Mick's Bali BlahhOG September 2017

Hiyaz I hope your all good...I had planned on doing a run down on each days adventures like I did last year getting on the piss while the missus was having an arvo nap. But this year she is in Japan to see her favourite band from the good old 90's, "Spitz" which she had to literally join a fan club and enter a lottery for the chance to buy a ticket, they are still a very popular band. She even chose "Sendai" which was the location of much of the Tsunami footage you likely saw on and after March 4th 2011 to improve her chances of obtaining a ticket.

We've managed to score some great waves and avoided the crowds the last few days, until today my mate has been aflicted with the accursed Bali Belly. Old mate needed a rest anyway and this is what has brought me here, since otherwise I would be drinking Bintang's or the very nice new "Prost" Indo hoppy beer which is around now beside the pool pool ogling Euro boobies, which I will do as soon as this is done. I quite like Prost, Bintang although great needs to be cold. If your slowing down a little after a few Prost goes down better when not so cold, so I'd certainly recommend giving it a go.

I flew with Crapstar midday last Friday 22nd a few days after the news started sensationalising the volcano issue my friends and family keep wishing me well for. My concern was something might happen before I flew over. I was so pissed off September 2015 when every company had cancelled their flights except Garuda. I will be stoked if I'm "stranded" here with insurance to cover an extended holiday in one of my favourite places in the world.

Flight was not bad considering Crapstar, although I'd paid about as much as a Garuda flight don't even have inflight entertainment in the way of movies to select/watch. Just went with then coz they left 15 mins earlier than my missus Singapore airlines flight & if no flight cancellations arrive 1 hour before she gets back. If I don't she has my spare car key to head home. What made the flight not so bad was sitting in row one with a spare seat space between me and a Dutch lady with Indo heritage (parents returned to Netherlands after WW2) who was the quality control person for electrical mechinism's that airports around the world use. We talked about her family history, her job and her daughter who is currently living in Sanur near Hardy's while she attends Uni in Bali...cool lady and I was at least able to help her out with some Info about about Bali (her 1st trip) and was able to answer her questions. 3hrs 45 mins seemed to "fly" by

Checked in, caught up with my friend, drank some beer & didn't hit mids till 930 the next morning. I could not believe there was only 2 people out and they were hopping on a boat as we arrived. Very rare, so had a good warm up session to get the trip started. It was small for mids only just over head on a low tide.

After the surf I contacted a friend about getting my 2 custom boards delivered, he said he will pop in soon and they arrived at 2145 that night lol Indo definition of soon, antime within the next 48 hours haha but am I complaining hell no. They are awesome quality shapes/build and I got to test them out the next day.

The swell picked up and I arranged for Gusti to pick us up at 5am so we would arrive at our East coast location at about sunrise. It was occasional head 1/2 right hand fun waves with 5 other people spread out. The tide come up and we popped into Keramas. There was about 30 guys out at Keramas and no one out at a nearby break which was just turning on with the higher tide. Surfed another couple of hours & was completely stuffed. Thank Huey the Mie Goreng at the carpark warung is still awesome.

I won't mention this after each days surf, but its very interesting. The current hotel and the hotel I stayed before 50 metres away before it was knocked down and reconstructed were never very busy. This hotel is now attracting a lot of Euro chicks which have a facinating tendency to squeeze their tits and like wring the water out of them when hopping out of the pool. Its uber hot, I love it lol. I'd never seen it before, maybe its a new fashion, I don't know but I like it : D

We returned to spot x the next day. Swell was meant to be like 0.2 bigger, but it was 2.5 to 3 times overhead. The kinda day if you miss a wave your likely to turn around and cop huge waves on your head. I was very concerned about by new board several times trying to duck dive 15 feet of whitewater and getting destroyed. Legrope was a concern too but held in luckily. I'd like to say I was undergunned but their were a couple of blokes absolutely killing it and I look forward to editing that footage to share with you guys. I got heaps but was shamelessly gunning for the shoulder, don't think I cut back once haha

So yeah that was last Sat mids, Sun/Mon spot x....and then I wanted to show my friend my favourite "beach", not wave but I love the swiss family robinson type stilted warungs on the beach at Balangan. We arrived at 6am low tide about 4 people up on the point but we sat on and end section racing/slabbing over a shallow reef getting heaps of fun waves to ourselves for a couple of hours before the numbers trickled in. I was pretty stuffed after the epic survival surf the say before, so bailed after 2.5 hours. Had some lunch, showed my friend my favourite lookout off the Southern cliff beside Dreamland and then headed to Ulu's for a few beers to watch some great surfing.

