BALI - Surf x Party , is it posible to conciliate them?

Well depends how old are you? If you are young for sure you can do both cos`your liver it`s not damaged yet, if you are old probably not. But the best way to conciliate it`s not conciliate do one or another!!!!! If the swell is coming go away from Kuta, if it`s getting flat jump into the bintang bottle, check this website it has Bali`s night life and also Bali surf life www.indosurflife.com

If I was you , I would just surf. That is really the only reason I ever go there. Sure, I have some beers when I am there, but you can get shitfaced at home. If I am there I am up and in the water by 5.30am most mornings and back in for breakfast when the surfers who have been out all night get out for their first surf. Back out when they come in and back out again from lunch until sunset. Have a few bintangs after dinner and zonk out by 10ish after a rewarding day of 6-7 hours of surfing. Of course, you throw in a couple nights of partying but never make it my priority. These days I make sure I do a bit of 'training' before I leave to make sure I can surf all day without getting concrete shoulders. On a surf trip, the waves always come first for me. Either way, have a good one mate!

Dandandan what kind of 'training' are you doing for those concrete shoulders?

Hey albcesarx,

Good mental preparation here by you! ha. We are long(ish) time travelers to Bali and surrounding islands and when there we have the same dilemma. I think after 8 trips there we have finally found a good balance.

We normally run with the customary first 1,2 or 3 nights in Kuta, getting settled, getting some sun 'base' on the white (winter) rig haha, and having a generally awesome time cruising Kuta and getting the initial excitement out of the system - this normally involves looking at girls, a bit of haggling for shopping, good cheap food and drinks, more girls and a bit of party time etc etc haha. On one condition though, we always try not to sleep in!! Get up and go for a surf anywhere at all! be it a day trip down to Ulus area or up to Canguu or even kuta/legian beaches burn off the hangover, drink a ton of water, eat some food and then stay moving doing stuff during the day, bust out a few hotel pool swims and by 5.00pm you are gonna be primed to back up again haha. Good to sweat it out that way and still have some good days and memories.

After the first few days of settling in we try to get off the party radar a little more and into the solid surfing part of the trip, be it a boat trip somewhere, Lombok, Sumbawa etc or wherever may take your fancy. We then normally head down to the Bukit region for a bit of surfing good waves (ableit crowded) before going and finishing the trip in style again back in Kuta/Legian and the party scene again for some fun times and laughs. Guessing you will still be having a few ice cold Bintangs anyways even when you are on the surf part of your trip.

So I guess my answer is yep you most certainly do both in my opinion, probably 20-25% party time and 75-80% surfing time is a great balance for us we have found. Everyone is different just make sure you do what you want to do and not what others think you should be doing.

My choice is to not waste my time getting pissed 24/7 but then again I wouldn't want to surf 24/7 either. When I am old and on the way out from this life I want to remember the good times from both aspects of Indo.

Take care mate and I hope you have a ball.........

The surf in bali is overcrowded rubbish so forget about it and get maggot flat-out. I can not do both, not because of fatigue but psyche:

Step 1. Surf all day at some spot that is packed to the rafters with all sorts of human cholesterol (clogs the line-up like fat in the artery). Come in frustrated and ready to kill the nearest person for breathing.

Step 2. Drink multiple longnecks in quick succession, all the while seething with magnifying hatred and malevolent loathing.

Step 3. Drunk, stagger to main strip in throngs of the same crowds you were surrounded by the whole day in the surf (now you all vying for girls instead of waves). Get pissed off by the amount of what you perceive to be "fuckwits". Get in a fight, get beaten.

Step 4. Wake up. Somewhere. Fuck knows. Hate this place. Never again. Which way to the airport?

WOW! Sanpedro I wouldn't like to be going to Bali with you! You should be going to a boxing class instead of anywhere near Indo.

Remember albcesarx if you cant afford or dont have time to go on a boat trip or get away to the surrounding quality surf based islands you can always shoot over to Nusa Lembongan to break it up a bit and its quick and easy to get there, mellow place to hang and really good waves if you score it. The crowds are a bit easier to manage there also.

If you want to go somewhere other than Kuta/Legian to party (I feel like I'm going mad there after 3-4 days max haha) you can go up to the Gili Islands (Gili Trawangan) and chill out there, there is no waves there (rarely anyways) but you can hang out and dive and just drop off the map a bit. Great party scene and a heap of fun, good food and drinks and no motorised transport which chills the place out even more. We love doing a little stopover there every trip.

Anyways thats it from me, I reckon mix it up a bit. I'm sure others can throw some opinions your way too.

Here's my tip albcesarx, Get in the surf as much as possible. Have a couple of beers to unwind after a full day of surfing, You can drink anytime, unless you are an alcoholic, then you will probably hit the piss no matter what your logical mind tells you is a good idea. I would rather have the memory of great waves and barrels than some stinking nightclub and a hangover. Get in the surf mate, enjoy it and appreciate it. Live it up.

Verner.. I meant I do a bit of training so that I can AVOID getting concrete shoulders after surfing all day. At first I thought training was a stupid idea, but after seeing a mate of mine put in some effort at home in the lead up to a trip I was convinced. By the time we had surfed our guts out and got on the boat we were dead and he would be fresh as. I don't do anything serious, but try and be in good shape before I leave so I can make the most of it.