Surfing at Canggu |
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| The rock at Canggu |
Canggu was a palette of
grey and black on the first day when these shots were taken. Black sand, black rock splitting the beach in two and grey skies with intermittent rain made it
eerily beautiful. I was less nervous than on the first day, had learned some of the basics of this beach and made some progress.
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| Broke my board, man |
I managed to catch a few
waves, stand up and ride a good distance. Getting out of the water was tricky
and the shore breaks were really strong. Wayan had to rescue a Malaysian
tourist who got sucked into the water while standing on the shore near the
breaking waves. With this commotion, he missed photographing my best rides. One
rider lost his board, which I last saw heading towards the rock with him in
pursuit.
The waves at Canggu have
a different feel to those I'm used to in Australia - apparently those at Kuta are
more similar. They start to curl in much deeper water and have a stronger swell
through the wave. If you get dumped you can be under the water being pummeled
for a while. Fortunately the water is deep and the bottom is sandy so it's not
too dangerous.
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| Paddling out to the breakers |
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| Entering the water at Tanah Lot |
On the second day the
surf wasn't too good at Canggu, so we went to Tanah Lot which is nearby. There
is no real beach there so you have to launch off the rocks or descend stairs
cut into the cliff and then make a dash for safety before the next wave smashes
you into the rocks. The guys helped me in although got cut on the rocks before
getting to the sand to enter the water. I couldn't help thinking about the
closeness of the rocks and how I valued my life, and after a short while
decided to call it a day.
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| Ric with boogie board |
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| Surfing on the last day |
On the last day Ric came
with us and hired a boogie board to have a surf as well. There is a channel to
the right of the main surf area which is useful to get out the back for the
unbroken waves. Ric only managed to get about two-thirds of the way out as
boogie boards are harder to paddle. He caught a couple of waves but found the
surf too heavy and the white water too rough so went back to shore to take
photos.
Unfortunately on the last
day, I wasn't feeling too well and energy sapped by Bali Belly, and although I
caught a couple of waves, I didn't have enough energy to paddle back out so
called it a day fairly early. Altogether it was a great experience and Ladra
and Wayan really helped me improve my technique.
