SOUTH KUTA / PANTAI JERMAN
March 2008
Hello everyone and seeing as though the surf has been pretty ordinary for Bali standards this last week. So I’ve had time to slip back in time and flick through an old Hard Disk.
Just for the record this mornings surf check on the Outer Reefs of Tuban (standing pretty well right where most of these photos were taken in 2008) was only showing wave height a weak looking 1-2ft+ between Kuta Reef and Airport Left. The tide at the time was just starting to run back in for a scheduled 2.0mtr High at 1.30pm. The wind was just as bad, coming out of the South at 5-10knot. So pretty well no where would have been much chop for a paddle unless of course you were desperate for something to do.
But what I’ve decided to post this morning to fill the photo gap is a series of photos I took back in 2008 during a big full moon tide and solid swell that just about destroyed everything that was built within 10mtrs of the high time line back then. Here in Pantai Jerman the hotels and the Pantai Restaurant in particular were hardest hit. It was quite common for the swimming pools in the big hotels to get salt water in them from these type of conditions. How ever this particluar swell and tide of March 2008 was intent on tearing everything down.
Back when I first moved to Bali in 1996 to start a new, at the time simple life of a surfer / fisherman the high tide line was only around 5-10 mtrs in front of where we kept our boats. So for us it was a big worry with only a little space to move them out of natures way. I can remember many a sleepless night we would spend down the beach in the water through the high tides making sure the boats were safe. There were a few fishermen that were un lucky and had their lively hood smashed to peices.
It wasn’t long after this particular swell that the greater powers planned to extend the beach by building sea walls and pumping millions of tonnes of sand onto the beach and in some places extended the beach out over 100mtrs from the old high tide line. A lot of that “new sand” that was dredged from out off Nusa Dua and ended up creating a lot of problems for some of the fishermen in that area has now been reclaimed by the sea. As that was becoming apparant new bigger rock retaining walss were introduced in front of the bigger more wealthier hotels. Through this process us surfers lost all the fun little “secret” beach breaks in the Pantai Jerman to Kartika Plaza area. All filled over with sand and new rock walls. There has been no sign of a surfable beach break in this area since.
The process of extending the beach in itself was a feat to behold and we were usually always there of a low tide to watch the process and progress of the new beach in transition. I’M pretty sure I have all the photos on a Hard Disk here somewhere, another day maybe.
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