Bali-Lombok with the Katana

Nice stuff. That second right with the light onshore wind looks mighty smack able.
On katanas, do you surf slightly thinner dimensions with the epoxy to compensate for the extra boyancy? Thinking of getting a quad katana as well but not sure whether to go epoxy.

spot on about the universal appeal of surfing Mocha, same place last year had lunch with some dudes from Finland! They had the worst case of sunburn I'd seen in years they'd spent the day surfing inside Grupuk without sun cream, looked like the crays we ordered for lunch

The outside right was super smackable but a few turns needed before the inside wall up, the top foto was a skatey park, i think I even released the fins and put some, say 3 inches, of air under my qwaddy on a few. Unfortunately I had a nemises...Tony Red Board Nakamoto was always 2 inches on my left shoulder never knew if he was gonna go or not!! He even got on the plane back to Bali at the same time...at least we didn't share a seat
Our guide called it Japanese Pussy Wave and there were on occasions a full karaoke bar worth of japeng and the inside was littered with lost snowboarders!!

Kuta beachies going off at sunset, never seen so many big airs landed or ripping turns and DROPINS.......far**n hard to get a wave off the locals

Greedy wave at outer reef, went too far looking for the last wack...paid the price as 5 wave 4-5ft solid set pushed me to no mans land...paddle back toward land till boat takes pity 200m from land, at least I had company as another bloke did exact same thing on next wave

Uluwatu Racetrack was smokin that arvo but unfortunately that wasnt me, Balangan was smokin for the next 2 days - even f$%$ked up the return date on the ticket had to coff up $600+ to fly home a day late...all big f&*&^k up but that did mean instead of sitting in a plane we were surfing head high superfast but makeable Balangan...prob watched my flight take off.................wife happy

Lombok surf guides hanger on mate named BLACK (anchor boy board strapper eran runner general gopher) surfed my 6'4 most days Dave...he loved it he was about 5'11

all in all though great fun with good boards

Hey mate, the photo's from your trip are brilliant. Looks like you had a great time and may have convinced me to pop by Katana's when I'm back from Lombok later down the track.

Just a few questions if you'd answer would greatly help me. Been having second thoughts about the trip after reading about people's misfortunes in Indo. There's a few threads on intimidation and scams (e.g. stealing hired scooters etc) by local 'mafia' or bad people. While I know that those are the minority and not the majority, did you see much of that over there? How did you go in making sure you were safe with everything and aware of any possible problems?

Cheers mate, I am even tossing up just going for an interstate trip over to your joint to Margaret River (never been over to Perth) instead of booking the tickets my mates have been pestering me to book over the last few days.

Hope you get waves over there mate, your WA forecast is looking decent!

Have not had any probs in the last 4 years of going to Bali, did hear of a robbery at Mawi in Lombok and the odd scam but you just gotta travel with ya wits about ya
Dont go to Mawi alone maybe even take a local guide
Dont do business (hire scooters, change money etc) when ya on the piss
Be respectful to locals even if they continually drop in!!
Always travel home together after a night on the piss - take care of each other
Always leave your gear in a Warang, buy some food n drink before the surf then do it again after a surf, our gear has always been looked after

Enjoy ya Holiday - Bali is pretty safe if you are respectful, Lombok is safe but is a little different to Bali but there are 100s of young Euros traveling alone and in small groups and they seem to be ok

Like all travel it comes with risk

Sitting at the Surfers Inn in Kuta Lombok right now. Just back from surfing Mawi with about 4-5 others. Everyone here is much friendly than I seem to remember from just 18 months ago. New road to Mawi makes it soooo easy too!

Ok will try too. Just on a quick side trip here after a month in Indo.

Mate, you got it great over there! Not to mention inspired me to get my new stick made from, you guessed it, Katana Think he should give you some commission for your advertising haha .

Had a quick question though, how much do you think a 18 day trip to bali will require altogether? Currently have about $1800 saved for the trip so about 100 per day for everything. Hoping to work a bit more to bring that up but it will be the bare minimum.

Cheers Mocha

Phew! Cheers Airhead, not keen for that either as hoping to mix it with the locals and actually keep it as simple and cheap as possible while surfing all day. Means I can keep some stashed for another board when I come home

Still going strong in lombok Airhead or back to good old trigg close outs in Aus? Either way, hope you getting good waves!

Newguy you will p155 it in on $100 a day as airhead said. If you wanna go to Lombok I suggest staying at the many home stays/ Losman around instead of the hotels. In kuta you got lots of option but recommend The Spot ($15-17 a night) if you wanna go Grupuk, choose of 3 waves + others close by and some sneaky ones behind the island stay at sea monkeys, Aussie owner but run by the in laws of the surf guide we used..($15-$20 and the food is excellent) but again plenty options in Gerupuk. Ekas bay has a few in Awan but you could live it up at Heaven on the Planet and surf at night...exclusive for the hotel guest!!!!
I reckon inc bed, boats to waves ($5 a trip),food and bin tangs $50/day and still livin it up.
I do recommend a guide for at least 1-4 days to get the layout plus they surf with ya, tryout ya boards drink ya piss but block the japs for ya look frat ya gear and generally add to your experience
Alim at Rasta Surf is cool, (main road Kuta)he will bring his mate Black or Bobby - negotiate about $35/day inc car hire, guide fee and funny ****!
In Bali you can't miss at Ulus try Galeh Homestay right on blue point 2 min walk to the break $20-25 Balangan Bingin right on the beach same price or Bali Diva in kuta poppies 1 close to kuta beach, boats to the reefs and the nightlife trap!!!