What’s Out: Windsurfing and jet skis
What’s In: Stand up paddle boarding (SUP)
As synchronized swimming fell out of favor after the 1950s and windsurfing mania waned in the 1990s, another wet trend has emerged: Paddle boarding. And with so many hotels getting in on the action and upping the game (yoga paddle boarding, anyone?), we think it may just be here for awhile.
For the luxury crowd, Raffles Praslin Seychelles offers complimentary stand up paddle boarding so guests can take in the stunning Indian Ocean scenery. If your main goal is to simply enjoy the Seychelles' waters aboveboard and not below, the resort also launched hourly lessons for new users, with an expert teaching you the proper way to stand on the board, keep balance and paddle (what -- all at the same time??).
Another luxe resort, the Paresa Resort in Phuket, Thailand offers straight-up SUP, but then raises the challenge level by combining stand up paddle boarding with yoga. Their “Yoga on the Ocean” program begins at sunrise or sunset when you paddle your board out on the indigo Andaman Sea and enjoy a yoga class floating on your watery yoga mat.
The Fairmont Orchid, on Hawaii's Big Island, is totally into the SUP craze, even going so far as to coin a phrase for the cumbersome “stand up paddle boarding yoga” (at least we haven’t heard it before -- have you?): Flo-Yo (Floating Yoga). Love it! Go with the Flow: Flo-Yo (Floating Yoga) is a total core workout for yogis, newbies and everyone in between where you glide out into the ocean waters before performing sun salutations, downward facing dog and other sundry balancing poses.
Extract from hotel chatter article by Janice Tober
