Bali Surf Report and Surf Forecast

Here in Bali we’re still not able to produce our daily surf report but, with the Covid situation improving around the world, we’re optimistic we’ll be able to welcome guests back here again in June or July.

The focus of today’s spotlight post is Sandi.

Growing up in the beach town of Cimaja, West Java, Sandi set his heart on emulating his favourite surfer Dane Reynolds and developed a repertoir of skills and manouvers to match.

Previously sponsored by world-renowned brand Quiksilver, his adventures as a professional athlete gave him experience travelling and competing abroad on several occasions in countries including Malaysia, Taiwan, New Zealand and France.

With surfing as his love, Sandi decided that working in a surf camp would be the perfect place to share this with other people and has been working at PPSC doing so for over six yeears.

Sandi is one of the surf camp’s best instructors both in terms of his own skills, and with his excellent English and communication skills, can help take your surfing to the next level too.

While we remain in Covid-19 lockdown, today’s post shines a spotlight on Blacky.

Local standout and son of Uluwatu legend Made Lapur, Blacky is one of the surf camp’s top surfers both competitively and as an instructor.

In addition to winning many local competitions, he gained international recognition by finishing 2nd in the 2018 Padang Padang Cup — contested in one of the biggest swells to hit Indonesia for years.

Blacky is one of our most in-demand instructors for private lessions/guiding and for very good reason. With unrivalled local knowledge and great communication skills, you’re almost certain to leave the water a better surfer by the end of a session with him.

Blacky is sponsored by Insight (@insight51_id) and you can watch him in action during any decent swell at Uluwatu or in his catalog of highlight reels over on his Instagram account (@agusblackysetiawan).

While the COVID-19 lockdown is ongoing and beaches remain closed, the focus of today’s update is on our head instructor and professional surf photographer Monot aka @indo_watershots.

As well as being one of camp’s most experienced instructors above the water, Monot has also been shooting from in the water for around three years having got his start assisting a friend with some off-camera flash work for a professional surf photography project.

Using a state of the art Sony mirrorless camera and housings from Liquid Eye and BOX, Monot also enjoys shooting nature and waves but there’s no place he’d rather be sitting that on in the inside at the world-famous Padang Padang Left with his camera in his hand.

Whether you want to be the envy of all your social media friends or create a print of an unforgettable surf memory to display in your living room, you can book Monot to shoot a session for you or a group of friends when you book to stay with us.

There are very few surf breaks currently open in Bali and temporary travel restrictions are in place.

We continue to serve our few remaining guests as best we can but have decided to suspend our daily surf report.

So far there are still very few cases of COVID-19 in Bali and we hope the social distancing measures and travel controls will save Bali from this crisis.

We do not recommend you come to Bali in April. We are hoping the situation will improve by May.

With the closure of several local beaches, Balangan was the only one in the area that wasn’t locked-down this morning so our intermediate group had no choice but to surf both of their lessons there today.

Although it was busier than it might otherwise have been, there were plenty of small but fun waves breaking around waist high and everybody enjoyed lots of long rides in the sunny conditions.

Tomorrow is Nyepi — Bali’s famous yearly day of silence — so we’ll see you back here in 48 hours!

The crowds continue to get smaller as Bali progressively implements social distancing measures but the waves keep on coming and our intermediate group were up at dawn to enjoy what Uluwatu was serving up this morning.

Waves were perfectly glassy and breaking between waist and head-high along the different sections of reef, providing great conditions for a range of ability levels and plenty of  long rides to go around.

With the high tide, the group are having their second lessons of the day at Greenbowl before returning to the surf camp for their delicious freshly cooked lunch.

Our intermediate group headed to Greenbowl this morning for their first session of surfing lessons where it was absolutely pumping!

The group surfed mostly out on the shoulder where the waves were breaking around shoulder-high but further up the peak there were some well overhead bombs coming through too.

With just a few other surfers in the water and glassy conditions, everybody had their pick of the waves and all had a great session.

This morning our beginner group headed to Padang Padang — our local beach, less than 1km down the road — for their semi-private surfing lesson.

The conditions weren’t as clean as they might have been due to the light onshore wind, but the waves on offer were still perfect for a first surf lesson; breaking at around knee-high and peeling softly to the beach.

With Bali as quiet as it currently is, if you can find a way to get yourself here, there’s never been a better time to learn to surf.