BALI Yim
Swells come from the Indian Ocean, so the surf is on the southern side of the island and, strangely, on the northwest coast of Nusa Lembongan, where the swell funnels into the strait between there and the Bali coast.
In the dry season (around April to September), the west coast has the best breaks, with the trade winds coming in from the southeast; this is also when Nusa Lembongan works best. In the wet season, surf the eastern side of the island, from Nusa Dua around to Padangbai. If there's a north wind -or no wind at all - there are also a couple of breaks on the south coast of Bukit Peninsula.
www.surftravelonline .com has information on remote Indonesian locations.
Balangan
Go through growing Pecatu Indah resort and follow the road around to the right past Dreamland to reach the Balangan warung (food stall). Balangan (pi31) is a fast left over a shallow reef, unsurfable at low tide, good at midtide with anything over a 4ft swell; with an 8ft swell, this can be one of the classic waves.
Balian
There are a few peaks near the mouth of Sungai Balian (Balian River, p276 in western Bali - sea water here is often murky because the river can carry a lot of pollution. Look for the Taman Rekreasi Indah Soka, along the main road, just west of Lalang-Linggah. The best break here is an enjoyable and consistent left-hander that works well at mid- to high tide if there's no wind.
Kuta's famous Tubes Surf Bar & Restaurant (p102) is a popular centre for anything to do with surfing - the Tubes tide chart is widely available.
www.indosurf.com.au has web links and surfing info and www.wannasurf .com has surf reports and a message board.
Bingin
North of Padang and accessible by road, this spot (pl32) can now get crowded. It's best at midtide with a 6ft swell, when it manufactures short but perfect left-hand barrels.
Canggu
North of Kuta-Legian-Seminyak, on the northern extremity of the bay, Canggu (pl25) has a nice white beach and a few surfers. The peak breaks over a 'soft' rock ledge - well, it's softer than coral. An optimum size for Canggu is 5ft to 6ft. There's a good right-hander that you can really hook into, which works at full tide, and what the surf writer Peter Neely calls 'a sucky left ledge that tubes like Ulu but without the coral cuts', which works from midtide.
Dreamland
You have to go through Pecatu Indah resort and past the water-sucking golf course to reach this spot (pi 31), which can also get crowded. At low 5ft swell, this solid peak offers offers a short, sharp right and a longer more tubular left. There's quite a good scene here and cheap places to stay.
Impossibles
Just north of Padang Padang (opposite), this outside reef break has three shifting peaks with fast left-hand tube sections that can join up if the conditions are perfect (low tide, 5ft swell), but don't stay on for too long, or you'll run out of water.
Ketewel & Lebih
These two beaches (for Lebih, see p209) are northeast of Sanur, and access Surfing Indonesia by is easy from the new coast road. They're both right-hand beach breaks, Leonard and Lorca Lueras which are dodgy at low tide and close out over 6ft. Most likely there are has about 80 pages other breaks along this coast all the way to Padangbai, but they need a big on Bali. It has great swell to make them work, photos, a comprehensive coverage of the waves, Kuta Area and some good surfing For your first plunge into the warm Indian Ocean, try the beach breaks background. at Kuta Beach (p95); on full tide go out near the life-saving club at the southern end of the beach road. At low tide, try the tubes around Halfway Kuta (pl02), probably the best place in Bali for beginners to practise. Start at the beach breaks if you are a bit rusty. The sand here is fine and packed hard, so it can hurt when you hit it. Treat even these breaks with respect. They provide zippering left and right barrels over shallow banks and can be quite a lot of fun.
Further north, the breaks at Legian Beach (p95) can be pretty powerful, with lefts and rights on the sand bars off J1 Melasti and J1 Padma. At Kuta and Legian you will encounter most of the local Balinese surfers.
And again further north, there are more beach breaks offSeminyak (plOl), such as the Oberoi, near the hotel of the same name. The sea here is fickle and can have dangerous rip tides - take a friend.
