KUTA REEF
Tawan, Kuta Reef. Photo Thanks to Jim Bristow, Baliwaves www.baliwaves.com
BEST TIME TO TRAVEL:
APRIL THROUGH TO OCTOBER
The first reef break you should try. Picture-perfect 50 to 100 metre rides. Best on high to mid tide, with swell 3 to 8 feet. Over 8 feet it doubles up for a very precarious ledgey takeoff. Low tide is often too shallow. Kuta Reef is Bali’s most crowded reef break, with locals and tourists alike, so show plenty of respect and friendliness. Also don’t paddle too far inside, towards the first peak, because you can’t make the wave from there and locals will drop in on you every time. Try to take turns and share.
You can paddle out in 20 minutes, but it’s better to pay locals the few dollars for a return jekung boat ride, available on the beach at Discovery Kartika Plaza Hotel, or at the end of Jalan Kartika Plaza. Try to ask other surfers the price as it goes up each year as petrol costs rise
If Kuta Reef is too crowded, you can paddle 50 metres south towards the airport to Second Reef, a fun shorter left, or on bigger days maybe paddle way out to try Secrets. Be sure to organize a time for the boats to pick you up, or wave your board in the air if you’re exhausted and ready to get out of the sun.
Even in 1980 it was crowded. This empty wave was during the Balinese qualifications for the Om Bali Pro. Photo Peter Neely