Bali Culture – Surfing
Surfing lesson in Padma Beach, Kuta, Bali
I always wanted to try surfing so of course being in Bali was the perfect place to begin as it has some of the top surfing spots (CNN Ranking) in the world. I asked Mario and Ike, owners of Diving Indo, where was the best beach to learn and they brought me to Padma beach in Kuta, reputed to be beginners paradise for surfers, only 25 min away from Sanur. The beach is pretty amazing and also really long, with lot of beachbars with lounge chairs, sofas and umbrellas to chill out but also lot of surfing rental shops.
Mario introduced me to a local surfing teacher, Made. He was really nice and welcoming. I explained that I’d never surfed before so he told me we would do exercises on the longboard on the sand before going in the water.
First, he showed me how to paddle when you lay on the surfboard, then after few minutes of practice, he then showed me how to stand up on the board. Then I had to do it myself! At first slowly, you push on your arm to put your upper body up, then you bring back one of your legs as far as you can in the middle of the board, then the other one goes in front of it and you stand up on the board, knee flexed and looking ahead. Doing it slowly is quite easy, but then I had to do it faster and that’s where I knew it wouldn’t be “that” easy. After exercising again and again, I was allowed to try on the water.
The waves were not too big and the water not too cold, I was just too excited to begin. We went a bit further and there my teacher told me to jump on the board, he would position the board and push me when there was a good wave, so I “just had” to stand up. I won’t lie and say I could stand up the first time, but I was so surprise because it didn’t take me too many tries to do it.
The feeling of sliding on the water on this big board is just exhilarating! The only thing I wanted is to try again and again, so everytime I fell off, I was just swimming back to the teacher and went back on the board. Made was really encouraging and smiling the all time, which made this experience even more enjoyable. I succeed in standing up a few times, but after about 1 and a half hour, the lesson was finished and we went back to the beach, had a fresh coconut water and enjoyed the Bali sun. It was a really amazing experience and I’m already excited for the next lesson!
However, be warned everything hurts the next day!
Thanks to Mélissa for this great blog, to see more activities in Bali check out our landtours, or contact Diving Indo to book your surfing lessons.