Water Sports in Bali

Bali is where a lot of people learn to surf, and the island runs two seasons rather than one. From April to October the trade winds blow offshore on the west coast and the Bukit, which is when Uluwatu and Padang Padang fire for advanced surfers and Kuta, Legian and Canggu stay gentle enough for schools. From November to March the east coast takes over.
Best Places: Kuta and Canggu to learn, Uluwatu and Padang Padang once you can

Bali's best known dive is the USAT Liberty at Tulamben, a US Army Transport torpedoed in 1942 and now lying in shallow water close enough to shore to swim out to. Menjangan Island off the northwest has shallow reefs plus the eel garden and anchor wreck, and Amed and Sanur are the easy end, with reefs and artificial reef structures in calm water.
Best Places: Tulamben, Menjangan Island, Amed, Sanur

You do not need a licence to see the good stuff here. Nusa Penida is the one for oceanic sunfish and giant manta rays, Padangbai has two sheltered coves in Blue Lagoon and Bias Tugel, and at Tulamben the USAT Liberty wreck sits shallow enough that snorkellers can look down on it from the surface.
Best Places: Nusa Penida, Padangbai, Tulamben

The Ayung is Bali's longest river and the place most people start, with class I and II rapids and put-ins at Petang or Campuhan, running through gorge walls carved with reliefs. The Telaga Waja in east Bali is the step up, with class II and III water and a longer run. Both are half-day trips from Ubud.
Best Places: Ayung River, Telaga Waja River

Tanjung Benoa is the centre of Bali's boat-towed water sports and parasailing is the signature one: a parachute lifted off a speedboat for a few minutes over the bay. Beginners go tandem with a guide in the harness; solo flights are available if you have done it before. A guide rides the boat either way.
Best Places: Tanjung Benoa, Kuta, Seminyak

Fifteen minutes on a jet ski across Tanjung Benoa bay, usually with an instructor riding pillion on your first run. Operators include the life jacket and the instructor in the price; insurance normally is not included, so ask. The bay is sheltered, which is why almost every operator on the island works out of it.
Best Places: Tanjung Benoa, Kuta, Seminyak

A long inflatable strapped behind a speedboat, seating about five including the guide, and the cheapest way to get a group onto the water. Life jackets are standard and a guide rides both the banana and the boat. Tanjung Benoa's calm water is where it happens, and the driver decides how hard you get thrown off.
Best Places: Tanjung Benoa

The no-experience alternative to diving: you climb down a ladder in a weighted helmet and walk on the seabed while air is piped down to you, so there is no tank and no course. Tours run about 30 minutes with an instructor alongside. Sanur and Tanjung Benoa are the two places that offer it.
Best Places: Sanur, Tanjung Benoa

An inflatable raft that lifts clear of the water behind a speedboat, so you are half riding and half flying. Riders lie flat and hold on while the driver uses the wake and the wind to get the nose up. It is one of the Tanjung Benoa cluster and usually sold in a package with the banana boat and the donut.
Best Places: Tanjung Benoa

A donut-shaped inflatable towed behind a speedboat. The two-seater is light and gets thrown around, which is the point; the four-seater is steadier and the one to pick with children. Rides are short, a few minutes each, and it is almost always bundled with the other towed rides at Tanjung Benoa.
Best Places: Tanjung Benoa

Also sold as a water jetpack. You strap into boots fed by a hose from a jet ski's engine, and the water jet lifts you five to fifteen metres clear of the surface. The first session is mostly about staying upright; people who have done it before throw in flips and dives. Tanjung Benoa runs it.
Best Places: Tanjung Benoa, Nusa Dua

A self-propelled submersible scooter with a clear air bubble over your head, so you stay dry from the neck up and need no diving skill at all. Operators run it over the reef off Tanjung Benoa in Nusa Dua, usually as a short guided loop for two people at a time.
Best Places: Tanjung Benoa, Nusa Dua

Harder than it looks: a short board with bindings, towed behind a speedboat or a cable system, and it asks for balance and stamina before it gives you anything back. Tanjung Benoa has boat tows, and Bali Wake Park in Denpasar runs a cable system, which is the better place to learn because the pull is steady.
Best Places: Bali Wake Park in Denpasar, Tanjung Benoa

The calm-water option, and the one you can do at sunrise before the wind picks up. Sanur, Tanjung Benoa and the sheltered end of Kuta all have boards to rent, and Sanur's flat lagoon inside the reef is the easiest water on the island for a first go. Most operators rent by the hour.
Best Places: Sanur, Tanjung Benoa, Kuta

Two different sports under one name here. Sea kayaking works out of Sanur, Nusa Dua and Amed, where you can paddle out over the reef in flat morning water. River kayaking is the Ayung and the Telaga Waja, the same rivers the rafts use, run as guided descents rather than anything you take on alone.
Best Places: Sanur and Amed on the sea, Ayung and Telaga Waja on the rivers

Bali's wind season is short: June to September, with July and August the most reliable. Sanur is the beginner spot, with flat water inside the reef and onshore wind at around 15 knots, and it is where the schools are. Nusa Dua and Canggu are for experienced kiters; Canggu is gusty and offshore, so not a place to learn.
Best Places: Sanur to learn, Nusa Dua and Canggu once you can

The old-school option, and still a good one on Bali's east coast where the same wind that feeds the kite season works for sails. Sanur and Nusa Dua have the flat, shallow water beginners need, and the schools there rent rigs by the hour. You need to be a confident swimmer before anyone puts you on a board.
Best Places: Sanur, Nusa Dua, Canggu

Towed behind a powerboat on two skis or one, along the Tanjung Benoa and Nusa Dua stretch where the water stays flat. It takes more from your arms and legs than the towed inflatables do, and most operators will run a short instructed session before letting you go on your own.
Best Places: Tanjung Benoa, Nusa Dua

You hold a pair of small wings towed slowly behind a boat and steer yourself up, down and through rolls underwater, on a breath rather than a tank. In Bali it runs off Nusa Penida, where freediving operators add it to snorkelling trips over the reef. No swimming effort is needed since the boat does the work.
Best Places: Nusa Penida

A single rubber ring down a river instead of a raft, which puts you lower in the water and makes small rapids feel bigger. The Pakerisan and the Penet are the gentle ones and the usual first-timer choice; the Ayung and the Telaga Waja are the serious runs. Trips go with a guide and pass through gorges and plantations.
Best Places: Pakerisan and Penet to start, Ayung and Telaga Waja for more