The Mrs and I are heading to Bali in May.
I'm going diving with balispearfishing, the guy gets decent reviews and seems like a good guy. I was planning to bring all my own gear but was advised the laws have changed recently and now we may not be able to bring our own guns. Has any one had any issues? I've done a bunch of searching and can only find old references regarding it. I searched indonesian customs and came up short too.

My next step will be to call the indonesian embasy in Melbourne and ask for advice.

Any other suggestions or experiences from 2015?

-Shaun

I decided to call the Indonesian Embasy in Melbourne.

They said NO spearguns are allowed to be brought into Indonesia.

So there you have it. Hire, or buy over there.

Im going to bring over my hand spear, and try my luck. If I dissamble it, it'll probably be fine I figure.

I'll report back when I return.

-Shaun

Post it? In a spot tube call it fishing equipment.

Nah,

Not worth the risk. If I was staying over there for a few months on a spear trip I would, but its a two week holiday so I wont bother.

I'm able to hire everything I need from the tour guide I'm heading out with.

I'll just throw my two hand spears in and my own mask, fins etc. Just so I can head out for a quick spear if the mood takes me while the Mrs is Sunbathing.

Iv taken spear guns to Bali! They make guns there as well! Think they may have their wires crossed!

I've taken spearguns into Bali too, never had a problem. I think the person at the embassy is confused.


EDIT: Re-read your post and saw 'laws have changed recently'. That counts my experience out, it's been quite some time since I took spearguns into Bali.

Legally as a foreigner you can't bring spearguns to Malaysia and Indonesia ... but spearfishing allowances are made for locals (... all to do with indigenous culture etc...) which makes everything very confusing from a legal point of view

Bottom line... there is a way to get them into the countries by simply declaring it's fishing / sport equipment. Just remove shaft and rubbers.

ps. Ulusub and Andre' are popular speargun manufacturers in Indonesia and export all over the world.

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Il mio mare e i miei fondali sono quelli del golfo de La Spezia

Just a quick update.

I took my gun over, and was pulled over by customs.

They told me as of 2015 bringing your own gun in to Bali has been banned.

I was made to prove that ive booked a trip with a guide, and promise to bring it home with me.

I also had to sign a bunch of papers in Indonesian, which made me nervous.

In the end they let me take it in and back out. In hindsight, the trip I did had decent guns, 1.4M Rob Allen etc. I wouldn't bother to bring my own again.

-Shaun

At least they were alright with it after everything.

Dive report?

I dont think it deserves its own thread, so I'll leave it here.

Dive report:
I went out with a guy called Mario, whose a half German half Balinese mix. Real nice cat.
BaliSpearFishingandSurfing on facebook.
After previously attempting to spear off Candidasa with some locals in 2013. I decided to bring mostly my own gear.
I brought my own gun, fins, gloves, knife, and mask. I hired a wetsuit, and weights from Mario. In hindsight, I wouldn't have bothered bringing anything.
Reasons: 1. All his gear was good quality.
2. I was pulled over my Indo Customs for bringing the speargun over.



I was picked up and we drove to Padang Bai. Where we had a small boat waiting. The pilot took us to the Southern tip and eventually the fuel depot you see as a pier.


Visibility varied on the tide, it started around 15-17 meters and dropped to around 5 or 6 as the silt came in.
I'm a pretty average spearo at the best of times and was able to drop to around 15M before the pressure and lack of air got to me. Mario on the other hand would stop at 15M, look around and keep going until he was out of my sight. He claims he can go to about 32 meters, and I don't doubt him. There isnt many decent fish at the depths I could dive to unfortunately. I did see a LOT of large GTs, and many other fish but they were too far out of reach for me.


I shot a few decent fish of up to 40CM. Most of these are Mario's catch.


Mario shot the winner of the day though. Here I am holding his prize.


Because I was knackered by about 3PM we packed up and I was driven back to my villa.

At 7PM I was picked up by Mario and we met his friends (and next clients) at a local restaurant on the beach where he prepared this for my wife and I.


Followed by this:


Followed by this:


He prepared more for himself and his mates. All up, after giving many of the fish away (including the GT) we still fed about 10 people.

I had an awesome day out, and hopefully after doing a free diving course I'll return and shoot myself my own GT.

On a side note:
A week or so later I visited Andre Spearguns as I was staying close by. They have some serious guns there. Even their smallest gun was oversized for the fishing I'm doing.
http://andrespearguns.com/our-products/



The gun on the closest rack on the left was a monster. I think its the Andre Platinum 165. It would be a bohemoth in the water. I don't know how you'd move around with it.

-Shaun

Hey mate good report and mask & snorkel:P did you get anything with the hand spear?

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Watch
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GnsjOA1G3wE&sns=em

Nah, hand spear is pretty much useless over there. Everyone has 1.4M guns with multiple bands. I dont think you could get close enough to shoot anything decent.

I went out snorkling off the beach and there just isnt anything worth spearing that close to shore. Im sure if I was in a different area it would have been good. Im going to use it for the bay and as a spare for incase my gun goes down.