Canggu Land of Lost Culture
Canggu 3/13/2025-3/16/2025
We arrived in the evening of the 13th. Leaving the airport we were booking an Uber. When you're actually exiting there are tons of guys trying to get you to take rides with them. Some claim they are Uber drivers and some while lie to you and tell you there are no Ubers here as they try to get you to go with them. I almost can't deal with this. Having to say no over and over causes my manners to wane. Almost enough to make me crash out.
Despite this, I was beyond thrilled to be in Bali, one of the biggest surf meccas in the world. On the ride to the hostel, I saw so many surf influenced coffee shops and restaurants along with actual surf shops. I spent a lot of the time in the days leading up to our flight to Bali scouring for used boards on various Bali facebook groups. I had a few options but I was pretty sold one one board in particular. It was a 5"9" pyzalien with a custom paint job. it was green on the top and yellow on the bottom with black rails going all the way around. Our first morning in Canggu, I found a place to rent a motorbike with a surfboard rack and I began my hour long ride to meet up with this dude in Uluwatu. The guy I was buying the board from was incredibly nice as he included a leash and board bag with no extra cost. He told me that many local surfers have green boards because of superstition. Nyai Roro Kidul, Queen of the Southern Sea, is said to be the protector of the sea and green is her sacred color. Having a green board is a sign of respect and she will offer you protection. If you are wear green boardies, however, she might like them too much and sweep you out to sea. I liked the fact that there was some lore with the board and I was glad I didn't own green board shorts.
On my way back, I sat in an hour of traffic and my arms got annihilated by the sun. Much more powerful than I am used to.
When doing some research prior to heading to Canggu, I seemed to gather some mixed signals. Some people were referring to Canggu as a chill little surf area away from the main city of Denpasar. Other people had claimed it was over crowded and very trendy with lots of bars and western restaurants. I would have to agree with the ladder. When talking to some locals later in our trip they claimed Canggu was super chill and had local restaurants on the beach. Then covid happened and there was a huge influx of tech bro remote entrepreneurs and investors who westernized the whole area. It was only until I got to see other parts of Indonesia when I understood how much I did not like it. It felt soulless and full of entitled people. As a tourist, I guess I am also contributing to this problem so I don't know hopefully I was being respectful.
I was once again eager to get out into the water. We got to the beach and there was plenty of people in the water. I paddled out to a peak I saw that no one was surfing. Seemed like a short wave but at least I would have it to myself. I got about 3 waves before my leash snapped. End of session.
Our hostel had a kitchen so we got to cook a bunch of meals there which was good because a lot of the restaurants were quite pricey.
I think much of the 15th I was focused on surfing. I had a session in the morning during a rising tide. I sat at a crowded peak. I remember getting a couple of decent waves but nothing too memorable. The set waves would come and 4 people would be going on a 6 foot wave. No way I wanna be slamming into someone on a wave that size. Patience was key. Once the tide got too high the waves would stop breaking on the outside and the inside waves would kinda suck.
There was a surfshop called Earth Island that had a coffee happy hour in the morning that meant you could get a half priced coffee between the hours of 9 and 10. Nothing better than a coffee after a morning surf.
By the afternoon the tide was dropping and the waves were breaking outside again. I caught one left which was almost a close out. So I raced down the steep wall toward the other part of the waves that was already broke leaving me with a perfect ramp. I went up it and flew into the air the highest I had ever gone. Did not land anywhere near my board. I paddled to this other right down the beach and this was was pretty huge. Had to be 8 feet and no one was surfing it. I check it out and managed to get a sick right that just worked perfectly. I am pretty sure those were my best waves in Canggu the rest of the time was spend paddling and fighting other people for waves. As the sun set, I was trying to get one more to go in on. The tide was dropping quickly and there were fewer and fewer waves coming. I caught a little left and jumped off the wave at the end only to greet the reef as I reentered the water. The rest of my paddle in was full of jagged rocks and shallow water. Took me about 30 minutes to get to the beach in the dark. Whoops.
For dinner, we went to a hamburger place with really good reviews. I can not deny, it was a delicious burger. I'd even say it rivals the legendary in'n'out double double.
The next morning, I felt way more confident on my board and with the crowds. I had not really surfed in crowds in about 2 months at this point and I was still getting the rust off. The waves were a bit more mellow this day. I managed to get a decent amount of waves and started working on my turns.
Since my sights were set on surfing, we thought it would be a good idea for me to check out a more remote place in Bali were there would be less of a crowd in the water. Camila had some work to do so she needed a strong and reliable internet connection so she planned to stay in Canggu. It was about a 2 hour motorbike ride to get to this little town called Medewi. I strapped up my board and packed my bags and headed towards Medewi.
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