For many travelling surfers, Bali is the place to go, for others they want to avoid Bali at all costs and go to the more ‘remote’ areas. But Bali is a big place, yes if you head to Uluwatu you’re gonna be there with a bunch of surfers, both foreign and local, and it will be a battle to get those waves! Head to Padang Padang or Bingin to get those perfect barrels and you’ll be fighting with 40 others on a take-off spot the size of a plate of Nasi Goreng. But there’s more to Bali than the Bukit, Keramas and Kuta’s reefs!
After a night in Kuta having said our goodbyes and see you soon’s to everyone after the Island Hopping trip we headed back to our ‘home’ of Canggu (it felt that way after coming back a few times) to get settled in before heading off up the coast into more remote areas of Bali. If you’ve seen any of the blogs leading up to this one, you’ll know by now that Indonesia had a crazy 4 weeks of swell leading up to this, and it’s safe to say this didn’t stop!
After a quick session getting Stephen, Emma and Brooke in the water we packed our board on the roof and hit the road! Rolling in style with two vehicles we had the slight problem of timing the drive with a bucketload of rain, the second time it had rained in over four weeks was on driving day! Now what you don’t know is that we strap the boards on through the car to keep them secure, meaning that water slowly seeps into the straps and the rain outside starts to become rain inside! Having two cars became more handy as we piled most of the crew into one while myself and my kind co-pilot got soaked! After a fun drive we arrived at our destination of Balian, a fun rivermouth wave with peeling lefts and rights. With the rain and a bit of wind we decided to just relax and settle in the evening and save ourselves for the morning session. It was worth it, with the solid lines having cleaned up into solid 4-5 foot walls. We chose the lefts and got to work getting waves, with Max and myself helping the crew to position themselves in the lineup to get the waves.
The session above was the next morning when the new big swell really kicked in! There were huge sets washing wide as well as beautiful walls if you could get in the right spot. It was a little beyond most of the groups comfort level so they settled in for an incredible 4 course breakfast while Lily decided to give it a go. Being the coach I obliged and paddled out there with her, lucking into a few myself. Lily charged hard though and paddled into a few bombs, a great achievement for the short 9 months that she has been surfing since the South Africa trip in September last year with us!
After 2 nights we made our way up to Medewi where we would be making our home for over a week. There is something particularly special about staying in a place for long enough that you can really get to know it, the people, your surroundings, and make it feel like home. This was exactly what Medewi became as we settled in. Each day was a step for the next, with more waves ridden and better surfing done. Despite being one of the longest waves in Indonesia, it still takes a bit of time to figure it out, and that was one thing we had! Three surfs per day became the norm, with an early morning and midday surf followed by an evening surf, the waves didn’t stop for a second!
Brooke and Emma hadn’t done much surfing before the trip so we mixed it up for them, starting off at a beachbreak down the road to get some nice rides and work on their pop-up and stance, as well as technique turning right and left. The swell was still solid but it was the perfect place to find some nice long rides.
After that it was back to the mainbreak, the long left hand point and they got to give it a shot too, getting the first proper green waves of their lives, exciting times! We were staying in a great house just up the road from the top of the point, so each morning meant get up and take a quick walk down or look from the balcony at the conditions and head down for a surf according to the tides. It in an easy place to get waves with not much of a crowd, but after a while we got even more fussy and timed our surfs so that there would be absolutely no one other than us, or just a couple of others in the water! The waves didn’t stop and neither did we!
And when our arms could no longer move and we couldn’t paddle another meter the time had come and it was back to Canggu. I happen to have a watch that determines length of ride using GPS, the longest ride I got whilst wearing it was 487m and I have no doubt others got longer rides and that wasn’t my longest of the trip! The waves there were unbelievable and memories that will stick with us in years to come.
Our mini home of Canggu served us up a treat with some really fun waves before we headed back into Kuta to see the Bali that many others get to see, and then getting out of there as quickly as we could!
And before you know it, that is it! Six weeks in Indonesia flown by, living with the legend and constant entertainment that is Max, as well as meeting over twenty new people on our trip and taking them surfing, what a privilige! Thank you one and all, can’t wait to do it all again next year!
Chris and Max