Water Sport In Bali
10 Best Water Sport in Bali
Most Fun Things to Do on Bali’s Beaches
Water sport in Bali are for those who want something more than swimming and snorkelling, where adrenaline junkies can get their fix from some boat-towed action, high altitudes, and splashing wind-in-hair moments on specialised watercrafts. The majority of the best water sport activities in Bali are focused around the Tanjung Benoa peninsula, which is the island’s de facto playground for these exciting sports provided by numerous operators.
The most popular form, surfing, is the main feature at most of the breaks around the famous beach resort areas such as Kuta and the more challenging reefs around the Bukit Peninsula. Other thrills, from walking on the seabed to discovering Bali’s great underwater scenes, are offered at various coasts including Nusa Lembongan Island. Here are the best Bali Water Sport Activities to please your thirst for action.
1. Flying Fish Tanjung Benoa
This very unusual ride lets you experience airtime in a specially designed inflatable craft that looks a bit like a manta ray. The design features a T-shape tube with even flanges on both sides, which catch wind after the boat-towed craft gathers speed. The ride allows up to three passengers (usually including a guide) in a forward straddling position, or two securely strapped in a supine position between the tubes. The latter, albeit backwards, lets you enjoy a wider aerial view of the coastline. At normal speeds, airtime usually reaches two meters above the waves, and if you request prior to your ride, the boat driver can go even faster to let you fly several meters high!
2. Parasailing Tanjung Benoa
parasailing water sport in bali ,If you wish to go even higher, then opt for a parasailing ride which takes you up to a hundred metres above the waves. Tandem rides pair you with an instructor to guide you through the air, as it requires a bit of guidance during take-off and landing at the shore. But some operators allow you to go on your own, and rely on the towing boat pilot’s skills to take you up and land you safely back on the coast. The rides usually take you on a 5 to 10-minute ride for a birds-eye view tour around the coastline, and it’s a great idea to bring your action cam or GoPro (and extender) along for some radical high-altitude selfies. Most operators in the Tanjung Benoa area and Nusa Lembongan offer parasailing tours.
3. Jet Sking Nusa Dua, Sanur and Tanjung Benoa
For those looking to have more control of the action, jet-ski rides are the way to go. Zipping through the waves on these remarkable machines is a thrill on its own, with the wind in your face and adrenaline rushing. Although riding alone without an instructor is forbidden, the piggy-back riding instructor behind you is only there to supervise you in case anything goes awry, or suggest you the best route to avoid seaborne hazards. A briefing of the controls (revving is solely by a thumb lever, unlike the throttles of a motorcycle) and a test lap usually precedes your ride. After you’ve got the hang of it, work that thumb and make every second of your 15-minutes count!
4. Sea Walking Sanur, Tanjung Benoa and Lembongan Island
For those wanting to enjoy Bali’s underwater beauty of coral reef gardens and colourful marine life without a PADI certification may opt for this unique tour which lets you walk the seabed with a specially designed underwater helmet. There are several sea walker operators in Bali, and one of them is the long established Bali Seawalker in Sanur. After a boat ride out to the reef site, participants don reef shoes and these helmets which are fed by oxygen tanks aboard the boat, providing them with a constant flow of air to breathe underwater. Seven meters down, you can freely interact with the fish while supervising guides in scuba gear watch over and hand over fish feed to attract schools of triggerfish, angelfish, regal tangs and many others.
5. Water Jetpacks Tanjung Benoa
A novel addition to the array of aquatic water sport in bali is water jetpacks and jet bike rides, provided by several operators in Tanjung Benoa. Live the moment and feel like a bit like James Bond with his fantastic new invention or Tony Stark trying on his new Iron Man suit, but with water jets as thrusters. These specially designed kits let you levitate up to 10 meters high. After a bit of briefing on the controls and how these things work, you strap on the jetpack or straddle the ‘bike’ version and start flying around the coast for an allocated duration of 15 minutes. These high-density propulsion devices can lift you up in stationary position, or move in any direction as you please. To add more tech edge, waterproof radios inside your helmet lets you listen to tips and manoeuvring guidance from the instructor on shore.
6. Underwater Scooter Nusa Lembongan and Ceningan Island
If you’re tired of walking, even on the seabed with the aid of an oxygen-fed helmet, then try going under with an underwater scooter. These specially designed ‘scooters’ require no diving experience, and the integrated helmets are fed oxygen by an attached scuba tank. Some underwater scooter operators take you down 10 metres to a wonderful reef garden off Ceningan Island filled with artificial structures in the form of Buddha statues and stupa temple mounds that were lowered over the past years. The scooters have handlebars with levers to control speed and depth, and ride durations usually range between 25 and 30 minutes.
7. Banana Boat Tanjung Benoa
Banana Boat water sport in bali rides are a great way to share some thrills on the waves as a group of up to five or six, depending on the size and capacity of the craft. The fast-paced bumpy rodeo ride on this inflatable craft is towed by a boat, and at certain times deliberate sharp turns add to the excitement of who manages to hang on without being flipped overboard. Just remember to take a deep breath whenever the boat starts some manoeuvres! Rides include life vests and boat models vary in size and design, but all deliver the same levels of excitement.
8. Rolling Donut Tanjung Benoa
Simply a ‘lazy’ but fun way to enjoy the coast,water sport in bali the Rolling Donut is your childhood swimming tube brought to a different level. The Donut sizes vary at each operator, some are for solo rides while larger ones can accommodate up to five participants with a different configuration. Don a life vest, sit comfortably in the tube and hold onto the handles on each side as you enjoy the bumps and twirls across the ocean as the entailing wake of the boat creates constant mini ramps of varying sizes. The rides usually last for 15 minutes.
9. Surfing Kuta, Canggu, Medewi, Uluwatu and Bukit
surfing, undeniably, is the sport that saw the rise of Kuta as Bali’s most famous beach. And vagabond wave riders from all around the globe continued to search for their perfect waves all over the Bali coastline, from the challenging barrels around the Bukit peninsula, the black sand beach breaks of Medewi and Canggu in the island’s western shores, and Keramas in the east. Surfing in Bali tops the list as the best water sport in Bali activity to enjoy around Bali’s waters. And board riding comes in many forms beyond the short and long boards. Body boarding or ‘boogie boarding’ is another way to slide, while challenging forms include windsurfing, kite surfing and wakeboarding – beginner courses, rentals and tours are available from various operators in Kuta, Sanur and the Tanjung Benoa peninsula.
10. Scuba Diving Amed, Tulamben, Lembongan and Menjangan Island
Although a niche sport, enjoyed by those who have undergone special training and certification, scuba diving water sport in Bali continues to grow in popularity. Deep below Bali’s waves, lies some of the world’s best dive sites. Being part of a string of islands in the bio-diverse Indonesian archipelago, the island’s temperate waters are teeming with coral reefs and marine life. The underwater sites also consist of varying terrain that include drop off walls and shipwrecks. If you are new to the sport, Bali is also a great place to get certified with the numerous dive centres available at the main resort areas. Great dive sites to discover include Nusa Lembongan, Sanur reef, Amed and Tulamben in the remote eastern shores and Menjangan Island up north.