Kategoria: SUP Tour

SUP Tour in Portugal

We have not be truly self if just few months after sup tour in Philippines wouldn’t have gone with sup boards to discover other country and new sup spots.

This time sup tour was much closer – in Europe – combining pleasure with work. We went to Portugal for Academy of Surfing Instructors Training – SUP Instructor L1 Flat Water and L2 Exposed water. We managed to pass all the training tests, also having primary care and emergency response and water rescue courses. I am first ASI certified Stand Up Paddle Instructor in Poland, but more about that in next blog post.

Here I am looking foward to share with you piece of information where to take your Stand Up Paddle board in Portugal. Where are the best SUP spots and what can you explore on sup in Portugal?

These and more you will find in text below.

 

While making online research before tour, I already have known that Portugal is a perfect place for Stand Up Paddle. Long coastline, popular surfers spot in Europe, amazing pictures of caves and cliffs – all of these looked very appealing to me! Stand up paddle is a popular watersport there for years. Even in 2016 Portugal had their official post stamp with an image of SUP surfer. I knew that in Portugal, no one will ever ask me why I use paddle to this surfing board.

We have started our SUP tour in Portugal by landing in Lisbon. It was not hard to get there as most of low fare airlines provide flight connections there. Without waiting a minute, we headed to Setubal – first planned sup spot.

Setubal nearby Lisbon

Setubal is small town located at Atlantic Ocean coast with kilometers of sandy bay and sweet water river in Natural Parc.

Town is famous for it’s ability to watch dolphins in their natural environment. At the boarder of the bay, there is a herd of dolphins with very friendly attitude towards people. It was amazing to see them in their natural surrondings, not in dolphinarium clapping for tourists’ entertainment.

Thank you guys from Rotas Do Sal  for awesome adventure to explore dolphins in Setubal bay.

Setubal has really nice coastline you can admire from paddleboard, few rocky islands and pleasant hidden beaches.

We have news for those searching for local stories. There is an abandon villa standing at the edge of one of cliffs in Setubal. From first hand local info, we got to know that it was french ambassador’s living in Portugal summer villa. Here Jackie Kennedy was hiding after attack on her husband J.F. Kennedy and here she was taking a rest after his death.

Extroadinery Algarve

Our sup tour aim in Portugal was region in the south – Algarve and small town named Sagres –  at the very end of portugeese coast. Further there is nothing, only ocean. Sagres has even it’s own tag on Instagram – Sagres at the end of the world – because further there is nothing, only Africa.

Sagres is a typical surfers spot. You will not find there random tourists. Every inhabitant is constantly checking swell forecast and is on a way to catch a wave. Town has amazing atmosphere because – even though it’s pretty cosy – there is a lot of surf shops and bars. As we got to know, during high season the amount of people living here triples, because of one of the best surf wave places in Europe.

Algarve’s coastline is extraordinary! Here you can find high cliffs, caves, hidden calm beaches between the rocks.

Professional costline exploration including entering the caves and cliff jumping is named coasteering and has its special guides who can lead groups to spots known only by locals. These people know entry points to caves and cliffs you can climb and safely jump off to the ocean.

You can book a tour to explore coastline and hardly accessible caves. What is even better you can explore it on stand up paddle board with Nelson from Coastline Algarve.

He is very chilled guy, who abandon surfing for stand up paddle. We highly recommend his sup tours and hope to visist him in September with group of sup enthusiasts from Poland.

The most beautiful cave in Portugal – Praia De Benagil

This is a breath taking place to visit. Accesible only from the ocean – best on Stand up paddle board – better get there before tourists passion for charming selfies. We recommend morning tour. It is the most beautiful cave in Portugal with interior beach lightened with sun comming through the hole in the ceiling. Energy there is amazing.

Echo of waves braking on rocks, tree light points which bring sunlight, especially the upper one, which gives you oportunity to have sunbath on sand, in a cave. It is amazing!

This fact of nature is hard to explain. Somehow gravity there completly messed up and started to destroy the rocks from the bottom to the top. It is natural phenomenon in Europe. Place with extraordinery energy.

I have spent there 2 hours just sitting on sand and listening to the sound of waves in full sun. In my opinion yoga session there would be unforgettable experience. Most probably Asian guy had the same impression, because he didn’t move for long minutes from there and was consatantly destroying my picture frame.

All Algarve region is scenic with interesting coastline. Charming spots make it perfect sup tour destination in Europe. Moreover sunsets there are unique and different then anyway else.

SUP Tour Philippines

20 March 2017
Posted in SUP Tour, Tagged , , ,

Nothing is better then travelling and exploring new places. It is even better to travel with Stand Up Paddle board. This post desribes our sup tour in Phillipines with Bass boards.

First question which appeared after booking flight tickets to Manila – capitol of Philippines – was how to transport the boards? It was first time we planned trip with these non-standard luggage and we had few concerns. How to pack boards properly to avoid any demages during transportation? How to check-in luggage? How to pack fragile paddle? There were a lot of questions, but now we are the experts.

