With a fresh and excited new crew including Andy and Charlotte from the UK, Italian Francesco and Mike back for his second Island Hopping adventure after loving it so much, we hopped on a plane for what was to be the shortest flight of our lives over to Lombok. The ‘fasten seatbelt’ sign only goes off for about 5 minutes in which time you also get your bottle of water and piece of cake, and then you’re descending again!
Lombok is very different to Bali, both in religion where there is a predominantly Muslim community, but moreso in how green and bushy it is! Coming from the built-up Bali it is refreshing jumping into a car, sans traffic, and heading out through the trees to the little fishing village of Gerupuk which became our home for the next week. And, as luck would have it, we stroked straight into the swell of the year! There is a wave which is very seldom surfed, and on each of the previous trips I have run we had surfed it just one day and not particularly good. This time that all changed and we surfed it every single day, the swell just wouldn’t stop!
Needless to say it was rather daunting for everyone, even I had no idea how this swell would look despite having been here a handful of times before. As you can see above, there was a bit of wind in the morning but still some bombs to be had! Mike was frothing and stroked straight into one of the biggest sets of the morning, having been here before! The others were a little more tentative, trying to find their position in the lineup and dodging bombs, the biggest surf most of them had ever been in! The next day we woke up to perfect glassy conditions! Well it was so dark we couldn’t even see that, jumped on the boats and headed out to see what was on offer, and this is what we got!
From then on it was like Groundhog day, but in the best possible way! You can’t see the surf from the accommodation, although we are right on the water, so the only way to know what it’s like is to jump on one of the boats and head out there! We have been using the same legend boat drivers and surf guides for the last three years, always amped and always ready to go, and they rip too! Every morning it was a 5am wake up and jump on the boats well before sunrise. Then surf until we couldn’t surf anymore and our stomach’s were rumbling too much to ignore the fact we needed to be refuelled! After breakfast most people would have a mid-morning nap, then read books and relax until lunch and then get ready for the mid-afternoon session! The wave machine just didn’t stop, and as the crew got more used to the wave as well as with the photo analysis sessions we were doing each evening, everyone’s level of surfing rapidly improved!
After a few days we knew we had to at least try out the other surf spots in the area! Andy had already had the best wave of his life replaced 4 times over within the first two days, so we were all already stoked with the sessions. There are 4 different spots to surf in the bay we are in, and with some solid swell a couple of the crew were keen to push themselves and head out into one of the more exposed surf spots, while the others surfed the funnest wave in the area! From there we mixed it up for the next few days, but every afternoon/evening we just couldn’t help but come back to the spot that had delivered for us on the first two days!
After an incredibly successful and fortunate week in Lombok our last day was spent, well, surfing of course! In the evening we took a few beers out in a cooler box and hooted each other into waves as the sun set. What an incredible week with amazing waves and awesome people!
Next stop, the picture perfect island of Nusa Lembongan with crystal clear water, white sand beaches and colourful reefs and fish… Check back in soon to see more!
Hope you’re enjoying the pics,
Chris and Max