Bali, Indonesia: Photo gallery

Photos and captions by correspondent Sydney Pfaff.

Above: On the western side of the Bukit Peninsula, Balangan Beach sits quietly surrounded by cliffs with just a few bungalows, a couple of small restaurants, and a handful of warungs.

Loud and crowded with tourists (specifically loads of Aussies), Kuta Beach is a very active surf spot. One of the most famous spots in Bali, this alley separates some of the most dense streets in Kuta, not far from the popular gay clubs and nightlife haunts of Seminyak.  

Away from the coast and surrounded by rice paddies, Ubud is a peaceful area of Bali once you leave the town center. There are a handful of bungalows situated right in the middle of some of the paddies, just like this one here. 

With some of the most gorgeous (and green) pathways in Bali, Ubud is known for its traditional Balinese culture -- and known to many as "the real Bali" due to the strong presence of ancient arts and religious temples.

On the southern most tip of the Bukit, between the cliffs of Uluwatu, surfers flawk here for one of the most popular surfbreaks in Bali. Home to the one of the most spectacular temples in Bali, Uluwatu is home to many high-end villas and beautiful cliffside views (and sneaky monkey thieves ready to pick your pockets).

South Beach workout SEP 25-27: Fitness from A to Z

Photo courtesy Z Ocean Hotel

Z Ocean Hotel, a chic, intimate, luxury boutique hotel on Ocean Drive in the heart of South Beach is teaming up with Crunch Fitness to offer  Z-Fit: Personal Fitness Weekend -- a unique way to stay fit while on vacation. The Z-Fit Personal Fitness Weekend, led by a Crunch instructor, will take place Sept. 25-27, 2009. Participants will begin each day with Z Ocean’s Spa Breakfast, including fresh fruit, juices, yogurt and more. Following the energizing breakfast on Saturday morning, fitness enthusiasts will engage in an invigorating 90-minute beach workout with a Crunch instructor.

The intense session on Miami Beach will focus on all muscle groups delivering a complete workout.  From stretches and lunges to sit ups and sprints, the beach boot camp-ists will feel the burn, made even more effective because of the pliancy of the sand.  After the boot camp session, guests will partake in a Q&A with the instructor to address their individual fitness concerns before heading back to the hotel for a revitalizing dip Z Ocean’s glass-bottom pool and some poolside refreshments. The Z-Fit Personal Fitness Weekend at Z Ocean Hotel South Beach is available for $478 for the two night stay, excluding taxes and resort fees. Space is limited. To reserve a spot in the boot camp, guests can call toll free 877-688-4232. All participants will be eligible to enter to win a Crunch Annual Membership and a 3-day, 2-night stay at Z Ocean Hotel South Beach.  

Value Watch: Brahma Blue, Belize

Photos courtesy of Brahma Blue
Story by Olga Bas

Located on the island of Ambergris Caye in Belize, the Brahma Blue luxury resort presents an Out Traveler exclusive deal to those looking for an idyllic getaway in the Caribbean. When you book the Suite Life, the Divers Delight, or the Give Thanks packages by November 1st and mention the code OT Belize, you will receive a %15 discount on the package price.

Suite Life ($2,798 for 7 days for a party of four) offers accommodations in a three-bedroom penthouse suite, which can house up to five additional guests. The suite comes with a personal butler/chef, who will prepare breakfast, which is included in the room price, and dinner according to your wishes.

 Divers Delight ($2,198 for 7 days; based on double occupancy) includes daily diving trips to the Blue Hole barrier reef at Turneffe Atoll. The two-bedroom, high-ceilinged condo is equipped with a fully-furnished kitchen and sunset and sunrise views. Continental breakfast sans chef is included.

Give Thanks ($250 per night; based on double occupancy) invites you to enjoy a tropical Thanksgiving in a two-bedroom condo with a fully-furnished granite counter-top kitchen. During your stay you can snorkel the local barrier reef -- which happens to be the second largest in the world, -- dive the world famous Blue Hole, visit the ancient temples of the Mayan civilizations. Continental breakfast is included in the room price.

Daily complimentary yoga class, led by an instructor at the pool or on the beach, takes place every morning. The Brahma Blue grounds include the water-top Blue Lotus Restaurant. Found on the edge of a pier and giving out to a clear view of San Pedro across the water, it serves Caribbean cuisine.

Travel tip: It's hard to pack lightly when you must bring enough changes of clothes to last you your whole trip. Consider packing less clothing and using local Laundromats or even hand washing smaller items in your hotel room to replenish your wardrobe; it'll save on packing space!

