So, I only left Japan with two small backpacks, to be as mobile as possible. As soon as I arrived in Kuta, where I stayed for the first few days, I rented a scooter equipped with board racks. I had not been on a motorcycle for a few years, but I still felt confident I could drive one fairly easily. I was in for a surprise! Traffic in Kuta is like nothing I have ever seen before anywhere in the world. It is worst than Romania and Italy combined. A sea of scooters invades the streets of the city every day, squeaking through the narrowest openings, passing on the left, passing on the right, driving on the wrong side of the road, driving on the sidewalk, going both ways on one-way alleys. In fact anything is fair game as long as you don’t get into an accident. There are near accidents every minute or so, but I only saw one biker crash the whole time I was there, and he was a tourist.
After securing a bike, I went to buy a board. We had a good size swell when I arrived so I decided to buy a semi gun (6’10, 18.5 super pulled in pintail). I was so eager to try it that I immediately took it out to Kuta Beach, even though I had been warned about the very suspect water quality. It was a fun session, the board responded well, but Kuta is just so crowded that you nearly run into someone everytime you ride a wave. Even though I was not thrilled by the prospect, I knew I would have to drive around to dodge the crowd.
Catching a nice one at Dreamland Beach
The next day I drove to Seminyak Beach, about 20 minutes north of Kuta. The move paid off as there were no more than 5 surfers in the water. I went back there for the next two days. As the swell was hitting its peak, though, the sandbar at Seminyak could not handle it anymore by the second day. As the waves approached 10 feet, they were almost always closing out. That, combined with the brutal paddle out meant that I was the only person in the water by noon. It was time for me to hit up the famous Bali reefs!
About 45 minutes north of Kuta is the village of Canggu, which offers a few nice reef breaks. The reefs here are a lot deeper than in the Bukit (the South tip of the island), so the risk of injury is significantly lower. I packed my two backpacks, secured my board on the board racks and drove north.
Even though I stayed next to Brawa Beach, the first break that I surfed was Tuggu. Here I truly missed not having reef booties! You have to walk across the reef for a while until it gets deep enough to paddle, so I cut my feet a bit. But I was more focused on the beautifully shaped 10 feet waves breaking over the reef. That day was probably my biggest session in Indo and the semi-gun came in handy. It handled the wave really well, catching a lot of speed and just flying down the face.
The next morning I surfed Brawa, where it was still big. In fact, halfway through the session my leash broke in the middle of a set. I was left to paddle back on shore while getting pounded for a good 10 minutes. I bought a new leash, paddled back out and the leash string broke!
That afternoon I left my board at a shop to fix a ding, which gave me some time to visit the nearby Tanah Lot temple, but more on that later!
Dropping in at Dreamland
The next day I drove back to Kuta to meet up with Pete and Stef who were flying in from Italy. In the afternoon I surfed Legian Beach, which held up well and was a lot less crowded than Kuta.
Local boy Eric at Dreamland
More action from Eric
Pete and Stef wanted to learn how to surf so I took them to Seminyak the next morning for a surf lesson. Unfortunately the waves were closing out fast, not the ideal conditions for beginners. In the afternoon we decided to go to Dreamland, down in the Bukit. Even though I only cared about the break there, I convinced them to go as well since it’s such a beautiful beach. The swell was dying down by then, though, and the reef at Dreamland was not working too good. But the shorebreak was pumping! Thanks to my friends, I have some awesome pics from that day!
Dreamland was pumping that day
You could pull into a nice barrel, but there was no way to get out of it. And the water was really shallow...
No comments:
Post a Comment