In Reply to: I'm here posted by curious george on Friday, 23. April 1999 at 17:42 Bali Time:
The crowds were heavy although peacefull at ulu watu. I gave it a miss because of the small swell on the day. We were only in Kuta one day. Checked out the beach brakes and they were mediocre. Not too many crowds per peak. (15-20). Lembogan was a treat. Three waves to pick from. Shipwreks takes the most swell. Steep take-off and reasonable face (not too fast or too long.) Lacerations is arguably the best wave. A good right with some fast tubing sections when clean. We had it 4foot for about three days. Best during mid to full tide.Definately helmets advised when over 4 foot. Crowds were never more than 15-20 tops. Good crowd. I had good waves on the playground left because it was the least crowded. 15-20 waves per session! Not very demanding but good for a couple of turns. We also by chance had a good ewave at Mushroom beach for about 20 minutes one day. It is a fast take off into a bowl which held for about 20-30meters. This wave is obviously inconsistent and fickle.
AWe had 4 good days and then the swell died. The wind was as you said always going to blow westerly, usually from 11 in the morning till about 4-5pm. During this spell the waves gets a bit choppy and closey. This must be a very good place when the winds are offshore and the swell consistently bigger! We stayed at ''Bungalow No.7, a spot situated on the beach, in the middle of the three waves. We had an excellent bungalow which was double storey three beds , nice porch with awesome view for rp's 50 000 per night. There are also good singles for 20-25000Rp's. The kitchen is open all day and the food is good and cheap. There are more bugalows northwards but they are less private and generally not as clean as No.7. The little boats taking you to the breaks (not imperative) cost 5000 rp's for a return 2-3hour session, and leave usually from no.7 (i have the address if you like to book maybe, but not on me right now.) The only bummer on the Island is the discarding of rubbish which is done indiscrimately anywhere. There are some moves about to change this. It is compounded by the fact that the Westerly Winds blows all the stuff in from Bali and the ocean. It is a cool island to take kids also. We saw lots of surfers with kids here. There are also surf safari operators (boat owners) who live on Lembogan, so if you can get 7-9 surfers commited while you are there, you can do a week trip tp lombok, Sudawa and other spots around for as little as 160USD. Videos included etc.
The best waves we had was on the morning of leaving for the island from Sanur. Sanur has a really good reef that can take 8-10 foot swells easy. Very good right, hollow and long. Tube de lux. Got it on the day we returned also. The town is actually quite mellow with a cool vibe. Quite a few local surfers around. Also good waves to the east of ferry terminal (about 800m) opposite big Hotels. Nice shape. Probably gets much better with big swells. Sanur takes the Westerly winds sort of ''side-shore'' and therefore requires a big blow-out to get wasted. Quite protected.
We spent some time in Ubud and then travelled to the West coast. WE stayed at Balian Beach Cottages, about 100 meters upstream from a rivermouth which runs into a left sand-bottomed/reef combination wave. As you said the west coast takes a lot more swell and we had two days of good waves here. Unfortunately the heavy rain caused the paddle in area to become quite dirty and choppy on the first day. It settled on the second and the waves were much cleaner. The wave is not too fast, but it is a great take-off with a nice face. Long bottom turnes and the odd section that should barrel very nicely thank you very much, when conditions are very good. The wave apears quite intimedating on first sight, but once in it is a typical rivermouth scenario. (Paddle into rip, take wave left into rip again etc.) Crowds very few (5-8). Bungalows are not so good except for maybe two or three stand alone bungalows facing beach. Prices are about 30% higher than anywhere else due to lack of competition. Not the best vibe around (owned and run by I think a British person, so somehow the ''Aloha'' is lacking . We met and surfed two other spots with a local kid, but we were a bit scared of the conditions. (Take-offs in about 1 foot water with hands scraping the reef. The guy was surfing a 5-foot needle! Gnarly but inspiring. These spots were within 10 km North and south of the bugalows. The river is known as the ''Sacred River". Well George, that is about it. I have to admit that I expected a bit more from the beaches. We are obviously very spoilt where I come from but generally this was a very good trip. My wife loved the art/crafts and I luvem' waves. Let me know if you want any specific details, you can email me direct at cwemeyer@iafrica.com