A two month surf trip to Indonesia – Part 1: Canguu

Its 5am on a Monday morning, and my alarm goes off to wake me up. 99% of the time I hammer down on the snooze button to grab an extra 10 minutes. But not today. Today I fly to Indonesia.

This aint my first rodeo travelling to this eastern country. I did a trip to Bali back in 2011 for just under 3 weeks. On that occasion, I spent almost all my time on the Bukit peninsula, only travelling to Kuta to see off some mates and to fly in and out myself. This time is slightly different. Im meeting my Alaskan hombre who I used to live with last year and were heading almost straight away to the island of Sumbawa.

First things first ive still got to pack my shit. I absolutely love leaving things ‘til the last minute. It’s a gift – although my mum wouldn’t agree with me on that. My flights in 6 hours and ive got to get the train from Sydney to the airport. No worries though, by 8am im by the front door and good to go. I give a massive hug to my mate and all time legend Harriet whose put me up for the last week and at different times though out the year (big love to you and Harry) and im on my way.

The stoke hasn’t kicked in yet. Usually doesn’t until im checked in and waiting at the gate! The train is a bit faster than I thought and im at Sydney International in no time. Flying with Garuda Indo today – they check me in and I drop my board bag at oversize luggage. Head over to the exchange and grab some US dollars for my visa on arrival and some Indonesian monies.

I ask for $300 of Rupiah and old mate gives me an absolute WOD of cash. 100000 rupiah is about $10 and he gives me a mixture of 50000 and 100000s. There are so many notes. Im not sure if I should be in an airport or a strip club.

Time to get to the gate. I whizz through security and before you know it theyre calling us onto the plane. It’s a smooth process and about 20 mins later were up in the air.

A quick nap and 3 movies later we touch down in Denpasar. That indo heat hits me as soon as I step out the door. The aircon was on throughout the flight and yours truly has still got a jumper on looking like a right wolly. I follow the crowd and head to arrivals. I told Chris (Mr Alaska) id meet him in baggage since his flight was arriving 5 mins after mine. Turns out our pilot thinks hes flying a concord and we arrive something crazy like an hour early. Anyway I head through and realise ive got to get my visa first. Usually you can head on through with a UK passport for free and you get 30 days before flying out. Since were staying longer - were opting for a $35 visa that you can extend for an extra 30 days. Save time flying in and out again.

I head on through immigration, pick up my bags and grab the laptop while I wait for the homie. In the meantime I Skype my folks and hang about for a bit. Finally Chris’s flight arrives and he bombs it through immigration, baggage and customs and messages me to say hes outside. Somehow weve missed each other in the chaos. I head through customs, and meet him outside and hes already sorted out a taxi driver. Legend. After a quick greeting, hug and a cheeky grope, we follow the driver, chuck our boards in the back and bomb it to Canggu, arriving at Pucuk lodge where were staying. Were greeted by the Ecka, a beautiful local lady with a warm smile, and she checks us in and sorts us out with a scooter straight away. Its late afternoon so we chuck our stuff in our room and head out for a feed and a bintang. Welcome back to Bali!

Next day we wake up at 5am and both of us are frothing for a surf. The forecast isn’t looking special but we grab our boards and the scooter and wiz down about 5 mins to the beach. Were greeted by the black sand of echo beach and the warm sea air. It’s a delightfully sloppy 2-3ft and onshore, but we run down the beach like a couple of amping grommets. The water is like a bathtub, but with less piss and more rubbish. I remember the problem Indo had with rubbish and litter last time I was here, but it’s a stark reminder when youre paddling out and theres plastic bags getting caught on your foot or hand before youre even out the back.

We surf for a couple of hours before heading back in. The tides gone a bit funky and I didn’t put any sun cream on for the dawny, but now the suns out and its really starting to heat up. I get one last wave in and it’s a good one (it always is, that’s why the term ‘one more’ in surfing means almost next to nothing). It’s a lefthander and a set wave that takes my almost all the way to the shore. I hit the beach and just before I get out I look back and splash my hands with a huge smile on my face. Man life is good! After whipping of the leggy I stroll back up the beach. Chris is still surfing but im sure he’ll notice im not out anymore and come in when hes ready. I make an effort to pick up some litter as im walking back to the café. It feels almost pointless theres that much shit on the beach, but I remember watching a video on facebook of a turtle having a straw pulled out of its nose so I pick up every straw I see until I hit the steps. I drop a good handful in the bin but my gut says theres a good chance they will end up exactly where I just picked them up. I really hope they don’t.

I have some brekky and after another 30 mins Chris gets out and we head back to the room. It’s a lazy day. Hes a bit jetlagged and im feeling chill so I do some yoga and we head about Canggu to check out some boards and places to eat. We check the surf again at old mans but its buggered. Back to the bintangs and a game of cards. A few hours later weve both passed out and i don’t wake up until midnight. I kill some time on my phone as you do and then drop straight back to sleep. Surf should be pumping tomorrow so its probably a good thing.

We wake up early again. Amped but slightly cautious. The forecast is sizey, the tide is wonky and the wind looks to be light onshore again. Boards on the bike and we head right back to echo beach. We park up and head to the lookout. Its big and a bit all over the place. Theres 2 people out - a big difference to the 20+ yesterday Chris is keen but im a bit more layed back about racing out there. Its 4-6ft and there isn’t really a defined sand bar – apart from the bombie right out the back which gives a good indication when a serious set is on the way through. Unfortunately we don’t have too many other options, so I suck it up and paddle out with him. Typically he times it bang on and avoids all the sets and is out the back in no time. Im only 30 seconds behind him but that 30 seconds is enough for me to cop a big one on the head and I end up being caught in a washing machine for a good 10 minutes. Im duck diving but realise im not going anywhere fast and eventually im washed back in to start again. This time I hold out for a minute as I see the bombie breaking out the back. Sure enough a couple of big ones detonate on the inside just like before, only difference is im not under them this time. I jump back on my board and paddle back into the rip. A medium set comes through but I just make it under before im free from the danger zone. Stoked. Its come back to me how powerful indo waves are again. Ive been dragged down about 200 meteres from where the crew is sitting so I start paddling. There a few coming through and I see one of the other guys get a sweet one. It’s a good size, well overhead. He flicks out just before the end section closes out and it’s a good choice because if you go down in there, youre going to be having a sandbar sandwich for breakfast.

