I’d been back in Kuta for 10 odd days before the collective archive started to drag me down. Since getting back from Sumatra I had barely even looked at the ocean let alone my surfboards. It wasn’t because there weren’t waves it was more so that I was caught up living a hedonistic lifestyle which is so easy to do in this town. My liver and body were starting to feel the wrath of my exploits and my bank balance was hurting as well. It was time to get out!
I had heard about a little Island somewhere in the archipelago from a friend and seeing as it was fast approaching peak season I was keen to get off the beaten path and to somewhere more remote. My 5 minutes research on the computer told me I needed to fly to “X” and once at “X” organise a ferry to “Y” before going to “Z”, easy enough. Off I went to the airport and booked a flight for the next morning. Once I arrived in “X” I started talking to some other surfers and latched on to them as they had that book of knowledge called Lonely Planet and I didn’t exactly know how to deal with the in between parts of my journey. So I stayed overnight in “X” and in the morning went off to the ferry terminal and caught a boat to “Y”. Once at “Y” I jumped in a bemo with the other surfers and drove a few hours to “Z”. Found a cheap losmen on the beach, settled in and began the wait for swell. This village was one of the sleepiest I’d been to in all of Indonesia, in other words a good place for a relaxing holiday! It was more or less flat for about three or four days. I spent my time waiting for meals, sleeping, swimming and being paranoid about falling coconuts. One day I jumped on a push bike and explored for a day, got invited into a family home for lunch and then they took me on a scooter tour (the warmth of Indonesian people never ceases to surprise me).
Anyway finally some worthy swell arrived in the form of some overhead lines on the long left in front of the village. It’s a good thing I’d been toughening my feet up in Indo for 3months because the 1km walk along reef out to the break was a bitch. It’s pretty soft but still it’s a long way and littered with a mine field of traps in the form of seaweed farming setups. It’s a classy wave, surfed for a few hours until highish tide and paddled in. The trades at this time of year are really strong so while it’s perfect offshore it gets rather bumpy once the reef gets covered. The next day would have been 6-8ft or double to triple overhead for those who use that scale. It was nice to get some good sized waves but the swell was from a weird direction and wasn’t exactly perfect but hell still it was super fun! In the days following this swell would die off rather fast but we made the most of it clocking up a few surfs a day, it’s not like we had anything better to do anyway.
There were probably 3 days of flatness maybe 2ft when the sets came but most people just chose to rest up and wait for the next swell which was looking to be bigger and better than the last one. It started to show itself as predicted. The low tide was in the afternoon so we just went out after lunch and surfed till dark. It was probably 3-4ft maybe some freak sets might have been double over head. It was a much more lined up swell hitting the reef perfectly and reeling off down dishing out some super long fun rides. Towards dark it became clear that tomorrow would be the day, the swell was building and it was a good one. I couldn’t wait to get the gun out, after all the main purpose of my journey here was to ride it! I had heard that this reef could handle the biggest of swells; in fact it was supposed to get better as it got bigger.
The next morning was bigger and looking good for sure, it’s hard to tell from the beach because the wave is so far away. The crew at the losmen opted to just wait and hit up the afternoon session as we had done the previous day. After lunch I waxed up the gun and walked out. There were some good sized waves going down the reef and it looked like fun. It was consistently coming through at 8ft. Surfed till dark again; it was probably one of the best surfs I had had in Indo. The swell peaked out at about 10ft on the sets and there were more broken boards and leggies than you could shake a stick at. My gun handled it well and rode like a dream I was stoked and absolutely frothing! That night I prayed that the swell would hang round at that size. Too bad Hughie wasn’t listening. The next day was probably 6ft and whilst it was real fun it just didn’t compare to the previous day. So that night we made the plan to head down to a hollow right not to far away at the crack of dawn, hopefully before the wind got up.
Arriving at the right hander there was no wind and it was looking good. Probably 4ft on the sets i surfed for a bit then retreated to the boat. I had wasted my arm duck diving on the big day and my pain killers had worn off, so I shot a few photos.
Any way the next day it was time to get back to Bali and then back to the freezer known as home. It had been a great 4 months of travel through Indo and I had managed to spend a large portion of the season avoiding crowds. I’ll be back for more of the same before I know it anyway.
Cheers.
Dean Barnes
Its certainly no secret looking at the rs of the crew in the shots…
Not enough for me to identify it though… so many long lefthanders in Indo…
Both of them look like an easy wave too…
Cheers
Ah-easy to see where it is-and it (the left) is a much better wave when it’s bigger-BUT the trades are often a pain as they get too strong. Some great fishing around there too-caught my biggest GT there back in the early 90’s.