For more serious stuff, go to the reefs south of the beach breaks, about a kilometre out to sea. Kuta Reef, a vast stretch of coral, provides a variety of waves. You can paddle out in around 20 minutes, but the easiest way is by boat, for a fee. The main break is a classic left-hander, best at mid- to high tide with a 5ft to 6ft swell, when it peels across the reef and has a beautiful inside tube section; the first part is a good workable wave. Over 7ft it tends to double up and section.
The reef is well suited for backhand surfing. Unfortunately it's not surfable at dead-low tide, but you can get out there not long after the tide turns. The locals can advise you if necessary. It gets very crowded here, but if conditions are good there's another, shorter left, 50m further south along the reef, which usually has fewer surfers.
Medewi
Further along the south coast of western Bali is a softer left called Medewi (p277) - it's a point break that can give a long ride right into the river mouth. This wave has a big drop, which fills up then runs into a workable inside section. It's worth surfing if you feel like something different, but to catch it you need to get up early, because it gets blown out as the wind picks up. It works best at mid- to high tide with a 6ft swell. There's accomodation.
Nusa Dua
During the wet season you should surf on the east side of the island, where there are some very fine reef breaks. The reef off the Nusa Dua (pl33) has very consistent swells. The main break is 1km off the beach to the south of Nusa Dua - go past the golf course and look for the whole row of warung and some boats to take you out. There are lefts and rights that work well on a small swell at low to midtide. On bigger days, take a longer board and go further out, where powerful peaks offer long-rides, fat tubes and lots of variety. Further north, in front of the Club Med, is a fast, barrelling right reef break called Sri Lanka, which works best at midtide and can handle swells from 6ft to 10ft.
There are four 18-hole golf courses in Bali. One near Danau Bratan (p248), another near Pura Tanah Lot (p272) and two rather inappropriately on the arid Bukit Peninsula at Nusa Dua (pi34} and a new one at Pecatu Indah (pi 34).
Nusa Lembongan
In the Nusa Penida group, this island (pl48) is separated from the southeast coast of Bali by the Selat Badung (Badung Strait).
The strait is very deep and generates huge swells that break over the reefs off the northwest coast of Lembongan. Shipwreck, clearly visible from the beach, is the most popular break, a longish right that gets a good barrel at midtide with a 5ft swell.
A bit to the south, Lacerations is a very fast, hollow right breaking over a very shallow reef - hence the name. Still further south is a smaller, more user-friendly left-hander called Playground. Remember that Lembongan is best with an easterly wind, as are Kuta and Ulu Watu, so it's dry-season surfing.
Padang Padang
Just Padang for short, this super shallow, left-hand reef break (above) is just north of Ulu Watu towards Kuta. Again, check this place carefully before venturing out. It's a very demanding break that only works over about 6ft from mid- to high tide - it's a great place to watch from the clifftop.
If you can't surf tubes, backhand or forehand, don't go out: Padang is a tube. After a ledgey take-off, you power along the bottom before pulling up into the barrel. So far so good, now for the tricky part. The last section turns inside out like a washing machine on fast-forward. You have to drive high through this section, all the time while in the tube. Don't worry if you fail to negotiate this trap, plenty of other surfers have been caught too. After this, the wave fills up and you flick off. Not a wave for the faint-hearted and definitely not a wave to surf when there's a crowd.
You can ride horses in Bali from stables in Kerobokan (p124), Yeh Gangga (p276), Ubud (pi 81 > and Pemuteran (p269). Many people enjoy the chance to see nature at a relaxed pace and in some cases gallop through the surf.
Sanur
Sounds exciting! Sanur Reef (p 132) has a hollow wave with excellent barrels. It's fickle, and doesn't even start till you get a 6ft swell, but anything over 8ft
Look for the free newspaper Magic Wave. which is distributed around Kuta and has full coverage ofthe Bali surfing scene.
www.surfaidinternational .org is a very well-regarded international surfer-run aid organisation that has done impressive work for the tsunami-ravaged islands off Sumatra.
will be world-class, and anything over 10ft will be brown board shorts material. There are other reefs further offshore and most of them are surfable.