A much friendlier day at Canggu...

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I wait a while and suss out where to take off. Im really not keen on the solid sets but I don’t want to get caught on the inside and have to paddle all the way back out again. A nice sized one comes in and I paddle for it. Unfortunately im not deep enough and I miss it. Next minute Chris is taking off deep on a big one. No easing into it for this legend. He paddles hard but it suddenly sucks up and he goes over the falls. Only Clay Marzo could have made that I thought. Hes all good and he gets on his board and paddles back out. We wait for a bit and another set comes though. The guys next to me goes on the first one and the second one looks good so I turn and go. I paddle hard and it lets me in. Its seems a bit more mellow than it looks and I hop off about 20 meters down the line. A nice one to start the session.

Ive noticed Chris is hanging around the end section and I chill there with him for a bit. A set comes through and he goes hard. Its another sucky one. It drops its guts just as he gets to his feet and throws him straight down into oblivion. It’s a standard price to pay for someone who charges like him. He pops back up and paddles back out – he sits about 10 meters from me checking out his board and I hear him shout ‘Man, I got to stop doing that’ followed briefly by ‘I think I creased my board’. Sure enough he has. But its not fatal, and fairly typical when you take off on death wedges. We laugh it off and about 20 mins later a real nice set comes though. Im in the spot and I take the first one. It’s a decent drop and as I set up to bottom turn I hear a big ‘clunk’ from my board. I think Ive just run over a rock. I didn’t even know there was rocks in here! It freaks me out a bit and I flick off the back. I turn over my board and sure enough ive taken a chunk out of one of my fins! Thankfully theres no damage to my board so head back out. Just as I do, guess whos paddling for another bomb wedge. El Alaskan.

Does he make it? I want to say yes – third time lucky n all that – but he doesn’t. And this thing is a bomb. The lip is real thick and churning and he gets wasted again. This time popping up with half a board attached to his leggy. The other half is up in the air looking like its crowd surfing on top of the white water.

Gutted! After the rock and board snap im not feeling it myself now and as I watch Chris paddle in I wait to get one in myself. I paddle for a small one - but miss, and theres a bomb behind it. Bugger! I cut my losses - take it on the head and let it wash me in.

The rest of the day is fairly uneventful - Apart from the incident in the Ripcurl shop…

Were looking at boards again theres a stack upstairs in the shop. A couple of DHD models catch the eye and we pull out a nice looking model. Its better than nice actually, it looks sick! We put it up on the bench to have a better look so Chris puts the board that’s already there back on the rack. They are stacked individually, in a line, nose on the bottom and one long rope holding them in place. I examine the board a bit closer on the rack and suddenly theres a huge BANG! Scares the shit out of me. One of the big mals has fallen over. A Balinese lad comes running upstairs to see what happened – unfortunately the single fin has snapped off on the bottom and is only being held on by the glass. This doesn’t look good, I can tell by his face hes pissed. Chris tells him what happened, that he didn’t touch it and it fell over when he took off the rope at the other end. Not his fault of course, its just been put back really badly by someone else – but Chris is copping it and someone else from the shop comes upstairs.

“You break it you pay” matey says. Of course me and the old boy are having none of it. “We didn’t touch it, check the cameras”. Both of the shop boys are looking at it and each other like they don’t know what to do. I think they also feel responsible because neither were upstairs helping us where in every other surf shop there is someone to there to avoid shit like this! One of them is getting real sassy. He says again “Who break who break? Two people!” Jesus its heating up. I cant see any cameras so its basically our word against theres. I try not to think the worst but this guy is real pissed. We explain again but he keeps repeating himself, while the other one keep looking at the damage on the board. After about 10 mins he says one more time “You must pay for this board”. We aren’t budging, not that we should be anyway! Then Chris pulls this beauty out the bag:

“Were not paying for that. You have 2 choices, either I buy this DHD board right here right now or we walk out of this shop and never come back again. Either way were not paying for that board”.

What a ballsy legend. They talk in balinese and after a few minutes the guy whos been quiet most of the time agrees and takes the DHD board downstairs. As we walk down stairs its like weve just been sentenced to jail or something. All eyes are on us, including the 2 security guards and I wander over to look at the surf film on the TV. Then I hear Chris:

“So I get the free tailpad with it?”

Hahahahaha! I had to laugh. Of course hes completely entitled to it, and of course the boys agree (it’s a typical deal when you buy a new board). Finally they take payment and I cant get out there quick enough. As soon as were on the scooter theres a huge sigh of relief from both of us and we bomb it back to the room.

We head out later to old mans for happy hour and continue the sesh at a bar with a skate bowl out the back. Ive never seen anything like it. It’s a sick place, but an unusual vibe. I swear theres more people with phones out on instagram than there is actually to talk to. Its alright though, and after a bucket full of bintangs we head back to the room just after 1am.

The next morning is standard. Im feeling a bit dusty to say the least. We pack up our shit and our taxi arrives at 9am for our 12pm flight from Denpasar.

On the outside hanging, but on the inside im already starting to feel the stoke for Lakey. Not to long now;

Sumbawa is calling!