There's a point to this story I promise!

So here's a fun story about one of the more memorable days in indonesia, bear with me through the setup to understand the importance.

It's long, but there's a spellbinding illustration at the bottom.


So we take a boat ride to a smaller island off Bali called Nusa Lembongong to see a different place and ride some different waves. It was a bumpy 2 hours of getting salt water sprayed on us over the splintery sides of this aging 30 ft. long wooden boat that's powered by three 40hp outboards. Pretty haphazard, but that's standard fare for Indonesia... gloriously sketchy.

Anyway, we get to this beautiful tropical island, coral reef, white sand beaches, little thatched hut type lodges, crystal blue water, etc... really nice except the waves (which are good) are semi crowded with surfers (exactly what we were trying to get away from, we wanted some empty waves).

Not long after we get settled in one of the local boat drivers propositions us to see if we would be interested in surfing a secret spot on a bordering island. For about $5 each he'll drive us there in the morning and can guarantee there will be good waves. We agree since were frothing for less crowds.

The next morning:

We meet up around 8, this time he's in a smaller wooden boat that looks to normally be used for snorkeling trips. We all pile our boards in and motor off. After 30 minutes we round a corner and see waves rolling through in the distance. As we get closer we realize it's big, minutes later we realize it's really big.

He anchors the boat in deep water about 2 football fields away from the waves to make sure any sweeper sets (an infrequent set of abnormally large waves) don't crash on the boat. We all jump in the water and begin the long paddle. As we get closer to the waves it dawns on us just how big these things really are. A lot of water is moving out there. It's frightening and amazing to see the volume of 10 swimming pools lined up and moving in a slow elongated lump, then suddenly heaving over and collapsing. Severe intimidation sets into five out of the six of us.

The most renegade surfer is the first to the lineup. He catches the first wave, a smaller to medium sized one (relatively- the front was probably 8-10 ft. high), without any hesitation and we immediately pity him as we paddle over his wave and see a bigger set coming. He gets worked and has to fight through 10 or so waves, ducking-diving under them until the waves stop coming and he finally makes it back out.

Gradually we get more comfortable as we figure out where to sit, how fast the waves break, which ones not to catch, etc. Most of us catch a few and build our confidence up.

I'm feeling good after 3-4 medium waves when one of the occasional massive ones approaches us. I happen to be in the perfect takeoff spot and even though it's kind of scary since they're so monstrous (they told me later it was probably a ten foot wave... which due to weird wave measuring rules means the front of it is about double that, approx. 20 feet high), I decide to paddle for it since I know if I can catch it early I can make it.

I kick my fins (I am the lone bodyboarder, all my friends surf) as hard as I can and can feel the wave start to pick me up and my speed increase as it begins to steepen. It just keeps getting bigger until finally it pitches over where I took off from and I hear it crack as the lip makes contact with the base of the wave. By this time I'm flying so fast my board is chattering as it skips along the little chops on the swell's face. It's trying to catch up to me, but it's size has provided me with the speed I need and I outrace it to the end unscathed.

Upon exiting the wave I see to my dismay a bunch of it's brothers behind it and paddle as fast as I can out to sea in an attempt to get out far enough so they don't break on me. I don't make it in time.

I get worked over - decide that I'm not going to top that last wave so why put myself through the recent ordeal again - and paddle back to the boat. It's picture time. These waves must be documented; for most of us, the biggest surf we've ever been in.

I hand the boat driver, who has been waiting for about an hour for us to finish our session, my board and ask him to hand me my underwater camera.

He hands me the camera and then unknowingly hands me my board back. I try to explain to him that I'm just going to shoot pictures and don't need my board since I have my fins on and it's easy to just swim deep under the waves if I don't have a board attached to me.

For some reason he insists on me taking my board, but I repeatedly assure him that I will be fine with just my fins. Finally he seems to give up and says something that must have meant 'be careful' or 'good luck' or something to that affect.

Alone, I swim the 150 or so yards back to where my friends are and tread water on the inside waiting to take pictures of them on some behemoths. I get some good shots and relish the fact that I'm sitting exactly where all my instincts are telling me I shouldn't be. If I had a board attached to me I would be getting creamed by these waves, instead I take a picture then swim as deep as I can with my eyes open looking up through the clear water watching the white clouds of air penetrate the surface 15 feet above me.

Everyone gets a few rides, except for Dan who is way out of his league in terms of size. Despite the minimal amount of waves we all caught, we're pretty in awe of the session just because of the power out there and we talk about everything on the ride back to our lodging.

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A couple weeks later:

I'm home and decide to try and find some info on the internet about this so-called secret spot on Cinegan Island. I succeed and two facts stick out to me.

1. I find that said island is positioned to catch unfiltered open ocean swell from giant storms brewed in the Antarctic, so when it's small everywhere else, there will be overhead waves at Cinegan Island... well, that day it was already overhead everywhere else, so that explains the hugeness.

and more appalling...

2. At high tide, it is common for large TIGER SHARKS(!) to come in through the deep water to feed there. We paddled through the deep water channel during high tide. When I got my camera I swam 3 times through the area completely alone, my legs treading water like two plump sausages on a rotisserie.
Tiger sharks are known to attack humans.

We learned earlier that the fishermen there will not speak of sharks because it is bad luck and they don't want to provoke nature/the gods. I didn't consider this point when he was telling me I should at least take my board out since I thought he was just concerned about me drowning.



Maybe it's good that I didn't know though. I probably wouldn't have gone out since I'm pretty scared of sharks.


*note- this picture was taken from 80 foot cliffs during a scooter ride a few days after the story took place at which time the swell had gone flat.



The moral of the story: I am not good at keeping my stories brief and I definately am not going back to Cinegan Island.