I know where this is …, and thanks heaps for not naming this spot ,This spot is no secret these days , but it is still not completely overrun YET ( as some money hungry package tour surf charter/companies are trying to do – U Deadshits), as tooooooooooo many surf spots have been ruined by blabbermouths , nothing sux more than returning to your quiet getaway spots outside of bali to find it over crowded with hassling pricks . for those who dont know, rule of thumb is to {maybe) only tell your very closest mates only if you are actually taking them to the place – and you make them swear to keep it a secret – if they are prone to blabber , then dont take them
im shattered, just had 4 weeks in bali. The magic is gone ! Massive daily traffic jams, food poisoning from dirty restaurant owners, constant fines from pig police, & the big friendly balinese smiles have a glint of desperation & greed behind them. 1970s was heaven, 1980s was magic, 1990s was bearable, 2000s the party is over ! Sorry Bali but you aint bagus anymore. I spoke with many many surfers from old bali pioneers to first timers & they all agree
I hear ya jd , its a shame I know , but you need to look outside the square . You could probably say the same thing about most well known surf spots in the world .
Thanks for covering me Davo, you pretty well got that 100% right. Try driving through Sydney or LA any day of the week or navigating through the line up on the Super Bank. Bob Dylan sumed it up with “The Times they are a changing” Plus JD couldn’t have picked a worse time to come to Bali through the Indonesian National School Holidays and N.S.W school holiday period and he more than likely trumped everything by staying somewhere between Kuta and Seminyak. The once frowned apon sport of surfing is now so popular and trendy, the secret has been out for a long long time. That Surfing is the best sport / hobby. But, if you can change with the times, still the best lifestyle anyone could hope for.
Cant complain about Balis waves, its just the vibe that surrounds them has changed.
We were on our way to an orphanage in Mengwi to visit some sick kids when police
pulled us over & took bribe money from our bali driver (probably a weeks wage for him).
They didnt give a rats that we were visiting an orphanage. We all know about Balis corrupt Police
but its getting worse. Didnt matter if we were heading to Medewi or Keramas, every corner had a
motorcycle cop ready to pounce. No wave is worth that. Bad karma will haunt them eventually.
Human nature, if one can profit from the dream life one wants to live then they will! This site pumps up the promo volume of bali for the above reason, thats life and modern surfing, go somewhere cold and your laughing
to tell you the truth Rick I’ve worked hard at promoting Bali for the last 10years plus. As Bali and various parts of Indonesia have been through some rough times with terrorism, natural disasters and all sorts of weird and wonderful stuff since I’ve lived here. I’ve lived a surfing lifestyle since I was old enough to go on the dole in the mid 70’s… but I’ve also paid my share of taxes 🙂 as well. I guess I was just in the right place at the right time to be able to continue the lifestyle…. and most importantly because I choose to do so. Bali will always attract both positive and negative comments, that’s human nature bro. You can please some of the surfers some of the time but not all of em all of the time 🙂
We all know you pay tax slim. Off hand I think your KITAS VISA calls for you to pay US$1,200.00 per year in one lump sum. Anyone who assumed you didn’t would be the proper fool. Keep up the great work on baliwaves and I can’t wait to catch up with you soon.
Bali is a land of extremes.
One morning we drove 4 hours in choked up traffic to surf with over 100 cranky surfers all trying to get their share.
Then got threatened that if I didnt pay the 15 year old Bali locals 100 000 rupes for carparking they would slash my tyres.
That very same arvo I rode a motorcycle through a coconut grove & surfed magic sunset conditions with no-one around except
some traditional Balinese fisherman that shared their catch with me for free.
I agree JD in some ways there is an element of ignorance and arogance (forgive my speeling). But it only takes one act of kindness or one smile and wave to help forget the nasty element. Where was the location where they intimidated you to pay the 100K ? let the people know mate.
Haven’t been there in 3 years but coming back in a month. I have friends that have been going to bali every year since the year after the bombing and i think if any thing they love it more now then when they first started going. they know all the local Balianese surfers that rest boards in front of their hotel they hang out with them most nights have a little bon fire an few bintangs. i think the Sprit of bali is alive in the hearts of the people yes there are a few greedy ones but for the most part they are good. There are a few greedy people in NZ or Aust But that doesn’t mean that there aint good people too. its easy to focus on the bad ones but the ones you remember are the good ones like JD and the fisher men!
see ya in A MONTH!!
Far out… looks like this story got a few comments. I have gotta say that Bali is still fun as all hell… March and April this year were an absolute ball! While its getting more crowded, more commercialised etc The people are still friendlier than any place in the world i’ve been to, the waves are off the hook and the partying is insane! Its a top notch destination! I cant compare it to the decades gone but shit its still the goods.
P.S How’s it going Slim? Work still heavy? Being home sucks!
Don’t stop Slim keep it coming my man, baliwaves.com is miles and miles infron of any other would be wanna copy surf report
Keep up the good work slim makes the other websites look lame, baliwaves.com the original bali surf report and still the best by miles. hey Milo.