A small outfit on a big, quiet bay
We run sea kayaking trips in south-west Lombok because we think it is the best paddling in Indonesia that nobody has heard of. We would like to keep it good.
Show people this coast without wearing it out
Adventure tourism can pay for the thing it depends on, or it can quietly eat it. We are trying hard to be the first kind.
Every trip we run is built to be small, quiet and locally supplied. We would rather take four people to an empty beach than twenty to a busy one, and we would rather buy lunch from a warung in Sekotong than ship it in from Mataram.
That is not only a values position. It is also the product — the reason to paddle here rather than the north-west Gilis is that it is still calm, still local and still largely undiscovered.
Six things we hold to
Local first
Guides, boat crew, bungalows, food and fuel are sourced within the district wherever there is a local option. Money from a trip should stay on the coast that hosted it.
Small groups
Four paddlers per guide, twelve on a trip at the very most. Small groups land more lightly, move faster and have a better time.
Leave nothing
Everything we carry in comes out with us, including other people’s litter. Every overnight trip includes a beach clean, and we log what we find.
Reef distance
No standing on coral, no anchoring on reef, reef-safe sunscreen only. We brief it before every launch and we mean it.
Honest grading
We will talk you out of a trip that is too hard for you. A bad day on grade 4 is worse for everyone than a good day on grade 2.
Weather wins
The guide’s call is final and it is never commercial. If it cannot run safely we reroute, reschedule or refund.
Proper boats, properly maintained
We run a fleet of expedition sea kayaks — rudders, sealed bulkheads, deck lines and dry hatches. They are longer, faster and far more seaworthy than the sit-on-top boats you will find on the tourist beaches, and they are what makes real island hopping possible.
Every paddler gets a fitted PFD, a spray deck, a dry bag and a snorkel set. Guides carry VHF, a first aid kit, tow line, spare paddle and pump. On multi-day routes a support jukung shadows the group carrying water, baggage and a spare boat.
Kit is checked at the end of every trip and replaced on a schedule, not when it fails.
Who takes you out
Our guides are from Sekotong and Lembar. Most grew up fishing this bay before they ever sat in a sea kayak, which means they read the water and the weather better than any forecast we could buy.
All hold current first aid and water rescue certification, and all are paid a full-time wage rather than trip-by-trip — so nobody has a financial reason to push a marginal weather call.
Team bios and photos to come
The bit between the paddling matters too
On multi-day trips you sleep in simple beach bungalows on Gili Asahan and Gili Layar — thatch, a fan, a cold shower and a deck facing the water. Nothing luxurious, everything comfortable.
Dinner is whatever came off the boats that afternoon, grilled over coconut husk. There is no nightlife out here, which is rather the point.
How this started
Two sea kayaks, a borrowed jukung and a hunch that the wrong side of Lombok was the right one.
Founding story to be written — this section is ready for the real account: who started Lombok Kayaking, when, what brought you to Sekotong rather than the north-west Gilis, and the first trip you ran.
A short, specific, human story does more work here than any amount of marketing copy. Two or three paragraphs is plenty.
Come and see it
Three hours or six days — either way you will end up on a beach nobody else is standing on.