I am posted up at a really nice resort on the Bukit, the nub of land at the far southern end of Bali. Right now, it is not looking good for my preferred denouement here in Bali. My hope had been to close out the trip with a handful of days surfing, and the weather is not cooperating.
This part of the Bali is known for its excellent surfing (but I am here in the surfing offseason), and recalls the landscape around San Diego. It is spectacular -- beaches interspersed with sheer, sharp cliffs all topped with verdant green shrubs. Oh yeah, there is a 6,000 foot volcano in the distance. To make it even more reminiscent of California, there is a golf course to the south of the resort, with one hole that is as nice as any in La Jolla or Carmel. The specific beach I am hanging out on is called Balangan.
Back to the weather. The last several days have been pretty stormy, with tropical rain burst coming down in sheets at times, and more worryingly with a ton of wind. Wind tends to really screw up surfing, because it breaks up the swell and makes it difficult or impossible to surf. For the last three days, it has sadly been the latter of those outcomes. So I have read a bunch, gone for long runs, done yoga and generally lowered my heart rate in anticaption of our return Stateside.
I have resigned myself to not getting to surf, and have had to practice acceptance in the face of this possibility. Then on my last full day I wake up to find blue skies, almost no wind and the swell starting to come in to the beach. The difference in the waves from just 24 hours ago is pretty amazing, with the choppy, confused waves replaced by uniform, regular intervals of larger waves thumping onshore at 6-8 second intervals. This might work!
I rush up to my room, change into my board shorts, pop in my contacts and slather on sunscreen. A few minutes later, I have secured an ideal surf board for my skill level and booties to navigate the reef on which the surf is breaking and am off into the water.
The waves are pretty nice, perfect temperature, and I relish the feeling of being on a surfboard again. To be clear, I am a pretty average surfer. But, it is a sport I always enjoy and have anticipated getting on a board at some point in our travels. Truth be told, if I had not gotten in the water these last two days, I would have headed home a tiny bit disappointed.
Why do I enjoy surfing even though I am not good at it?
- It humbles me: in my mind, surfing should not be so hard. Once I catch the wave, all I have to do is pop from my stomach to my feet and enjoy the ride - easy. But it sure is hard in practice. Flailing on something that seems theoretically easy serves up a nice dose of humility.
- Any success is treasured: I go into all of my other beloved sports with expectations. Being 'good' at them means I better do them well, and if I come up short to those expectations I get disappointed and frustrated. With surfing, any success is a huge win.
- I get scared: it is nice to get scared every once in while. Not too many things in life are scary, but that changes when I am out in big crashing waves and not sure what will happen. I worry about getting trapped in a big wave or hitting my head on the reef below the water, along with a latent concern with jellyfish not helped by reading a couple of articles about them in this part of the world. Did you know a box jellyfish sting kills a hardy person in between 2 and 4 minutes? Yeah, me neither. Worrying. Feeling that fear creep in reinforces my relationship to this great big world and fires neural pathways that don't get lit up too often.
Once I get comfortable, I catch rides pretty regularly. The scenery of Balangan is even lovelier from the water, with the vivid primary colors of the white beach, green landscape and blue sky/water combo. My first couple of rides pitch mr off at the transition from horizontal to vertical, but then on the 3rd I nail the transfer and am on my board, turning a little left into the wave. Yes! This and the other few rides are quite long, and treasured. I am so present in that moment, which is another aspect of sports generally and surfing specifically that i enjoy.
The waves are large enough to entertain, and scare, but pleasant enough to give a nice long ride. I spend a couple of blissful hours catching, and not catching, waves until I am tired, thirsty and feeling the effects of the equatorial sun on my face and back. And very happy.
Catching a few waves, even in my mediocre fashion, has been just what I wanted to end my time in this country. I have loved it here for a lot of reasons, and am so glad to have finally made it to this part of the world. Below are a few of my favorite pictures from the last two and half weeks, which only got unlocked from my camera today. This place photographs well.
Highlight pics
Posted with Blogsy
No comments:
Post a Comment