If you are interested in tips how to transport stand up paddle board by plain check supsurfer.pl article where we described in details how we packed (sorry, it’s in polish only)

Stand Up Paddle boards which we took with us are produced by only polish SUP brand – Bass. These were iSUPs (inflatable stand up paddle boards) models: Breeze and not yet available on market, board we called Almond, which we got from Bass team for testing purpose.

Plan for Philippines was to try also SUP surfing, that’s why wider Breeze board model was great solution. Almond is a wave board model, so also ideally fitted to our plans. Both boards were pretty light, Breeze weight was around 10 kg and Almond even less because around 7 kg. This is only the weight of boards itself, we had to add paddle, pump, fins and backpacks. However whole luggage was less then 20 kg each, so sports equipment together with our private staff in backpack was checked-in at the airport without any problems.

Below you can find map with our sup tour route marked. Phillipines are spread among 7 tousands bigger and smaller islands. We had a hard choice to decide where to go. Finally we planned few internal flights, which was the most effective way of transportation beetwen the islands.

sup tour na Filipinach

After landing in capitol of Philippines – Manila – we headed to the north to search for SUP surf spots.

Surf spot no. 1 Baler – East Coast

First spot we have visited – it was Baler city at the east coast of Luzon Island. Luzon is the biggest from all Philippines islands. Surfing conditions there are amazing. Coast is washed by big waves of Philippinian Sea.
Unfortunatelly SUP surfer beginner can only watch there tricks presented by more experienced surfers. Waves, which we have seen were up to 5 meters. This is not a SUP surf spot where you can learn teh basics. Wave conditions
require experience in SUP surfing. It was even hard to get on water without being constantly turned back to the shore by upcomming waves. Definately this is a spot for SUP surf ninjas.
sup tour na Filipinach
sup tour na Filipinach


Surf spot no.2 San Juan, La Union – West Coast

Our next stop, this time perfect for SUP surfer beginners – San Juan. San Juan was more welcoming with smaller waves and huge amount of surfers learning there. All of them, starting from kids to adults, were tryin to catch a wave. First surf school was established here in ’80s, so this is a spot with surf tradition. It was also a great spot for long distance paddling nearby shore, as further from the coast, water was pretty calm and without waves. We got to know from the locals, that here are also SUP yoga classes organised. San Juan is a good spot for SUP surf beginners, however other places we’ve visited in Phillipines were more breath taking because of nature and surroundings.

SUP tour with SUP Tours Philippines on Bohol island

After first internal flight on Bohol Island, we decided to visit first place in the world where sup tours started to be organised – SUP Tours Philippines. Resort is located in 45 min car crive distance from main city. Placed next to amazing Loboc river is an eco&organic lifestyle spot. We stayed here for the night in bamboo bungalow (Fox and the Firefly Cottages) and next day joined sup tour on Loboc river. Stand Up Paddle on a calm river surrounded by palms in a scenry as Amazonka river was amazing. We felt like explorers discovering virgin exotic areas.
Sup tour finished on a beach, where we have found lost till now Bass team member – #likeaboss.
sup tour Filipiny
sup tour na Filipinach

Eco Bee Farm Resort i Panglao Island

Going with the eco flow next days we have spent on a bee farm on Panglao island. Bee Farm Resort is a place where bees are breed and from their honey various organic products are made. There is also organic vegetables farm and workshops with handmade products to support Phillipino manufacturers. This is a fantastic place for all organic freaks! Shop in resort is full of natural cosmetics, organic honey products, organic fruits, vegetables, tea, spices, eco souvenirs, rafia bags… everything 100% eco and handmade.
Panglao island has a lot to offer for stand up paddle boarders. Pretty coastaline and hidden beaches are my favourite thing. We have booked a boat and together with friendly belgian couple spent whole day island hopping.

El Nido – amazing Stand Up Paddle spot

After flight from Bohol island to Puerto Princessa on Palawan island and half day ride by van, we reached our destination, the most beautiful place we have seen in Philippines – El Nido. El Nido is the real dream spot for Stand Up Paddlers and tourists as well. Town is located in awesome harbour surrounded by fully green, rocky islands. Breathtaking! The best thing to do in El Nido is to hire a boat with a crew and do the island hopping to discover all paradise beaches, lagoons and small islands nearby. There is a lot of coral reefs all around El Nido therefore it is a great diving and snorkeling spot. SUP boards were with us every day on a boat while island hopping. With stand up paddle boards we could reach hidden beaches and explore lagoons.
One day we have rented scooters and drove with SUP backpacks to a wide beach nearby 40 km from the town. El Nido is a dream spot for Stand Up Paddle.

During our SUP Tour Phillipines we were travelling with SUP boards with very different kinds of transportation. Starting from flight by plain to typical philippino tricycle. It was unforgettable experience!
If you have visisted Philippines or you have travelled with SUP, please share your experience in comments below. Waiting to connect with other SUP travellers!
To see more pictures from sup tour in Philippines check our suptours.pl instagram account.
See ya on water!