Boats and Surf (Surfing Gerupuk, Lombok)

Last day in Taiwan! Leaving for Indonesia, a sad but exciting day.

We (Chris and I along with our friends Chris and Jessie) took a small little plane over to Lombok from Denpasar, Bali.  Lombok is a magical little island with great surfing.  It’s not overcrowded like Bali is… especially like Kuta, Bali.  Kuta, Bali was terrible, it felt like all of the touristy shops combined into one, then decided to throw up.  Anyway, we were glad to get out of the craziness of Bali and chill at a slow going country part of Indonesia.  Kuta, Lombok is where all of the surf shops and little surf themed restaurants are scattered about.  You also can catch a local boat from here to get out to a lot of the amazing reef breaks that Lombok has to offer.  Chris and Cheryl, our friends from Cali met us in Lombok and the six of us became one fun bunch to travel Indonesia with.  We stayed at a really nice guesthouse in Lombok that was a bit overpriced but worth the splurge, considering that I knew once I split off from Chris and the rest of the group I’d be back to staying in very basic, backpacker accommodations.  

Walking towards the small plane to Lombok from Bali

The owner of the guesthouse is a Japanese expat named Ken who didn’t speak much English but tried to be helpful.  He doubled as our surf guide and basically took us surfing for the next four days.  We mostly surfed Gerupuk.  Gerupuk as a whole consists of three breaks, all accessible by boat.  There’s Gerupuk Inside, Gerupuk Outside Left and Gerupuk Outside Right.  In the afternoons we surfed Gerupuk Outside Right and in the mornings we either surfed Outside Left or Inside.  The waves were a little smaller than what we expected but they were still really fun.  Shoulder high sometimes head high waves, over a shallow reef that was so beautiful under the glassy, clear water.  At times when I duck dove, I felt like I was plunging straight into glass.  The whole surfing experience was magic.  We’d have to take a van out to the dock.  Then we’d unload our boards and haul them onto a little boat that took us to the different breaks. 

Getting our stuff ready for the boat

On our small little boat

Local boats that take you out the the different breaks

Cute local kids hanging on to the boats as they go in and out

Local kids hanging onto our boat, smiling for the camera

Jumping off the boat with our boards

On our way to the breaks

 

The scenery was magnificent.  Southern Lombok is quite drier than Bali, so some of the terrain reminded me of California… sandy, deserty next to the ocean.  There were also huge rocks that jutted out of the water, one was so big and conveniently located alongside Gerupuk Outside Right, so the whole time we were surfing in it’s shade.  

A beautiful sunset at Gerupuk Outside Right

I loved the boat rides because I felt like we were on a little adventure going out to reef breaks in the middle of nowhere.  On one occasion, the motor of the boat kept shutting off, we finally made it to the surf break and had a nice long surf session.  When we all got back in the boat we didn’t give much thought about our way back.  Unfortunately, the motor shut off completely so we were sort of stranded.  We all took it really well and by the end it was six of us plus our guides using our hands and arms to paddle the boat.  Some of the guys were able to remove parts of the boat and use the flat but short boards to paddle.  We finally made it back after it got dark and it was all really funny in the end.  

Using boards and our hands to paddle our boat in the dark

Each night the six of us were so exhausted that all we could do was have dinner then chat or play some cards before going to bed to do the same thing the next day.  It was a relaxing and great start to a fun trip.