Today I will take you back to Indonesia for a surfing trip I took in Bali. When you talk to people about Bali you find that different aspects of the island call to different types of people. Some go for the volcano hikes, some for the diving, others for the culture, and maybe even to party. For this trip, my mission was to enjoy some beach time and ride a few waves. Bali is well known for its year-round surf seasons, and is a popular destination for surfers all over the world.
In this post I will discuss my experience exploring and surfing at Pererenan Beach, on the southwest coast of Bali. Many people may not have heard of this beach, but have heard of the popular surf and party town of Canggu, which is located just a bit further down the coast to the south. Pererenan is more calm than Canggu, and is known for its famous black sand beach.
To be honest, I did not do any research before coming so I did not know to expect black sand. I purely chose to come here because I wanted to stay a bit away from the noise of Canggu, and this happened to be the beach that was closest to my hotel.
Before you even reach the beach you will need to drive through a small neighborhood. The streets are relatively narrow, so you must be careful when riding your motorbike. There seem to be many small villas, and not really any large hotels around. I am impressed by the attention to detail in the design of the buildings, with many unique and beautiful entranceways and statues to admire from the road.
When you pull up to the beach you are immediately greeted by a few interesting statues, as well as some old ladies selling sandals and sunglasses. The ladies were nice, and easy to give a smile when I arrived. The first statue you encounter has a man playing a traditional drum and a mermaid riding a wave behind him. I was told by one of the ladies that she is a Hindu goddess and the guardian of the sea.
Nearby there is another statue, this time much larger and arguably more interesting than the first. This statue is of a man riding a large fish with an elephant head. I am told this elephant fish is named Gajah Mina, and that this creature symbolizes the harmonious connection between the land and sea. The addition of the man riding it is said to embodying strength, wisdom, and the balance between nature and spirituality.
The beach didn’t have many people around, and I decided to drive down the little path until I could find a shop to rent a surfboard. Unfortunately, I did not get very far before a bit of the road was under construction. There was a small path carved in the sand just next to the road and I continued down the beach via this detour. The path didn’t go much further before it was completely taken over by sand, and with no surf rental shop in sight. At this moment, I decided to turn around and head towards the more populated end of the beach, located just on the other side of the statues.
My second try going through the sandy detour in the road did not go well, and halfway through the path my bike became stuck in the sand. In futility I tried to get the bike going, but ultimately I needed the assistance of the workers to help place some spare wood under my tires for traction. Once I was able to get moving, I continued down the path in the other direction until I got to a small parking lot with some restaurants and a few small stands renting surfboards.
I spent the next few hours out on the water, taking turns riding and getting wrecked by the steady stream of medium sized waves. After a particularly intense thrashing by one of the waves, the leash (or string) that wraps around the ankle and connects me to my board detached from the surfboard. As a result, I had to spend some time fighting the waves to reunite with it so I wouldn’t be on the hook for a missing rental board. That was not the most fun experience, and it did take a lot of my energy. To give myself some rest, I paddled the board to a calmer part of the water, and just let myself float and enjoy the beauty of the place.
I could see the sun was getting low, so I rode one last wave in and enjoyed a refreshing coconut as the sun set on a beautiful but tiring day. This seemed to be a popular place to watch the sunset, and it wasn’t long before I made some new friends to enjoy the experience with.
I hope you enjoyed reading my post. All photos were taken by myself.
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Woo hoo! I'm glad people appreciate my posts :))
Bali, I really want to visit Bali.
I hope I can visit it soon
I hope you can too, it has many beautiful places to see and fun activities to enjoy.
Hiya, @glecerioberto here, just swinging by to let you know that this post made it into our Honorable Mentions in Travel Digest #2524.
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Cool! I am glad you appreciated my post. :)
You are very welcome @giathebao! it was well deserved. ☀️
Keep up the great work 💪