I'd lined up a East coast mission for 5am the next day (today) but my friend knocked on my door 5 mins before we were gonna leave and informed me he was crook. So I gave old mate Gusti some money, apologized & headed out to mids at daybreak.Turned out to be lucky coz the trade wind kicked in real early today, like 615 which would of made out mission a waste of time. Mids was about head 1/2 with a rapidly rising crew of snow boarders with surfboards. I got heaps over 3 hours, returned to base, went and got my friend some meds, had brekky, surprisinly the first massage and then...

When I was out at mids I commented on how cool a blokes surfboard art was, he told me it was done at a place on Benarsari off Poppies 2, so I popped one of my new boards in for some board art & will pop the other newy in when I pick the other one up tomoroow...can't wait ti see how it turns out, I havn't had board art since the '80's. I mean like other than just an all over tint or colour.

Anyhow hope my drunken ramblings was readable, will add pics and vids later...cheers : )

Ohh.... Just missed you by a week! We had a couple of good solid days at Ulus and Airport lefts some fun ones at Kuta reef. planning on heading back on the 12th if Agung doesn't blow his top.

Look forward to seeing the board art!!

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Surf69 said..
Ohh.... Just missed you by a week! We had a couple of good solid days at Ulus and Airport lefts some fun ones at Kuta reef. planning on heading back on the 12th if Agung doesn't blow his top.

Look forward to seeing the board art!!

Will havta catch up some time, I usually pop over in September. Missus seems keen for a trip this Jan which would be good coz I havn't done the wet season since 2014.

Will post heaps of pics when I get back. I'm scared I will resize & screw up my original rez pics mucking around on the Macbook.

Old mate was still crook when I checked on him last night. I was contemplating an early run to Bingin coz the tides were perfect & the forecast swell looked promising. I thought nah, I'll check on old mate in the morning & see if he's interested in hitting the local reefies with me. Luckily when I checked the surf cam it looked packed with very little swell getting in there, so glad I didn't go.

Surprisingly or not so considering I knocked off about 400ml of duty free vodka while typing the first blah'og above. I woke up at 6:20 after crashing about 8pm the night before & felt pretty bloody good after heading off to places at 5am. Old mate was still taking it easy. I didn't rush out to mids coz I'd found lately a lot of people were hitting it early & leaving about 830am. So I headed out at 930, an hour after the turn of the tide to find 1/2 as many crew as the day before & the occasional double head sets.

There were less people but I found I had to work a little harder to get waves coz every one of the 12 people out were hungry for waves. Everyone got heaps though & it was a lot of fun...except for one poor bugger who had to go chasing after his board from the back bubble when his leggie snapped.

Mr Ketut arrived 20 mins early & I was happy to bail. Got a bomb just as he arrived & was feeling pretty stuffed. Paddled out through a sludge of little stingers that were there as well, like out back of the mids shoulder. We had to pick up a bloke from Kuta reef on the way in & he told Ketut he wanted one more. I said I'd get one more too, coz I hate sitting on boats, I get sick if they're not moving. Amazingly Kuta reef only had 5 guys out & I had 4 waves before this other bloke found one worthy of his last wave. Was a fun little bonus, Kuta reef is fun but usually packed.

Checked on old mate on the way to my room & he was feeling much better. Soz good news, he'll be heading out for the dawny with me tomorrow. Didn't feel like organising trips anywhere, I need to pick up my second board I dropped off today to get some board art. Picked up the first one from Naruki on Benasari off Poppies 2 today & it looks great. Stoked I did it, I love my new boards. They both ride awesome & I'm sure the art will make them go even better

Old mate knocked on the door at 530, poor bugger had a resurgence of the eye through the needle.....I was feeling a bit surfed out after surfing non stop since last Friday. So opted to avoid the dawny frothers & headed out to mids an hour after the low again.

