It was wasy to slip into a daily ritual in Uluwatu. Guided by a small southwest swell and my travel buddy Lyndon Fairbairn's experience in the area, we were set.
Each morning we'd wake at 5:30am eat a brekky of bananas and muesli, chuck the boards in their slings and jump on our Harley's (scooters). We'd be down the road to Uluwatu before the parking attendants had even thought of waking up to charge us 5000 Rupiah each ... that's about 50c. We'd get the number 1 and 2 parks. The place was deserted. Then we'd run down past the Single Fin in the darkness with ears trained to listen for the crack of a new swell. It never came. Instead the familiar lazy souwest swell rumbled lazily down the reef.
It didn't faze us ... as long as we were first out we'd be happy. Usually we were and we'd get half an hour of waves before the sun broke the horizon. Then the slowly increasing crowds would ramp up and up until the lineup was packed. That was our cue to head in for a second breakfast at Salin Warung served by Jessica and her team. We'd eat overlooking the lineup and try desperately to rehydrate. From our vantage point on the cliff we'd study the ebb and flow of the crowd to pinpoint our second surf between surges in the crowd. Sometimes we got it pretty good. Sometimes we struck rush hour. The second surf would drag on for anything from two to four hours in the heat of the sun. We'd pay for that. Sunburnt, heat stroke. Nowhere to hide and oblivious as we tried to pick off a set wave to ourselves in this tropical paradise.
We never left much in the tank. We'd come in from the second surf with legs that felt like lead as we climbed up the irregular steps of the cliff face. Our Harley's were now swamped in a sea of bikes. We struggled to locate them at times. Our next stop was nearly always Drifters – a café on the turn off to Bingin that served an icy cold berry bowl for 85,000 Rupiah that was an incredible reviving tonic. We'd usually tack a late lunch on a short time later and congratulate ourselves on refueling so well.
The afternoon crowds never got any ligther and so we vowed to repeat the early session in the morning as we recounted the day with a bottle of Bingtang while floating around the pool at our accommodation, Uluwatu Breeze Villas.
Watching the sunset is the thing to do in Uluwatu, so we'd head down to the beach clubs: Single Fin, Ulu Cliffhouse, Omnia or El Kabron (currently undergoing a refit). These are bars and restaurants, usually with an infinity pool, that overlook the lineup, like Single Fin, or at least the Indian Ocean like the others. They're brimming with the most beautiful people in Uluwatu, a pretty amazing DJ is on the decks and the party ramps up into sunset. And then, as quickly as it all started, it's over. We're riding the Harley's back to the villas and sound asleep by 8:30pm, recharging to repeat it all again the next day. Just perfect.
See you at the beach ... Derek
PS The Emerson's South Island Surfing Championships is set to take over Dunedin this Easter Weekend (April 19-21). The event will be staged out of St Clair Beach with lots of action from some of New Zealand's best surfers. See ya down there.
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