By Sean Doherty
Almost 1000 years ago, a whole village of Balinese chose to throw themselves off the cliffs at Uluwatu rather than succumb to the invading Javanese. Almost 40 years ago, western surfers started throwing themselves off the cliff in order to escape nine-to-five employment.
A small Hindu island within a massive Muslim nation, Bali has always possessed a unique spirit that has intoxicated surfers since the early 1970s. The discovery of surf in Bali — more particularly, Uluwatu — is the stuff of legends, as it was all documented in surfing’s most timeless and referenced film, Morning of the Earth.
Filmmaker Albe Falzon arrived in Bali in late 1970 with surfers Rusty Miller and 15-year-old schoolboy Steve Cooney in tow, and little idea what to expect. When Albe, with a silent, knowing smile, returned one afternoon from a reconnoitring mission up the Bukit Peninsula, Steve Cooney knew Albe had found something more than his inner glow.
“The road from Kuta to the Monkey Temple was a winding mess of potholes, barely wide enough for two bemos to pass each other,” recalls Steve. “The Balinese were very wary of Uluwatu and regarded it as an evil place to be treated very carefully. When they realised we were actually going to go out in the water they seemed to become nervous and a little suspicious of our intentions.
“As I turned to take the first wave of the session everything seemed to go into slow motion. One of the most enjoyable aspects of Uluwatu at that time was the abundance of sea life. At high tide the dugongs would come over the reef with their calves and loll about in the shallows, going back outside the reef as the tide dropped.
“When we were surfing at low tide they would surface near us and let us know they were around. They were there the whole time and seemed as interested in us as we were in them. There were turtles, reef snakes, heaps of fish, sea birds and sea snakes. We never felt as if we were on our own in the water.”
It wasn’t long before surfers — Australians, for the most part — began to discover the place en masse. They soon realised that while Uluwatu had a magic quality, the whole island was crawling with world-class set-ups. From Uluwatu down the Bukit Peninsula through Padang, Impossibles, Bingin, Dreamland and Balangan, it is a rare convergence of epic lefthand reefs.
Ulus is furthest up the peninsula and hosts smaller swells of six to eight feet.
The Peak is the take-off spot on high tide, while at low tide it moves down 100 metres to the Racetrack. On a clean swell, the sections will link up and you can backdoor barrel sections for a couple of hundred metres over the sharp coral reef.
The only route in and out of the break at Uluwatu is through the legendary cave, a quasi-religious experience until you have to paddle back through it on a high tide and big swell. If you overshoot, you will find nothing quasi-religious about being dragged along the dagger-like cliffs for more than a kilometre.
Source: http://www.asianpacificpost.com/
March 25th, 2008
(Balidiscovery) The Indonesian Daily Kompas reports that while many tourists continue to visit the Island’s main tourist areas of Kuta, Legian, and even Denpasar – those in seek of peace and quiet should consider heading for Bali’s eastern shores which offers restful holidays, tourism objects rich in spiritual undertones and a wide range of sea tourism options.
The many charms of East Bali are often overshadowed by the higher visibility enjoyed by Bali’s South, the artist’s colony of Ubud and the volcanic crater at Kintamani. However, the recent construction of a new east coast highway in Bali has reduced driving time from the South Island to East Bali from 3 hours to just 1.5 hours and, as a result, opened this area to increased levels of tourist visits.
Those traveling along Bali’s new I.B, Mantra highway that has shrunken the distance between the tourism areas of South Bali to the East Coast, can now rediscover Bali’s sacred Mother Temple of Besakih and pleasure palaces built by East Bali royalty in the Island’s recent past.
Candi Dasa
Those visiting the charming village of Candi Dasa, a tourist enclave near the port of Padang Bai, will find 300 star-classified hotel rooms and 400 non-starred rooms along a beach offering uninterrupted views across the straits toward Lombok island and Nusa Penida. Nearby small islands and secluded sand beaches have made this island “a natural” destination for divers and water-sports enthusiasts. Those enjoying the full range of accommodation and dining options available at Candi Dasa, are also well-positioned for full day forays to the excellent diving available to the north at Ahmed and Tulamben.
The regent of Karangasem, I Wayan Geredek, told Kompas that his regency suffers from a lack of exposure in Bali’s program of promotion. Supporting Geredek’s complaints of promotional neglect are figures from the Provincial tourism authority showing average occupancy of Karangasem hotels stands at around 50%, far below the averages of 90% being achieved in other parts of the island.
In an effort to attract more tourists, the government of Karangasem has spent Rp. 3 billion (US$326,000) over the past three years improving the area’s infrastructure, including street lighting in Candi Dasa and public parking facilities at local tourism sites.
Coming Soon: A Cruise Ship Port
Tourism hopes in Karangasem are pinned to plans to establish an international standard cruise ship terminal, targeted for completion in the first half of 2009. The terminal will be located at the Port of Amuk at Manggis, some 5 kilometers from Candi Dasa and not far from the current port of Padang Bai.
Geredek hopes that the new port will improve the local tourism economy and make his area a gateway to Lombok and East Nusa Tenggara.
The construction of the new cruise port located some 60 kilometers from Bali’s capital of Denpasar, will consume Rp. 70 billion (US$7.6 million) of the State (National) budget, Rp. 15 billion (US$1.6 million) of the Provincial budget, and Rp. 3.5 billion (US$380,400) of Karangasem’s budget. Add that all together for a total budget of US$9.5 million to complete the development of terminal complex on an 1.5 hectare site that will include two 150 meter piers. When placed into operation these piers will allow large cruise ships to dock in Bali, a vast improvement over the past when ocean going vessels were compelled to anchor far offshore and ferry their passengers between ship and the main port.
Geredek is optimistic that the new port will eventually serve 200 cruise ships each year, with each ship carrying 1,000 tourists.
Source: www.balidiscovery.com
March 25th, 2008