First 2 hours were super fun, the tide was nice & low. Just about everyone was sitting on the back bubble waiting for the double head sets & I was getting wave after wave duckidiving the sets & going the smaller ones running across the reef more. I've been playing around with fins on the new 6'2. Tryed S9's, great drive, but no release, good for over double or racy sectiony waves. Solus which were almost there, but too loose for the waves we've had...today I went the S9 sides with the rear Solus cutaway type fin. It felt great, drivey but released nicely off the top...even scored a few short back door barrels on the middle size waves running across the reef. I went for heaps, but only made a few. Hit the reef at one stage, not too bad, but enough to let me know it was there haha, bit shallower than I'd realized.

Last hour before mid day, numbers almost doubled with 5 frothing groms taking up position with a similar tactic to me. So I sat out wide waiting the wide sets that the guys pushing each other too deep were out of position. Didn't get as many but scored a bomb with a nice shoulder just as I saw my boat coming.

I came in showered, headed straight to Benasari, to pick my board up & unfortunately the board was not ready. Grabbed a card to call before I go tomorrow. I really hate going anywhere North of Waterbomb unless its before dawn heading down Sunset rd towards one of the waves up that way.

Making plans for a move for a couple of days after tomorrow coz the swells dropping below a meter. Will leave most my sh1t here & just take a board & backpack. Hope my friend is feeling ok at that stage...Oh yeah checked on him he was ok drinking contreue, maybe thats part of the problem lol....just kidding bro ; )

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IFocus said..
Epic Mick thanks for the thread I use Mr Ketut in front of Kuta reef also mate put me onto him he is the only boat that goes out in the dark early.........drama when you find out Mids is double what you thought

Yes if he's working that day, he seems to be taking turns with the other Segara boys King Kong & the young bloke at the moment.

Jack 300m South is also a good bet...but gotta love Ketut's ladder when you can barely paddle yet alone pull yourself up onto the boat

Cheers mate!

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Ricardo1709 said..
Heading to Sumatra on Saturday till the 10th then Bali till the 20th,anyone surfed the left at Ceningan as Im over there for a couple of days

Great on a smaller swell and favorable winds. Can handle some size, but can be heavy...ive been smashed out there when i bit of small than i could chew. A lot of current/water movement with tides.

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MickPC said..

Surf69 said..
Ohh.... Just missed you by a week! We had a couple of good solid days at Ulus and Airport lefts some fun ones at Kuta reef. planning on heading back on the 12th if Agung doesn't blow his top.

Look forward to seeing the board art!!

Will havta catch up some time, I usually pop over in September. Missus seems keen for a trip this Jan which would be good coz I havn't done the wet season since 2014.

Will post heaps of pics when I get back. I'm scared I will resize & screw up my original rez pics mucking around on the Macbook.

I head up at least a couple of times a year. Like you havent done a wet season for years but may also head up in Jan, May stay at Komune?

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Surf69 said..

Ricardo1709 said..
Heading to Sumatra on Saturday till the 10th then Bali till the 20th,anyone surfed the left at Ceningan as Im over there for a couple of days

Ill be on Lembongan from the 15th. If swells down a bit ill head over that way.

Yeah that's when I'm heading over be staying at ceningan but will surf Lembongan as well if not too crowded

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Surf69 said..

MickPC said..

IFocus said..
Epic Mick thanks for the thread I use Mr Ketut in front of Kuta reef also mate put me onto him he is the only boat that goes out in the dark early.........drama when you find out Mids is double what you thought

Yes if he's working that day, he seems to be taking turns with the other Segara boys King Kong & the young bloke at the moment.

Jack 300m South is also a good bet...but gotta love Ketut's ladder when you can barely paddle yet alone pull yourself up onto the boat

Cheers mate!

My Kingdom for a ladder!

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Surf69 said..

MickPC said..

Surf69 said..

MickPC said..

Surf69 said..
Ohh.... Just missed you by a week! We had a couple of good solid days at Ulus and Airport lefts some fun ones at Kuta reef. planning on heading back on the 12th if Agung doesn't blow his top.

Look forward to seeing the board art!!

Will havta catch up some time, I usually pop over in September. Missus seems keen for a trip this Jan which would be good coz I havn't done the wet season since 2014.

