It was March 2020 and we were staying on the West Coast of Bali at Keramas and Nusa Dua for 8 days. We arrived right at the beginning of Corona and only just managed to get our trip in! Keramas is a heavy, world class right hander breaking over a shallow section of reef off a long stretch of black sands and rice fields. A secret spot many years ago but no the word is out! I must have surfed it over forty times with some awesome sessions and great waves ridden but still felt that ‘dream session’ was yet to be had. I had seen footage of these ‘dream days’ and knew one was out there. Being a world class wave, most of the time, especially when really firing, the locals are out, the pros are out as well as plenty of others so it can prove a challenge sometimes. In saying that if you get it at the right time you score. I have had a couple of perfect early solo sessions almost to myself. So anyway, as it was to be, unknowingly at the time to us to be the last trip to Bali for a long time….my last surf in Bali was to score a once in a lifetime session at Keramas!
Because Corona was starting to kick in, Bali was the quietest I’ve ever seen it in my 12+ years of going. It was actually great riding the scooters with the roads relatively quiet but then there was the surf! Not only perfect but hardly anyone out, anywhere. I had one morning session at a little secret spot down the beach all by myself for 3 hours. But the ‘dream session’ was to be at Keramas and it was just like I had always dreamed. We were in no rush and were having a late breakfast at the warung on the beach. Watching the waves which were an ok size, but it was a little too windy and a few too many surfers out. We finished breakfast and were about to head back to the villa when I caught one last glimpse of the surf over my shoulder. All of a sudden, as it so happens in Bali, the wind had gone completely, the morning sun broke through the mountain clouds lightning up the surf and the waves jacked up absolutely turning on! The other great thing was that most surfers had just gone in! I boulted back to the villa to get my board and was paddling out in which felt like 10 seconds, but more realistically was probably 5 minutes.
Paddling out I was watching a perfect set of right handlers reeling off down the reef toward me. What a sight. Watching such perfection and with half the set being unridden had my excitement barometer maxing out. I was frothing! The conditions had turned on with everything coming together as i surfed 4-6ft perfection with just a handful of surfers out with every wave being perfect bliss. The ocean was the glassiest i had ever seen it at times. It only lasted about 90 minutes but every wave was the ‘wave of the day’, well, until I got the next one! Some were wide open faces to carve away and others were hollow chambers waiting for your entry! I was getting some of the best waves of my life. Having Keramas as good as it was and being able to choose any wave of the set I wanted, getting wave after wave, well that’s just what surfers dream of. A once in a lifetime surf!
great story telling. You really painted a great picture.