BALI ~ SURFING
Overview of Bali
What can be said of Bali that hasn't already been said, perfect waves, perfect girls, amazing nightlife, horrible over development, bintang, Ullus, kuta reef, canggu, dream land, dream land destroyed, hindu offerings, rice paddy's, stone carvings, hawkers, smiles, bad fake tattoos and braided hair, nasi goreng, paddy's, poppies 2, bemo's, crazy motor bikes, hotels, westerners going crazy, blue bird taxi's, cheap t-shirts, cheap cd's and dvds..yeah you get the picture....but somehow its still an amazing place with a charm of it's own.
Waves
with how crowded Bali can get these days it can be easy to write Bali off, but when you actually think about Bali and the waves that it does have, the variety, consistency and the quality it really is quite an amazing place, if this was some remote Island in the middle of nowhere undiscovered by the masses, then im sure Bali would challenge the mentawai's as the big thing, think about it perfect lefts lined up point after point offshore for half the year and then rights lined up all over the place offshore for the rest of the year, then throw in a mix of fun beachies and volcanic reef bottom breaks, no where in the world has that mix of quantity and quality in one area (even the mentawai's)
Crowd wise
without a doubt some of the most crowded waves in Indonesia, but that said if your really lucky or think a little different you can often score less crowded, perhaps less perfect but fun waves.
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Kuta reef- Said
to be the first reef break surfed in Indo, and
still a great wave offers everything from barrels to
wakable walls, great introduction to Indo.
Kuta/Legian beachies- Fun
beachies, can often be average closeouts, but can
also get really good banks with high quality waves.
Airport lefts and rights- two
reefs break near the end of the airport runway,
the lefts are short, and the rights need a very
solid swell, but when on can be a high quality
long right, but is also very fickle.
Balangan- A
little bit more fickle than other waves needing a
solid swell, the right tide and swell to line up,
but can get fun long lefts.
Dream land- Once
a beautiful semi secret beach now an example of
development gone very wrong, very sad, waves are
average left and rights sand over reef.
Bingin- Not
very long but an absolutely perfect wave in every
sense a barrel machine unfortunately doesn't hold a
crowd and if you think paddling out while still
dark early morning will get you a few uncrowded waves
then sadly more often than not you will be disappointed.
Impossibles-When
small this can be a very frustrating wave
looking perfect from the cliffs, when bigger
its more make able, with some very long waves.
Padang padang- Although
it needs a solid swell to start breaking,
Padang Padang is like the pipeline of Bali, a
solid very hollow left breaking off a shallow coral
reef shelf, this wave is for experts only, for the rest
of us it's a great spot when on to watch some of the
best surfers in the world get solid pits, including
some very talented Bali surfers.
Ullawatu- The
most famous wave on Bali and the place that really
started the buzz in surfing circles in the early
70's, Ullus is a world class left made up of many
different sections, out the back
is the sucky lefts
of Temples, out from the cave the popular short left called the Peak, and further down the reef the real gem racetracks a fast hollow left, on big swells an outer reef comes into play called outside corner
one of indonesia's true big wave spots, of note
Ullus also picks up lots of swell and is offshore
in SE trades a very consistent
wave.
Canggu- right
sand lefts over a volcanic rock and sand bottom, a
very popular early morning spot and a high
performance wave.
Balian- Similar
in some ways tocanggu
without the quality, left and rights, picks up lots of swell.
Medewi- very
long, mellow cobble stone lined left point,
perfect for malibu's and surfers seeking
a mellow get away.
Keramas/Golden monkeys-
Kept a secret for years a high quality hollow
right's breaking over lava reef bottom, gets very
crowded.
Other waves- Include,
Nyang Nyang, Green balls, Nusa dua, Sri Lanka,
turtle island, Hyatt reef, Sanur reef,
Tanjungs, padang galak, ketewel, Purnama. lebih Padang
bai, mostly working in the wet season.
Surf camps/resort
It would impossible
to list all the accommodation options in Bali the
budget basically starts from $10 although years back
you could stay at places like bingin for free as long
as you ate there, (e-mail me if this is still the
case) and goes up to thousands of $ a night, below is
a few links to help out.
Also you can book
ahead or just jump of the plane and shop around this
is often the best way for the more budget (losmen)
options.
Charter boats that focus on Bali
Charter boats don't
focus on Bali, many however do depart from Bali, fast
boats to G-land and surf charters to other islands
such as Nusa lembongan, Gili's,
Lombok, Sumbawa, Sumba, Rote and other charters for tourist
and divers to islands like Komodo and Flores,
that don't really have waves.
For all Boat charter information and links see the destination page of your choice