Will post heaps of pics when I get back. I'm scared I will resize & screw up my original rez pics mucking around on the Macbook.

I head up at least a couple of times a year. Like you havent done a wet season for years but may also head up in Jan, May stay at Komune?

I wouldn't recommend it mate, it was fully booked 4 months ago for the last couple of weeks & its not even wet season. I checked to get an idea for how busy it would be round there. If you stay in Sanur its easy to head up Prof Bagus or take the toll road South. Heaps of options within 30 mins either way or out front.

AHHH OK roger that. Thanks for the heads up. Bugger. I remember a time not that long ago when it was like a ghost town up there :(

Still worth popping in, the majority surf Keramas main break. But there were about 20 guys on that break half way down the beach to the South the couple of times I popped in for lunch. Just saying Sanur has more & is central to head off in either direction. A lot of attractions up that way now, you have a lot of non surfers popping in for horseback riding, quad bikes, poor dolphin in a pool : ( , safari park and the air museum thing is open now behind Kommune. Plus a lot more accomodation has opened up between Kommune and the carpark warung. Apparently a new hotel is also going to be built just North of Kommune. Place has something different every year I go there, changing very rapidly.

Nothing like new board stoke!!

COOL READ
wish I was in bali too

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HENDO 77 said..
COOL READ
wish I was in bali too

Cheers mate...I'll be saying that in a few days too. Back home early Friday

Woke at 4:30am today, ate the other 1/2 of my pizza while watching a movie. It was meant to be a 2m swell and high tides. I was thinking maybe AP rights would be ok...but after checking in with my friend at 6am who ended up having a late night and wanted more sleep and looking at the outer reefs which were small. I had a new plan.

Called Gusti and 25 mins later we were heading to a Benoa SE reefie. Wanted the toll road, but from the 1st of Oct you now need like a card that you cash up. No more paying at the pay boothes. No prob, we were there in 20 mins. The wind was light onshore but clean across the reef. Just fun little shoulder to waist high rights to myself. Not really satisfying though and I thought I would probably hit mids at low tide after lunch and I came in after an hour.

Felt like a coffee and asked Gustie to take us a little further South to the G spot beach. The wind had really slowed down, almost stopped and the waves looked really run about head high and consistent. I thought fark the coffee and grabbed my board for a long paddle out to the second reef.

It was of course a lot bigger than it looked from the beach 4 or 5 hundred metres back. Regular double head with triple head sets not too infrequently. It was so fun, real easy take off, with some sucky racy sections. I had one wave where I got short barrelled twice & then didn't make the third barrel I went for, really long rides I soon learnt to cut short after copping a triple head set after that wave. Was so nice to have this long right to myself for 90 mins on my own and the usual current wasn't pushing hard at all.

Just as I'd copped the second triple head bombs and was on my last legs two things happened. I spotted a boat with about 10 people heading out and they were hooting and carrying on. I had an idea what that meant and paddled hard out back to be greeted with one of those triple head waves. I paddled into it and had to nurse my 6 x 20 1/2 wide board through the bottom turn before flying down the line with the odd top turn, section after section for about 600 hundred miles or maybe 200 metres, I don't know, a bloody long way before diving down onto my stomach in the whitewater and trying to go as far as possible to reduce the paddle back in...fully stoked and on the cards for another go tomorrow if the forecast swell doesn't show up.

I came in to lots of people lounging on the beach with nice titties and decided to join them. Had a couple of awesome jaffles, a guiness extra stout and a bintang while enjoying the scenery. Good to see the warungs hadn't jacked the prices up like a lot of other places....not that I can complain, its still awesome, I'm loving it and always planning my next trip before the current one ends, which sadly is this Friday. Got a couple of boxes to tick before then if all goes well.

Meanwhile the missus had an epic time & is fully stoked with seeing her favourite 90's band back in her home land & bought lots of merch to add to the 15 or something albums "spitz" has released....luckily she was not hit by a tsunami while in Sendai...stoked...

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Surf69 said..
Only takes one good wave to make it an epic day in my opinion, you're exceeding that. Well done love ya work!

Thanks mate, I wish it was my work. Paid travel blogging would be a dream job...I'm just happy to get in the water these days, even if its surfing ankle biters at the local on the longboard