Surfing and yoga are the main focus for us.
If you love beaches and water sports then Selong Blanak is heaven for you with good surfing, swimming, diving, fishing and sailing in the immediate vicinity. That’s originally what brought us here. There is of course beach after empty beach to explore.
On dry land once here we found the tranquil hills behind to be perfect for practicing yoga, and the hills/tobacco/rice fields awesome for hiking, mountain biking , cross training, and horse-riding.
Surprisingly we also found heading only 1hr inland took us to quaint mountain villages, beautiful terraced rice valleys, rivers and waterfalls all at the base of the mighty Mt Rinjani. You can actually see Rinjani from the hill tops behind our property on a clear morning, a sight to behold.
So from lush mountains to empty beaches and everything in between, there’s a lot to do in terms of activities.
The waves in Bali are undoubtedly world class…Uluwatu, Padang, Bingin, Balangan, Canggu, Keramas…etc but unfortunately so is the crowd. We can surf agro crowded waves at home. We’d rather surf lesser but still fun tropical waves with much less people in much more beautiful surroundings. Especially given we spend 40hrs sitting behind a desk per week.
Lombok has more intermediate surf spots with less people meaning the average surfer gets more waves. Simple. 5 spots during the dry, an additional 4 during the wet all within 1hrs drive. With access to a boat, even more spots open up. During large swells a variety of other quality spots start breaking such the infamous Desert Point in the SW (3hrs), Gilli Meno (4hrs) and Ekas Bay in the SE (2hrs). You have a lot of options, knowing the coast and the tides is important.
We're located in Selong Blanak because Lombok’s most consistent quality dry season wave Mawi is around headland to left (10min), whilst one of its most consistent quality wet season waves Serangan is out from headland to right (10min). Below and in front we have the beautiful Selong Blanak beach and Yoshi’s Point (5min) – perfect for learning, standup paddle-boarding, kayaking or just swimming. The leeward end is where fishermen launch their boats from.
At present the yoga, holistic and spa activities have focused in Sengigi and the Gilli's out West, with the exception of Ashtari near Kuta Lombok. In saying that theyre still a long way behind Bali and whats happening in Ubud. This we want and intend to change.
We'll have a dedicated yoga studio at the resort you're welcome to use and plan to run a regular yoga schedule (Bikram, Ashtanga, Power and Hatha) in addition to more specific 1-2 week retreats. Not just yoga retreats but also meditation and personal training. Its obviously dependent on our ability to draw the right teachers.
We'll also have a small spa at the resort. Nothing too crazy, but if you’re in desperate need of neck and shoulder after a long flight, crying out for a facial or simply would rather someone else run a treatment through your hair, it's a stones throw away.
The local music scene is comprised of the odd home-made guitar and a kid banging two coconuts. Not much more. However we plan to change that at the resort with our own music and art studio. And yes you have access.
Whether its simply listening to our exhaustive selection of digital music or picking up one of our guitars, we want you to get involved. We plan to have a large digital music library to browse and load to your Ipod and a selection of instruments at the resort to play.
The art scene is more developed and centered around colorful textiles and pottery just inland. For a look at traditional arts and music you can visit some of the small artisan villages ½ hour away. There's a place in Hong Kong called Art Jam, where you have a few drinks with your friends, play some tunes and get the paintbrushes out. Its basically that with our gallery and small library attached.
Music and art go together like cheese and wine, combine all 4 together and you have a fun filled afternoon. And who doesn't like to curl up on holiday with a good book!
Many walking trails meander down through the hills to the rice paddies and tobacco fields below. From there a network of dirt trails suitable for mountain/trail bikes/walking weave their way through the fields and village huts to the beaches and headlands 1.7km infront.
Its completely safe and a lot of fun exploring. We’re not mountain bike buffs, but we like to hike and the hill trails aren’t too steep and are well tracked by the local buffalo. Infact apart from the odd goat or monkey that’s probably all the traffic you’re going to see.
Take your camera, some good shoes and a bottle of water.
In terms of surf there’s a variety of forms on offer at Selong unlike other locations. We have waves suitable for longboards, shortboards, fishes, sea kayaks or standup paddle boards.
For advanced surfers picturesque Mawi is our go to wave everyday and the infamous Desert Point our pick when the swell is up. For beginners postcard perfect Selong beach is the best place to learn to surf. For everyone else there's half a dozen spots within half an hour’s drive.
Windsurfers and kiteborders have an ideal sideshore/onshore wind at Selong beach, but the wind rarely gusts consistently above 20 knots making it less desirable for advanced riders than say Vietnam or Philippines. Perfect for beginners though. In terms of wind sports Selong is better suited for sailing, on one of the Indonesian style cat's.
Underwater at nearby Belongas Bay the diving and fishing is superb. At the bay's entrance and offshore you'll find mackerels, tunas, barracudas, eagle rays, manta rays and at certain times of the year hammerhead sharks schooling. Its an exposed coastline so the diving is typically advanced. However for the novice diver and snorkel enthusiasts (most of us) there are of course lagoons and protected bays more suited. Offshore is some excellent bluewater suitable for trolling for some of the larger pelagic (yellow fins, marlin, swordfish) but at the moment no suitable commercial operators service the area. Divezone is your best bet for diving and game fishing.
http://www.divezone-lombok.com/dive_southeast_lombok.html
