It's East Coast is much less known as as a surf destination yet offers many incredible and very importantly, quieter spots. Sanur is a large resort which offers incredible opportunities for Paddleboarders of all levels, making it an ideal destination. 

Looking across to the Island's of Nusa Lembongan and Nusa Penida, Sanur is protected by an offshore reef. This means for us SUPers miles and miles of flat calm water to explore. Pick a direction and off you go, enjoying the azure blue sea, admiring the Starfish under yours boards. Bring a snorkel mask with you and dive in at will, the water is about 28 degrees Celsius all year round, so inviting for a swim. Head right to Bemoa Island and it's Mangrove swamp or left and follow the shoreline along past small fishing villages and white sands. When you are tired just stop at one of the numerous beach bars to grab some liquid refreshment. Flat water is the key to progression in Stand Up Paddleboarding and we were able to teach non SUP friends in ideal conditions…..there is no fear of falling in when the water is as warm and inviting as here!.

Those reefs that offer us flat water perfection and huge touring potential also give us the surf that brought us to Sanur in the first place. It's a 20 to 30 minute Paddle out to the reefs (or 100,000 rupiah, a fiver or so, for a water taxi) where there are several spots to hit. We mainly surfed at Hyatt Reef (opposite the Hyatt hotel, surprisingly), where there is a right handed and an a-frame both finishing out in the reefs flat water channel. This means that you can then paddle back out bone dry and chilled back to the line up. Both the waves are fairly fast and on the high performance side of things. A fantastic spot to push your levels in relative safety. The A-frame jacks up quickly and spits out into the channel. The feeling is like being shot out the barrel of a gun, incredible. 

Sanur is a pretty chilled out place to stay and lounge away your days too. A huge range of accommodation and food choices, plenty of live music from local cover bands on a night too. Be warned though, here as almost everywhere in Bali, you will have a huge Bob Marley overdose, and be pretty fed up of his tunes by the time you leave!.

The most memorable, and by far scariest part of our trip happened at about 2am on our last night. Fast asleep in bed I was awoken loudly by the bed and wardrobes violently shaking. An earthquake of 5.3 on the Richter scale had hit just south of Bali. It's force was, frankly, terrifying, followed as it was by a huge all night thunder and lightning storm. No sleep was had after that and it was a stark reminder of the power of Mother Nature in this part of the planet. Thankfully the earthquake passed without damage to property or life.