Great edit Jase an Mel ... Brought back some epic memorizes love that veiw of bigin and impossibles my fav spot in Bali ... Now just gotta work out how to get back there!!!!!
Thanks for all the positive comments.
We wrapped our boards in bubble-wrap first then put them into padded board bags. We made little nose & tail protectors out of styrofoam & cardboard. We put the 2 paddles together into one padded paddle bag. One of them was inside a terry towelling 'paddle sock' & the other was 'au naturale'.
All good both ways (very minor bump on the way over on the rail of my board but I did worse myself on the rocks at Medewi!).
Great trip and video, congrats!
It might be a stupid question, but Im gonna ask anyway...
Do they have SUP's for hire in Bali?
Sorry guys, Im new in Australia and also SUP =)
BrazilOzzySA said... Great trip and video, congrats!
It might be a stupid question, but Im gonna ask anyway...
Do they have SUP's for hire in Bali?
Sorry guys, Im new in Australia and also SUP =)
Thanks for the vid.. and see you guys in Merimbula.
DJ
5 weeks to go 
Anyone know any kid club friendly hotels in seminyak,legion with easy beach access for the late sesh.
