Woke up early. Checked the weather and it looked like it was going to be a hot day. Originally I had planned on wearing a bikini top but decided to wear my 2 piece swimwear instead. I put on sunscreen generously all over my body so I wouldn’t get sunburnt.

Arrived at the beach early. This time we started from Tungku Beach. Water was so so calm with no waves at all. Such a perfect condition for an open water swim or SUP session.

The session started with light stretches before we hit the water.

I started my watch after I got onto my board. Hopefully this time, since I enabled the heart rate monitor, it can tell me the amount of calories that I burn from SUP.

I put to practice on what I’ve learnt about the 3P’s last week. I made sure that I didn’t bend my arms and my back when I paddled and I surprised myself when I noticed it was so easy to paddle this time.

Stephen was sharing about wind shadow and how to spot wind shadow during paddling.

We paddled across river mouth and continued until we reached a bay.

From here we stopped and brought our boards to the shore.

We practiced falling onto the water. This was first done without a board. Basically we just jumped on our feet and fell on our back and then on our front. I made sure that my arms were spread wide when I did this. I had no issue with falling on my back but after I did on my front, water got into my nose and it stings.

After we got the hang of falling, Stephen asked us to do drills. He demonstrated first on what he wanted us to do.

Leah started to practice with her board first. She practiced the 3 drills that Stephen asked of us.

After Leah was done, it was my turn.

After I was done then Stephen showed us how stable the boards are.

Then we paddled next to the rocks and we got to see corals! Some are blue and some are green.

We continued to paddle to the next bay.

On our way, I just couldn’t resist the clear green water. So I slowly got off the board and took a dip in the water. Leah and Stephen did the same.

I even swam breaststroke just for a bit. Then I got onto my board. It was such a relaxing morning that I decided to just sit as relaxed as I could.

I noticed that this time I was able to manouver the board so much better than my previous sessions. I already know how to slow myself down and also how to prevent my board from hitting others.

We slowed down as we got closer to the rocks and this time both Leah and I saw fishes! They’re black with yellow stripes. This is when I wished that I had brought my goggles and also my waterproof camera!

From here Stephen showed us how to do pivot turn. When I tried to do it, I fell into the water. I think I fell several times because I lost my balance. Stephen made a joke about me wanting to practice my fall. LOL 😬 I admit that it’s kinda fun now falling into the water because I now know how to get on my board.

To be honest, I find it interesting that once I knew how to get on the board, my fear of being on the water had disappeared. Because I no longer worried about me falling into the water, I got to enjoy what I was doing. I focused better on my paddling and where I was going.

It was a really peaceful morning. There were no boats in sight and the calm water helps with the forward movement of my board. I paddled so much better, I watched my posture and I had gain so much confidence in my own ability to SUP.

We headed back to where we left off and when I got off the board and turned off my watch. I was excited to see how many kilometers we paddled and of course the calories burn.

I was so surprised and disappointed that the watch didn’t record the GPS but fortunately it recorded the calories burn.

This got me frustrated. I’m like “what the hell did I do wrong this time!”. On my way home I checked my phone and apparently my GPS tracker on my watch was turned off. I truly don’t know how that happened. Last session, the GPS was working fine but the heart rate monitor wasn’t.

However, I received this image from Stephen that shows the GPS of our activity.

On the next session, I will make sure that both the GPS and the heart rate monitor are enabled before the start of my session.

Unfortunately there won’t be any lesson next week. The final session for us might be sometime in July. I guess I’m going to rest my skin from the sun for some time.

SUP images and videos are by Stephen from Surfskime.

Click here for my first SUP lesson.

Click here for my second SUP lesson.

Until the next SUP session,