Surfing Safari - Legian

A light layer of cloud covered the sky above, and inland, dark and ominous rain clouds were gathering. A perfect morning for a surf.

After exploring the town the previous night and finding a few likely spots to rent surfboards (A few online searches turned up the sage advice, that renting surfboards from the beach was likely to earn you a cheap, damaged board, at half again the going rate.) we walked the short but harrowing block down the street from our hotel to pick up some good heavy-glassed mini-mals from R-Six Surf. A 7'0" for Krissy, and 7'5" for me. These boards being very similar of size and shape to the mini's that we rode in Byron for several months, the period of adjustment that is required on riding any board for the first time would be blessedly short, allowing us to start shredding all the quicker.

The 100,000 rp cost for the two boards' day-long rental proved to be a full third more expensive than renting in Kuta Lombok, however the quality of the boards more than made up for the difference.

Excitedly, we headed off for the beach a short five minute walk away. In as much time as it takes to blink an eye, we had in typical Balinese fashion, been offered transportation in taxis, on mopeds, and everything else in between. ("Yes, transport?!", "Yes, taxi?!") How any of them thought they would manage to take the both of us and our boards should we have accepted their offer, is far beyond us.

We arrived at Padma Beach, opposite the magnificent (and WAY out of our price-range for this trip) Legian Beach Hotel, and spent a few minutes watching the surf. A beach break - heavy, with small barrels. Overhead in the sets, shoulder-high in between. The bottom would prove to be soft and sandy with a decently steep beach, meaning plenty of water underneath at both high and low tide. The heavy swell would died a bit through the day, tapering to pleasant and easy rollers.

We paddled out and got to work. It wasn't more than twenty minutes before Krissy and I found ourselves making the drop together five-feet apart on a big fast set-wave. It felt great to be back in the surf!

Not too long after that, when paddling back out after another wave, I found a big one coming, and clearly preparing to break right on my head. Making the only sensible decision, and one I have made many dozens of times previously, I took a deep breath and dove forward into the wall of the wave, swimming through and up. A unique and generally exciting feeling often occurs at right this moment, when the monster crashes on the water that had until quite recently been occupied by me and my board. One of those "This is what it is to be alive!" moments. A shockwave slams down and through your body. This time however, it seemed to hit harder than it should have on my feet, my right one in particular. It felt as if it had peeled the skin off the inside of my right foot... strange. I pulled my board up to me, and swam out past the breakers, and evaluated. No pain - a good sign. Gingerly feeling my soggy foot, sadly it seemed that indeed, a rather large flap of skin had been peeled back from the inside, in what was probably not a good way. No blood, at least yet. I started to paddle in, flagging Krissy down in the process, and we both caught the same wave to the beach.

When we reached the sand and took a better look, there was a moment to examine it, and then it started gushing. This sadly would prove to be the end of my day surfing. Near to lunch time anyhow, we decided to head back to the hotel and clean it up (I have an almost unreasonable, yet in my mind fully justified, fear of infection in this warm, damp, tropical heat), then at least Krissy, and maybe I would go back out for another session after lunch.

After taking the necessary steps to make sure everything was clean and sterile, I applied one of the several bandages we carry from previous surf injuries, along with plenty of Neosporin. We grabbed lunch and the ukulele, and went back to the beach where Krissy enjoyed an afternoon session, and I enjoyed spending some time strumming and plucking on the beach.

All in all it was a great day. I'll likely be out of the surf for a few days, and taking extensive steps to make sure my foot heals up properly. Fortunately its not an inconvenience to walk on, so we will continue our adventures with hardly a hiccup.