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.
Bali surf
spots: Description
and video's
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
reef video)
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.
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 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.
