John Mee – Some programmer in Sydney

Teamed up with a kiwi guy who has no money. He came over with about $1000 for 5 weeks and spent $500 in the first 3 days on booze & rip-offs, so was looking to find somewhere to sit, surf, and not spend any more money. So we got a quick (2 1/2 hour) ferry ride over to Nusa Lembongan and paid $2/day to stay at a homestay on this very small island.

The catch of course is that it is only surfable at high tide – at low tide the reef becomes exposed and the sea goes flat. So if the tides co-operate you can get a morning surf and an evening surf and sit around doing nothing all day, or go for two surfs on the one tide in the middle of the day. When we arrived the surf was pretty small but picking up (about 2ft at Kuta & 3ft out on the reef). When we got to Lembongan Shipwrecks was 6ft! Its a right hander that winds off a reef about a 15 minute paddle off the beach. As the name suggests there’s a shipwreck there. The second day was about 3ft. There was only more than 6 people in the water when the Surf Travel Co tours stopped by.

For surfers out there heres the set up…
[There was a little handdrawn pic here which is now lost. Fortunately I still have this picture taken from the plane on my way out. Ed.]

Lembongan setup

The swell hit on the third day. There were about 10 surfers on the island 5 of which had a very big night. It was the day after the new moon. At no mans land it was over 12ft, the reef about 2ft deep. I went out to lacerations. It was 6-8ft and really, really sucky. It was barrelling like you would never believe over about 3 ft of water, then one of the sharpest lumpiest bits of coral you’ve ever seen. Needless to say I was scared shitless and sitting way waaaaay waay out on the shoulder. There were about 6 guys out and it was perfect. This was what I came to Indo for. Huge filthy barrels. The trouble was that with so few people out you had to go for one, no excuses that there was always someone on the inside. The first one was scary. You saw one that you would *have* to catch – since you were in the right spot and there was no-one else around you did *have* to catch it. And started paddling, paddling as hard and fast as you could. The faster you could paddle the more likely you would live. With your heart in your mouth you paddle past the point where there is no turning back – to stop now means getting dragged over the falls, the only way out is to get on your feet and ride this thing. You pray that you have timed the paddle right and are not too far inside when it breaks. The first one I got this far, slipped getting to my feet, fell, body surfed to the bottom, then got dragged up and over. After a savage workover I kicked off the bottom and paddle back out. That wasn’t so bad, I’m still alive! So from then on I wasn’t so nervous and didn’t fall again. The ride itself was awesome. You drop down this huge face and bottom turn. A wall of about a million tons forms up. There are two options (1) go straight and get a millions tons on your head or (2) PULL IN!! for the *fastest* most powerful barrel ever. As you go it gets smaller, tighter, faster and shallower. As soon as you get on all you want to do is get off. To get off you have to somehow get going even faster so you can get out of the jaws of death, past the wall, onto the shoulder and off the back. The alternative is getting drilled on the reef. That morning about ten people went out, one board was broken, two legropes snapped, one guy got a big chunk taken out of his back by the reef (he didn’t have a wetsuit on) and Tim, the guy I was with, took a chunk out of his foot – despite wearing booties – after catching four waves and getting drilled four times. Its called lacerations for a reason.

Over the next couple of days I had 3 sessions at lacerations each relatively quick – I preferred to quit while I was ahead after I’d caught a few without injury. I got dragged over the reef on my back one time but my wetsuit saved me. Just a few cuts on my hand. Booties are essential, I initially balked at the price in Australia ($56) but ened up having to buy some here for $70!

The swell dropped progressively over the next two weeks till the last day back at shipwrecks 2-3ft and onshore. That was the day I caught a shitty 3 ft onshore wave, dove off the front and caught the nose of the board on my cheek – yes missing my eye by an inch. I paddled all the way in swearing and cursing and thinking how this was my worst fear realised. I checked it out, not bleeding too much and holding closed pretty well. But yes it was quite deep. I wandered off and thought, well yes I’ll see what the village doctor says. He wanted to put 2 stiches in, but I wasn’t too keen about that at all and barred it. He put betadine on it and a bandage over it. I was worried about the scar and his stitching ability/equipment. I suggested he put steristrips on it to keep it closed tight but I guess he didn’t understand bacause he said the bandage was just as good. I had steristrips in my medical kit (they are butterfly clips – just special bits of sticky-tape for open wounds) but didn’t know how to use them and didn’t have them with me to show him. I had my own antibiotics and started taking them and waited for the next ferry back to Kuta – the next morning.

The next morning I got back and went to the Kuta Clinic which I was told was reliable – and was – and they told me yes I should have put the steristrips on and it was too late to stitch now. The scar will depend upon how my body tends to scar. They gave me some cream to put on it to soften the scar tissue. Its about an inch long on my right cheek. I was really worried about the scar first couple of days since everyone was grimacing and going tsk, tsk. But its been nearly a week now and I don’t think it will end up too noticeable. Mum I’d send you a photo to put your mind at ease but there’s only slide film in the camera at the moment so you’ll have to wait. Sorry.

Just a couple of notes about Nusa Lembongan. It was costing us about $9/day for accomodation and all we could eat. Mind you, banana pancakes, jaffles and fried rice get pretty boring after a while. A couple of times they caught some fish which was superb. A whole tuna with a stick shoved through it lengthwise and grilled is heaven. It was caught an hour before.

The day before I left they had a temple festival on. Now the island has a stray dog problem. Revolting ugly mutts are everywhere and the balo’s don’t like dogs much anyway – they carry evil spirits. So over a couple of days they wandered around poisoning them all. They fed them little balls of rice and fish laced with something so lethal they only handled it with plastic gloves on. That night walking down the village street there were piles of dead and dying dogs – about 50 plus pups. The locals all stood around laughing about “suckling, suckling dog” being on the menu tonight. But no, they don’t eat the poisoned dogs – they put them on a boat, dump them out to sea, where they get chunks taken out of them by the sharks, then wash up bloated on the beach. Which reminds me. The balinese aren’t real big on litter reduction. The world is just one big garbage bin.
Street scene of a village around Mt Bromo

Whew, well that was Bali and the first month. Since I can’t surf for a week or two I’ve come to Java and have been taking it real hard in this insanely picturesque, peaceful paradise in the highlands around Mt Bromo. The walks around here are incredible – mum would be [enjoying herself] just walking around here. The views and greenery are fantastic. A couple of days ago I walked through the forest and hour or so and saw a waterfall that would blow your mind (200m drop). The temperate is quite cool too. Need two blankets at night and a thick T-shirt/shorts during the day. In the afternoon the clouds roll in and just drift around the top of the mountains. Its very picturesque. I came to stay 2 nights/1 day but have been here 4 nights. I’m moving on to Malang today.
Mt Bromo and Mt Semeru at dawn

I’ve been in a dilemma since day 1, trying to work out if I’m surfing or touring. If the rest of Java is like this I think I’ll tour for a while.

Love
John

P.S. There’s always a P.S.

PPS. I haven’t mentioned the food. The food in Kuta is incredible – the best ever. I’ve eaten everything and anything and haven’t had any trouble with my bowels at all. In fact on Lembongan Tim got constipation – have I already said all this? Western food is expensive, local food is filling – they eat rice for breakfast. That plus unprecedented amounts of chocolate and ice-cream & I’ll leave here a good 5 kgs heavier.

PPPS. What a boring letter. I think I should just quit this one and start a more interesting one right now. Sorry Guys.