Six Islands, No Surf

After a few days exploring Singapore, we traded skyscrapers for seaplanes and headed north into Indonesia.

There are more than 17,000 islands scattered across the Indonesian archipelago, but only six make up Bawah Reserve. It’s one of those places that leaves you wondering why you hadn’t heard of it sooner.

Just a short seaplane flight from Singapore, the city disappears beneath the wings and suddenly you’re surrounded by turquoise lagoons, untouched jungle and coral reefs that seem to stretch forever. Reef sharks cruise the shallows, turtles drift past and the water is so ridiculously blue it almost looks edited.

The Bawah Reserve Resort opened in 2018 after years of careful planning by British sailor Tim Hartnoll. Sustainability sits at the heart of everything here. No heavy machinery was used during construction. Every piece of timber, every stone and every building material arrived by boat before being assembled by hand. Walking around the island, it’s hard to comprehend the amount of work that went into creating something so refined while leaving such a light footprint.

The resort describes itself as a tented retreat, but “tent” hardly does it justice. Canvas walls may surround you, but inside it’s beautifully designed, incredibly comfortable and thoughtfully understated. The kind of place you could happily disappear to for far longer than planned.

One thing Bawah doesn’t have is surf.

Normally that would be a problem. This time, not even slightly.

Instead, the days are filled with snorkelling straight from the jetty, paddleboarding across glassy lagoons, sailing between islands, hiking through the rainforest or simply finding a shady hammock and doing very little at all. Every guest also receives a complimentary massage each day, which makes forgetting about waves surprisingly easy.

The weather has barely changed since we arrived. Twenty-nine degrees during the day. Twenty-nine degrees at night. Twenty-nine-degree water. A steady sea breeze keeps everything comfortable and the pace wonderfully slow.

At Aquabumps, travel has always been about more than chasing surf. It’s about chasing light, finding inspiration and creating memories together as a family. Bawah delivers all three in abundance.

Our next stop is the Maldives.

We’ll let you know who wins the blue-water competition.

See more of The Bawah Reserve Resort from our instagram galleries here and here.