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
www.pondokpiscesbali.com/?option=com_zoom&Itemid=57&catid=1Would 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!
