2015 Indo trip n.2 report 1. Day 1 of the highly anticipated big swell report.

I started the day by checking the waves at the Airport reefs at 6am and they looked already too big. So I went to Balangan.
Tide was high and the waves looked big but doable.

I paddled out, tried to catch a couple, got caught inside by a big set (the swell was on the rise), got scared the by the raw energy of it and went straight in.
Considering that the last session I had in that spot I came out of the water all bleeding and with a hole in the head, I was quite happy to have not injured myself. Got to know your limits and play it smart.
The following is a fat section of photos I took there after my "session".

That's got to hurt.

Empty, but too beautiful to discard.

Very happy to see that they already rebuilt the warungs that got burned down some months ago. This is the Sunset warung, my favorite.

Then I got back on the bike and drove towards Uluwatu. This is the lineup at Padang Padang and the following are photos from there.

A successful drop at Impossibles. Didn't go too far.

The deceiving perfection of Impossibles.

 

Next spot on the list was Uluwatu which was considerably bigger.

Indonesian little girls are ALL incredibly cute.

One of the many casualties of the day.

That's my observation point. Not too shabby.

After lunch I went back to Padang Padang and no, it didn't get less crowded.

 I tend to think that this guy got the shot.

This fellow stole the bottles of water that are my Bali portable shower.

I hope I won't offend anybody, but that's 100% society induced bullshit, IMO.

I finished the day with a fun session at the Jimbaran shore break. A session that, compared to the morning session at Balanagan, I could give the following titles:
- the pleasure of wiping out knowing that nothing was going to happen to me
- the pleasure of duck diving without fearing to get slammed on the reef
- the pleasure of dropping in a wave without risking to die
As you can imagine, I had fun.

That's it for today, I'm going out for dinner. Tomorrow more big waves action. Stay tuned.