Hyatt Reef, over 2km from shore, has a shifty right peak that can give a great ride at full tide. Closer in, opposite the Sanur Beach Market, Tanjung Sari gives long left rides at low tide with a big swell, while Tanjung Right can be a very speedy wall on a big swell. The classic right is off the Grand Bali Beach Hotel.
Serangan
The abortive development at Pulau Serangan (Turtle Island) entailed huge earthworks at the southern and eastern sides of the island, and this has made the surf here much more consistent, though the landfill looks like a disaster. The causeway has made the island much more accessible, and several warung face the water, where waves break right and left in anything over a 3ft swell (see pl47).
South Coast
The extreme south coast (pi33), around the end of Bukit Peninsula, can be surfed any time of the year provided there is a northerly wind, or no wind at all - get there very early to avoid onshore winds. The peninsula is fringed with reefs and big swells are produced, but access is a problem. There are a few roads, but the shoreline is all cliff. If you want to explore it, charter a boat on a day with no wind and a small swell.
Nyang Nyang is a right-hand reef break, reached by a steep track down the cliff. Green Ball is another right, which works well on a small to medium swell, ie when it's almost flat everywhere else. Take the road to the Nikko Bali Resort & Spa, fork left just before you get there and take the steps down the cliff. The south coast has few facilities and tricky currents, and it would be a bad place to get into trouble.
Ulu Watu
When Kuta Reef is 5ft to 6ft, Ulu Watu (pl27), the most famous surfing break on Bali, will be 6ft to 8ft with bigger sets. Kuta and Legian sit on a huge bay - Ulu Watu is way out on the southern extremity of the bay, and consequently picks up more swell than Kuta. It's about a half-hour journey from downtown Kuta by private transport.
Teluk Ulu Watu (Ulu Watu Bay) is a great setup for surfers - local boys will wax your board, get drinks for you and carry the board down into the cave, which is the usual access to the wave. There are warung and nearby there are cheap losmen (basic accommodation).
Ulu Watu has about seven different breaks. The Corner is straight in front of you to the right. It's a fast-breaking, hollow left that holds about 6ft. The reef shelf under this break is extremely shallow, so try to avoid falling headfirst. At high tide, the Peak starts to work. This is good from 5ft to 8ft, with bigger waves occasionally right on the Peak itself. You can take off from this inside part or further down the line. It's a great wave. At low tide, if the swell isn't huge, go further south to the Racetrack, which is a whole series of bowls.
At low tide when the swell is bigger, Outside Corner starts operating, fur ther out from the Racetrack. This is a tremendous break and on a good day you can surf one wave for hundreds of metres. The wall here on a 10ft wave jacks up with a big drop and bottom turn, then the bowl section. After this it becomes a big workable face. You can usually get tubed only in the first section. When surfing this break you need a board with length, otherwise you won't be getting down the face of any of the amazing waves.
Another left runs off the cliff that forms the southern flank of the bay. It breaks outside this in bigger swells, and once it's 7ft, a left-hander pitches right out in front of a temple on the southern extremity. Out behind the Peak, when it's big, is a bombora (submerged reef) appropriately called the Bommie. This is another big left-hander and it doesn't start operating until the swell is about 10ft. On a normal 5ft to 8ft day there are also breaks south of the Peak. One is a very fast left, and is also very hollow, usually only ridden by goofy-footers, due to its speed.
Observe where other surfers paddle out and follow them. If you are in doubt, ask someone. It is better having some knowledge than none at all. Climb down into the cave and paddle out from there. When the swell is bigger you will be swept to your right. Don't panic, it is an easy matter to paddle around the white water from down along the cliff. Coming back in you have to aim for the cave. When the swell is bigger, come from the southern side of the cave as the current runs to the north. If you miss the cave, paddle out again and repeat the procedure.
Bali-based Surf Travel Online (I® 0361-750550; www.surftravelonline .com) has information on surf camps, boat charters and package deals for surf trips to remote Indonesian locations, as well as Nusa Lembongan.
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