Value Watch: U.S. Virgin Islands Getaway

Photos courtesy of Visit USVI
Story by Olga Bas

Take a dip offshore in the U.S. Virgin Islands to savor perfect year-round temperatures and a gay-friendly vibe. For travel through Oct. 31, each of the three major islands -- St. Croix, St. John, and St. Thomas -- have two specials for visitors.

The Intimate Treasures promotion highlights the islands' boutique hotels and includes a $50 dining coupon, $50 in attractions and activities coupons, and an eco-friendly gift bag with a bottle of rum, T-shirt, and other giveaways. Gay-owned Villa Greenleaf and gay-friendly Hibiscus Beach Hotel on St. Croix are among the small hotels that are participating. The full list can be found on the Visit USVI site. The package must be booked directly with the hotel or through your travel agent; when booking, use code SHP2009.

The Sizzlin' Sampler promotion also offers a $50 dining voucher and $50 off attractions and activities, but amps it up with a $300 discount on airfare, a $500 coupon booklet, and your fourth hotel night free. Gay-owned Sand Castle on the Beach, also located on St. Croix, is included in the promotion; find out more through one of the USVI's booking partners, such as American Airlines Vacations or Spirit Vacations, or view the full list on the Visit USVI site.

A minimum stay of four nights is required for both promotions and bookings must be made by Oct. 15.

Travel tip: Not all hotels feature wake-up calls, and using your cell phone alarm means leaving the phone on and vulnerable to middle-of-the-night calls (that come with international charges when you’re traveling abroad). Pack a small, battery-powered alarm clock for your trip instead.

Value Watch: Garden Gate Bed & Breakfast, Maui

Photos courtesy of Garden Gate B&B
Story by Olga Bas

Get your aloha on at the six-unit Garden Gate B&B, located on a residential street outside old Lahaina town in west Maui, a mile from the Kaanapali coastline. Mention Out Traveler when booking a stay of more than seven nights and knock 10% off all room rates.

Standard suites ($89*) offer mountain views and partial ocean views, deluxe studios ($149*) are equipped with a deck and a  king-size bed, while oceanview suites ($169*) -- besides the obvious ocean view -- come with a private sitting area/sundeck and a Jacuzzi. Each unit has a private entrance and a beautiful view -- no brick walls or neon signs here! Continental breakfast with self-serve coffee, tea, juice, and assorted breakfast snacks are available in the dining room every morning, except on the weekends.

The property houses a tropical garden with a stream running through it where you can spot some of the local flora and fauna. Complimentary boogie boards, coolers, beach chairs, and beach mats are on hand. An impressive array of activities is also within reach, if lazing around all day doesn't sound like the perfect vacation: Submarine tours dip 130 feet underwater into the realm of colorful coral reefs and tropical fish, traditional luaus highlight Hawaiian cuisine, music, and cultural dances like the hula, and helicopter flights soar over the jungles of the island chain.

*All rates mentioned are summer rates and due to change.

Travel tip: Carry more than one credit card with you, as some cards are not accepted everywhere -- American Express, for example -- or you may lose one. Keep a copy of your credit card information in case it is stolen, so you may cancel it immediately.

Easy, Breezy (affordable) Key West

Photo: Courtesy Eden House
Story by Nif Leder

As summer heats up into August, our minds here at Out Traveler begin wandering towards beach-y, breezy, blue shores. Recession woes, sadly, mean that those ten days in Mykonos or Tahiti might have to wait 'til greener times.

Still, that doesn't mean we have to stay stuck in a humid haze all summer. Key West, after all, is just a comparably affordable hop, skip and jump away.

With 35 years of experience behind them, the Eden House ($95-$440; 1015 Fleming Street; 800-533-5397) has gotten very good at serving that slice of paradise without having to leave the states. Between the ubiquitous hammocks, waterfalls flowing into ponds, and all the secret spots that make this house feel like home, the Eden House is great, private-feeling gay-friendly guesthouse for those who need to escape. They even have a library if you lose your book on the beach. (Eden House offers a mixed environment, with a predominantly straight clientele.)

That said, it is in the heart of Key West, so there's plenty nightlife for burning off poolside days. Five blocks away lands you in prime partying territory, Duval Street. The Eden House is also two blocks from the docks and a bunch of favorite local food stops, though you can have your own charcoal grill at the guesthouse or visit their restaurant, Azur.

