Heading to bali in july. Not sure on what size board to bring? Currently riding a 5'10 firewire dominator @76kg. Will this be enough? I wont be surfing big 6-10ft waves as I'm not at that level yet.

Second question - I know Bali is usually pumping around July, can anyone suggest some breaks that won't kill me? We were thinking of staying in Uluwatu but if this will be super heavy then it might be wise to stay somewhere else .

I'd say I go outside my comfort level when Margaret river is at around 2.5m, so anything less heavy than this would be ideal :)

Cheers guys

You should be fine with the dominator - you should expect clean waves in warm water, so less need for added volume. As for waves, go and search! There are heaps of fun waves around the place that aren't as heavy/crowded as the well know waves on he Bukit.

Balian should be a quiet spot for a paddle at the moment

I'd like to see you at Margies at 2.5m on a 5'10". That would be entertaining.

You'll be fine on the FireWire unless it gets solid.

Sorry was referring to smaller point breaks like Gas and South Point

Just stick to the reefs around Kuta until you find your feet then head out to the Bukit if your feeling confident...if your going to Ulu's I'd recommend going on a small day on a dropping tide...it will make management of the cave a lot easier

You can usually find a section to yourself or with not too many crew along Impossibles & walk down to Dreamland on the low tide for some fun ones. I'd say stay along there but they've just had a fire on the Padang Padang side. So that could have effected accomodation options a bit. Heaps of places though, I wouldn't book anything till I got there & found somewhere away from the smell of charred warungs & stuff.

Ulus has many moods with the tides, so you would probably find a wave at some point of the tide depending on swell size. I like staying at Blue Point Villas, the two storey villa's are very cool. I've been bumped up to the Honeymoon suite a couple of times coz of Chinese weddings booking out the villas. That one looks out over racetracks & has its own pool, epic but pricey if you have to pay the usual price.

Places along Impossibles are heaps cheaper. Balangan also has plenty of accomodation options now, just surf more to the north end of the beach if its a bit big for you.

The firewire dominator is great all round board. Not suited for bigger waves, but thats not what your chasing so it will be fine.

Ok so, booking during mid July. From experience would it be better to just book my places now or wait until I get there, suss it out and then decide?

We were thinking of staying in Canggu because the waves arent as heavy as Ulu however if the swell is small we will likely head down to Uluwatu.

Secondly, we are heading to Gilli T for 2nights to do some free diving.

Personally I think we will just book 1 night in canggu when we arrive. If the swell is small and if there is forecast swell to come in later in the week we will head to Gilli T but then come back down when the swell comes in.

If the swell is small all week we will probably head down to Ulu and then up to Gili T

Just curious if there's a massive price difference if we don't book now vs booking in when we get there. Also if anyone has any recommendations on where to stay in Canggu I.e near good breaks / not too busy that'd be sweet
Same goes for Gili T. We are all 19-20 so don't bother mentioning nice 5 star villas.

Really appreciate all the info given so far

Canggu is always going to be busy - but at that time, so will most of Bali Who are you travelling with? I've stayed at a place called ecosefera, it's a 2 minute walk from echo beach which has a left reef break and a wedgey beach break, and there is a right hand river mouth a short walk north. It picks up a fair bit of swell. Book a couple of nights and go from there.

Book your first couple of nights then just cruise round and decide where you want to go... The only issue may be if you are going during July school holidays sometimes accomodation can get a bit difficult to get.
Uluwatu is like a circus now when it's small