Ability Level: Beginner

After a dramatic night of heavy rain, lightning, and a minor earthquake, we woke up to a bright morning with excellent beginner surfing conditions! With the break in the weather, and the sea state smoothed by the rain overnight, our beginner surfers enjoyed a beautiful morning at Padang Padang. The swell is coming in at 6 ft at 12 seconds, coming from 208 degrees, which provided shoulder-high set waves breaking left and right along the reef amongst a light westerly breeze.

The long-range forecast shows that our consistent run of swell is finally tapering off. When the swell drops in size, we have a wider range of locations to select from for most surfers. During a small swell in January and February, breaks such as Sarangan and Geger left become surf-able for improving surfers, in addition to the breaks on the southern tip of the Bukit.

Our beginner surfers had such a good time at Baby Padang yesterday, they have gone back for another day of excellent beginner surfing. The swell is hanging around at 5.5 ft. at 13 seconds, coming from 205 degrees, and the wind is blowing moderately from the south-southwest. This was good for chest-high waves with the occasional larger, head-high set wave with clean faces and lines, with a small amount of on-shore texture. Our surfers all had several rides where they worked on the basics of surfing.

The reef at Baby Padang is tucked in behind a headland to the south, which protects it from wind from a southerly direction. This means that during the wet season, when we often see west or south-west winds, the break will remain clean while some of the more exposed breaks will be blown out with on-shore or side-shore wind.

We have been afforded another day of a light west wind here on the west side of the Bukit which allowed our beginner surfers to ride the fun waves at Baby Padang. The swell is coming in at 5.5 ft. at 12 seconds from 204 degrees, and the wind is predicted to remain light and from the west, in the 6 to 8 mph all day. At Baby Padang, our beginner surfers enjoyed chest-high peaks with clean faces despite the light onshore breeze. The crowd was lighter than normal as many surfers would have headed straight for Nusa Dua.

A notable characteristic of the wet season is that the wind is light and variable. When the wind stays light, more spots around the Bukit remain surf-able, especially the southern tip of the island, which is often the first place to be blown out by the wind.

The beginner group headed to Mushroom Rock this morning where they found a beautiful, bright, sunny morning and excellent beginner waves! The swell is coming in at 4.5 ft. at 10 seconds, coming from 198 degrees. The waves came in at shoulder-high on the best of the sets, and the waves broke cleanly across the reef at a slow, mellow pace. The wind has improved signifigantly over the previous few days, blowing calmly offshore against the slow moving peaks. The slow waves gave our surfers the time to process how their movements and weight distribution affect how the surfboard moves through the water.

The wind forecast is looking good over the next few days. The strong west wind is finally easing in strength and persistence, which opens up other parts of the island to surfing, such as the southern tip and the west coast of the island.

Our beginner surfers were off to Black Stone again this morning where they enjoyed easier conditions and the sunny weather. The swell has dropped in size to 5 ft. at 13 seconds coming from 202 degrees, and the stiff breeze continued to blow offshore from the west. Our surfers left the camp at 6:30 AM, giving the tide some time to come up after a low of 3:40 AM at -.1 meters, and a high of 1 meter at 9:45 AM. Like yesterday, the steady wind kept the faces of the waves open, which allowed the surfers to enjoy some long rides across the reef!

When the conditions are challenging, nothing beats the encouragement you get from one of our instructors. Their light-hearted nature and charismatic personalities will give you all that extra strength needed to paddle into the waves and back into the line-up for another go.

Our beginner surfers were off to Black Stone this morning where they tested themselves in the challenging but clean conditions. The swell has increased in size overnight to 7 ft. at 14 seconds from 208 degrees, making the more exposed spots for expert surfers only. The wind is still blowing strongly from the west, which is offshore for breaks in the Nusa Dua area. Our surfers persisted and found suitable head-high waves to develop their skills. The offshore wind kept the faces of the waves open for our surfers to glide long, and everyone came home stoked and ready for breakfast!

Bali is well known for its consistent and powerful surf. Unlike most places, Bali receives swell year-round from the Southern Ocean. The size of the swells increases during the dry season, which is from April to October, however the wet season still serves up pumping waves.

Our beginner surfers headed to Blackstone early this morning where they found challenging but fun conditions. The wind has been blowing strongly around the Bukit lately, after the two days of clean conditions we had previously. The swell has picked up in size coming in at a healthy 6.5 ft. at 14 seconds, coming from 207 degrees. The wind blew offshore, which held up the faces of the waves, keeping the lines smooth and organized. Our surfers challenged themselves in the strong offshore conditions, but everyone improved their skill set and had a good time.

Learning how to surf offshore conditions is very challenging as the wind pushes your surfboard up the face of the wave and you require just a little extra paddle strength to stroke into the waves. This skill set is important to learn as you will find paddling into waves in clean conditions easier.

Another fun day of wet season surfing here at the camp! The onshore breeze held off just long enough for a fun session at Baby Padang! The swell is coming in at 4.5 feet at 11 seconds from 210 degrees, which brought plenty of shoulder-high set waves breaking left and right across the reef. There was some texture left in the lineup by the wind from the west, which blew overnight, but the faces of the waves remained clean and our surfers had a great time!

One of the benefits of staying at our camp is that we can catch the unexpected clean days in the Uluwatu area when they come. The weather and swell forecasts are often inaccurate here, and since we are based in Padang Padang, we can jump on the good conditions when they suddenly appear. Happy New Year everyone!