Bali Surf Report and Surf Forecast

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 intermediate surfers were off to Black Stone this morning where they found a peak to themselves amidst the hustle and bustle of the Nusa Dua area. Our swell has jumped up in size to 6 ft. while the period has dropped to 11 seconds, and the direction continues to come from the 200 to 205 range. The wind was blowing side-shore from the south, but the conditions remained clean through intermittent rain showers. The side-shore wind blew into the left-breaking waves, keeping the lines open for longer. The waves were coming in at head-high to slightly overhead on the biggest of sets, and the lines were running nicely down the reef.

The Nusa Dua area is a groomed and manicured resort area full of high-end hotels and beautiful beaches. There are several breaks within the tourist zone that are excellent for beginner and intermediate surfers.

More excellent wet season surfing here in Bali. Geger Left has been very good for nearly two weeks straight. We have been enjoying daily Head-high to overhead waves with an offshore wind of varying degrees of strength. For today, the swell is coming in at 5.5 ft. at 11 seconds, which brought in more head-high to overhead waves. The outside peaks offered up larger set waves with barrel sections for the skilled surfer.

The consistency of excellent surf in Bali is one of the many reasons why Bali is the world’s best surfing holiday destination. While many areas offer excellent surfing and entertainment for a few months of the year, very few places can boast year-round surfing like Bali can, and almost no other places have the combination of year-round surfing, excellent food and entertainment options, with such a vibrant, welcoming local culture.

Our intermediate group headed over to Black Stone in Nusa Dua this morning as our light west wind has picked up in strength to around 10 mph, and shifted more to the northwest. The breaks in the Uluwatu area do not have any protection from a northwest wind like they do on a more southerly wind as the tall cliffs block some of the south-southwest wind. Since we are in Bali, which is the world’s premier surfing location, we can simply jump in the car and head to Nusa Dua, where the wind will blow beautifully offshore into the many breaks in the area.

The swell is hanging around at 5.5 ft. at 13 seconds which brought in head-high waves with the occasional larger set. Our surfers got several, fun, left and right-breaking waves which broke nicely across the reef against a moderate offshore breeze.

Our intermediate surfers paddled out to the photogenic peaks at Geger Left this morning after waiting a short while for the tide to come in. The swell has dropped slightly in size to 5 ft. at 12 seconds, coming from 206 degrees. The wind blew offshore lightly from the west, which nicely groomed the waves into steeper head-high to overhead walls. The surfers enjoyed the fast lines as they learned to control the surfboard while moving at a much higher speed.

The three left-breaking peaks just south of Pantai Geger that make up Geger Left are comparable in their consistancy to Uluwatu during the months of January and February. The reef picks up swell from all directions, and the wind blows offshore nearly every day. As a bonus, if Geger Left is too big, you can surf the right-handers at Sri Lanka just a few kilometers down the road.

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.

Another beautiful, sunny day here in Bali! We woke up to clear skies and a light west wind, so we packed up the car and some of our surfers set off to Nusa Dua, while other surfers at the camp opted to paddle out at Uluwatu and Padang Padang due to the lighter wind and reduced crowd.

The swell forecast shows 6.5 ft. at 13 seconds, coming from 207 degrees, and a morning low tide of .42 meters at 6:09 AM. The wind continued to blow from the west in the Uluwatu area and from the east in the Nusa Dua area. Despite the onshore texture on both sides of the island, the faces of the waves were clean enough for some fun surfing! The set waves came in at about head high and the lines broke cleanly across the reef.  Our surfers made the most of the unfavorable conditions and had a great day.