The Deal:
May 1 -- Dec. 20
Stay three nights; get the fourth night half-off.  
Stay six nights; get the seventh night free. 

Sept., Oct., and Dec. 1 -- 20:  
20% off Sunday -- Thursday

Tour Operator Spotlight: Spirit Journeys

Photos courtesy of Spirit Journeys
Story by Olga Bas

Spirit Journeys
(1-800-754-1875, www.spiritjourneys.com, info@spiritjourneys.com)

About: True to its name, Spirit Journeys strives to not only provide memorable trips to exotic locales, but also to create opportunities for mental, emotional, and spiritual growth. The company offers gay travel adventures lasting 12 to 16 days that are filled with visits to off-the-beaten-path parts of the destination, and weeklong retreats or workshops that focus on creating a community within the group, with the tour guides acting as teachers. In addition to soul searching and yoga, there are also ample opportunities for poolside tanning and shopping.

Price range: $995-4,095

Upcoming trips: "Together" is the first retreat for gay male couples, set for April 24-May 1, 2010 on beautiful, secluded Thatch Caye Island off the south-central coast of Belize. The goal of the 10-couple retreat is "to connect deeper with the man you love, as well as a chance for relaxation and play." Days are filled with outdoor activities such as fishing, snorkeling, scuba diving, and kayaking (daily and other trips included in package); there are also daily exploratory group sessions dealing with the subjects of unconditional love, acceptance, etc. You have the choice of staying in one of the five Thatch Cabanas or one of the five elevated Thatch Casitas (little homes); the group is taking over the island in its entirety.

Deals and steals: When you register early for any of the trips offered by Spirit Journeys, you will save $100. Deadlines vary by trip. Register for the featured couples retreat by November 1, 2009 and you'll pay as little as $1,595.

Let's Hear it for the Lesbians

Story by LoAnn Halden; Photos Courtesy Girls in Wonderland

Gay Days parties are changing fast and furiously, but Girls In Wonderland is dodging the controversy.

For once, there doesn't seem to be any dyke drama. Girls in Wonderland, a weekend of Sapphic-centric events held during Gay Days at Disney World, returns for another Orlando run, June 4-7. More than 7,000 women are expected to attend the pool parties, luau, club events, concert, and signature Saturday night dance party at House of Blues.

The Marriott Courtyard Host Hotel is sold out and Pandora Events, the South Florida producers behind    the weekend, are already filling the co-host property, the neighboring Fairfield Inn. Even in this economic mess, it's still one of the largest women's events in the state -- and it benefits the National Center for Lesbian Rights.

Meanwhile, over on the boys' side of the kingdom, a Gay Days dethroning of sorts appears to be in the works. Johnny Chisholm's One Mighty Weekend abandoned its big-name venues for Friday and Saturday night's parties (June 5-6) over financial issues at the 11th hour. The Beach Ball, formerly held at Disney's Typhoon Lagoon, now unfolds at the OMW host hotel, the Buena Vista Palace, site of the daily Reunion pool parties. One Mighty Party, which so coolly incorporated Disney's Hollywood Studios and its best rides in previous years, will now be held at… the Gaylord Palms hotel. Um, okay. Tickets for these event are still $95 each, despite removing the theme park setting. (We'll let you do the math.)

Seems that this venue jump didn't go unnoticed. Typhoon Lagoon was snapped up in the aftermath and will still host a June 5 boy bash with DJ Lydia Prim; the party is dubbed Let's Go Play and benefits the AIDS agencies Hope and Help and Broward House. Tickets are $69.

Where will the guys go on Friday night? Remains to be seen. But over in Wonderland, the lesbians will be swinging from the rafters all weekend.

Welcome to Parrotdise

Story and photos by Aefa Mulholland

It seemed awfully early when five hung over drag queens, an off-duty conch shell (last seen serving flamboyant canapés at the previous evening’s cocktail party), and I slouched onto the shuttle in Miami, a noticeably more subdued crew than we had all been mere hours earlier.

The driver flicked on a DVD of Monster-in-Law, much to the conch’s delight, and we headed south down the Florida Keys. Marsh cotton, yellow lilies, and dolphin-shaped mailboxes dotted the sides of the highway. Fishermen cast lines into cartoon blue water and unwieldy pelicans flapped out of trees. “The scenery’s getting kinda purty, isn’t it?” said the driver.

We trundled past entertaining addresses such as Treasure Boulevard, Gumbo Limbo Avenue, Coco Plum Drive, Fish Supper Street and left intriguing options such as Mangrove Mama’s Restaurant, the Hungry Pelican Motel, and Curry Hammock State Park in our wake. Forty-two bridges, 100 islands, and 126 miles later we reached Key West and the end of the road. At least for the queens and the conch. I had a plane to catch.

My Key West Seaplanes flight roared off and was soon a hundred feet above the shimmering, turquoise Gulf of Mexico. It’s incredible how shallow the water is! I could actually see vast turtles swimming in slow-mo below. The eeriest moment of the flight was when we flew over a shipwreck – the ship’s mast protruding above the waves, the rest a rippling skeleton underwater.

The Dry Tortugas bask seventy miles off the tip of Key West, a sandy cluster of islands, atolls, and shoals in the Gulf. When I bounded off the bright yellow plane at Fort Jefferson, the island was almost deserted. There were just eight people, half a dozen ibis, and, as I soon found out, a number of particularly voracious mosquitoes on the island.

Fort Jefferson takes up the whole tiny island. Wandering through the crumbling old fort, I read the info boards. The fort’s population was much reduced in 1867 after pretty much everyone succumbed to yellow fever carried by, um, mosquitoes. Nervous expression.

Flippers in hand, I fled the cool of the fort for an adjacent beach. I had the entire beach to myself. Dazzling white sand, a couple of perfect shady palms, parrots squawking overhead, and water teeming with fish. As a motel I spotted en route down the Keys proclaimed, this really is parrotdise.

Advocate's Editor Fired up about Cruise

Story and photo (on highway outside Mazatlan) by Jon Barrett

Second port of call: Mazatlan.

I woke up this morning to the sound of roosters waking up the people living across the harbor from this Pacific Coast city of about 650,000. But I didn’t have much time to soak it all in because my boyfriend and I needed to prepare for our shore excursion to a zip line in the Sierra Madre Mountains (about an hour’s drive outside of Mazatlan), which we signed up for at the very helpful suggestion of RSVP president Charlie Rounds. 

If you’ve never heard of a zip line, check out this video (it does a much better job of explaining the concept than I do). Huana Coa, where we went this afternoon, is a series of nine zip lines high above (and sometimes through) the trees in the Sierra Madres. I expected it to be more jungle like (the tour guide even told us on the way up that she had recently seen a baby tiger there, which is very doubtful), but the trees were still mostly bare and there was nary a tiger, monkey, parrot, or tarantula in sight. Still the experience of zipping through the air was exhilarating and exactly the sort of thing I hoped to get out of this trip -- my first-ever gay cruise.

But as it turns out, the zip line won’t be what I’ll be writing home about. On our hour-long journey back to the boat (on a lonely, dry, dusty two-lane Mexican highway), the bus caught on fire. And -- it gets better -- our only warning that we should probably get off the bus was when the driver charged out the front door with fire extinguisher. If only the bus had been equipped with a working fire extinguisher. So, after the rest of us piled off the bus, the tour guide and the sole woman (and only lesbian) in our group rallied the rest of us to dig out the bottles of Evian we’d purchased on the ship that morning and to pour them on the flames -- as if we were some kind of French Alps fire brigade. It still wasn’t enough. Neither were the bags of dirt we then tried to smother the fire with.

Finally a truck driver tossed his own -- working -- extinguisher our way as he drove by, and our bus driver was able to put out the fire. The charge I felt this afternoon on the side of the highway as the bus was burning was as strong -- if not stronger -- than I felt on the zip line just hours before. Still, it wasn’t quite enough to keep me entertained for the next 45 minutes or so, as our group waited (next to two grave markers and a stinky animal carcass) for a new bus to arrive. Sitting there on the side of the road, I couldn’t help but wonder two things -- What in the world must all the people in the passing cars think of us -- a couple dozen flamers sitting next to a burning bus? And, Where are those Y Tu Mama Tambien boys when you need them?

But burning buses aside, I’m having  a blast on the cruise -- and am really looking forward to Puerto Vallerta tomorrow!

Click here to read Jon's first cruise report from Cabo San Lucas.

Jon Barret, the Editor in Chief of The Advocate and Advocate.com (the world’s leading multi-platform news provider directly targeting the LGBT audience) has agreed to experience his very first gay cruise  and send us back these periodic reports. Check here all week and be on the lookout for his article about first-time gay cruising scheduled for later this year in the Advocate. 

VIDEO: See and hear Jon's most recent editor's letter here.

For much more information on gay cruises and a schedule of upcoming cruises, click here.