Sumbawa

 After a couple nights in Lombok, Kent and I drove across the island and caught a ferry to the next island to the East.

We pulled in a bit late, found the place Kents buddy had told us about, and checked in just in time for dinner. Met the others who were staying there, a Canadian guy who actually worked on the same pipeline project as I did in the winter, a Kiwi bodyboarder, an old American gnar dude, and the locals that stayed and worked there. Everybody was super friendly, and the food was outstanding. We had a beach fire after dinner and talked about the area. 

I woke up early the next couple days and walked around the beach area in front of our place, followed by breakfast and then a surf, either out front or at a different wave down the road.

 

Got a couple shots of my friends Drew, Drew, Matt and Adam on their way back to the surf camp after an early morning surf.

Spent the next couple afternoons at a nearby wave for the massive swell that was to come in. The wave is just down the road, probably shouldn't share the location, but this wave was actual Indo. Completely prefect, I'm talking not a drop out of place.
On the dirt road to the wave it wasn't odd to see these guys chillin' in the tasty grass. I got a bit too close once and got a little mock charge, didn't stick around much longer after that.

I spent the first day of the big swell hanging around, waiting for waves, eating banana pancakes, and surfing. Took some photos during the day but the break was so far out I couldn't get much. The owner of the hotel was supposed to take me out on his boat, but never got around to it. After the tide went to crap I went out on a little journey to try and find a different wave, no luck but I got a couple cool photos of the area:

I made it back for sunset and low tide so I could get out to the wave and try and get some wave shots, didn't work out, and the reef was sharp as shit, got these shots instead:

The following day was the same thing, up early and went back to the wave after breakfast. Surfed a bit and then met a friendly Aussie who takes his personal boat out to surf here. He was friendly enough to take me out with him where I was able to get a much better angle of the waves.

Hands down the best waves and best surfing I have ever seen in real life.

So the first day after sunset I had heard rumors that the locals had burned down the bridge that we needed to cross to get to our place, and also. It was over a large amount of jobs that were promised to the locals at the mine that is located on the Island. Turns out they never got the jobs they were promised and had quite the protest about it. I did pull up to the flaming, melting bridge just after dark with locals wearing bandannas over their face yielding large machetes and some even guns. The were friendly enough but told me I had to go the long way around. So I backtracked and found the dirt road to bypass the river, and made it home eventually.
The next day was the same thing, using the bypass, but never having any problems. I left the day after, and driving through the village I noticed they had set up barriers to stop anyone traveling through to see if they were employees working at the mine, I personally was not, so had no problems getting through. I came across one area where they had an SUV flipped over and smashed up. Kinda crazy, although I didn't fully understand what was going on..
It wasn't until I was on the ferry where I met a friendly local who turned out to be an employee from the mine who explained in broken English what was going on. He said one of the presidents from the mine operations promised 200 locals from nearby towns jobs at the mine when it expanded. Once the expansion was complete the president gave the jobs to close friends and family causing the locals to uprise. They stopped employee access to the mine, burned the bridge, caused the operation to shut down. The helicopter in the above photo was used to evacuate the workers to a safer place due to the violence that was growing.
Then man I met had said if they found out you were an employee while crossing these roadblocks they would cut your fingers off. He also told me the president of operations house had been burned down and he was in hiding. It seemed like a good time to leave the Island.

Kuta Lombok #2

 So the swell died our last day at Deserts, we decided to rip over to Kuta, in Lombok and try and catch the little bit of swell in Mawi. 

 The tide was fairly low when we pulled in so we decided to go on a little mission. We walked to the end of the secluded beach to the next headland. These are some of the photos I took on the way:

 This is taken from a little headland on the right side of the beach. The top one is the break, and below is just a secluded beach on the other side of said headland. 

It turned out to be quite the hike, the sand is made up of tiny bits of coral eroded into tiny balls which made you sink deeper than your ankle every step. 

Kent checking out around the corner.

 We had a fun surf then head back to town. Saw a bunch of these guys on the way:

 After a little nap we cruised to Grupuk to see our friends Sudi and Kurit, and have a little sesh in the bowl. 

Too dark for a still image and traveling with no flash ya gotta improvise.

Desert Point

My friend Kent and I spent a couple days in Kuta, seeing off our friends and then decided on another mission. We were aiming to be in South Sumbawa for the incoming swell that was to hit in the next 4 or 5 days. 

 We set out early one morning on our way to Padangbai to catch the ferry to Lombok. We got separated on the way and Kent ended up taking the long way, we had both ended up on that route the previous trip. I had some time to kill at the terminal while waiting for him, so I indulged in some of the best goodies Indo has to offer. 

 

 Kent arrived after half an hour or so, we waited a few minutes while we stocked up for the ride, then boarded the ferry. Didn't manage to score a sleeper this time, so we hung out on the top deck and got a bit of sleep up there.

 Cruised to our destination on some winding roads that followed the shoreline, then over the sketchiest hill I've been on yet, and arrived at our destination for a night to see what the remaining bit of swell would bring.

There wasn't much for waves that evening, Kent went spearfishing and I wandered around taking some photos. We met a couple other dudes who were also heading to Sumbawa for the swell, had a couple beers with them before bed.

  The next morning wasn't looking so promising either, there were a few guys out on full tide but nothing really worth going out for. We had a solid banana pancake then Kent went spearfishing again and I walked down the beach and shot some more.

There was a pretty cool spot a few hundred metres down from the break where the waves would double up and shoot these cool fan like sprays.

 Spent the afternoon hanging around, deciding where we should go in Sumbawa, hanging with the local puppy we named 'Desert' and waiting to see if anything would happen on low tide. The locals were loving my skateboard cruising it around on the 10' by 10' pad of cement right out front.

 Eventually the waves started to almost come together, just lacking a bit of size.

Small Perfection.

Kent went out for a little sesh, waited for the bigger sets and actually scored a couple sick waves. Here's a him in a little cover up:

We left soon after to our next destination..

Lembongan Round 3

 

So third time's a charm right? 

Wrong.

I bucked up and got a fast boat to Lembongan this time. I came by myself after checking the swell chart and hoping to get some rights. The last week or so was spent in Kuta surfing crowded Airports and actually, crowded everywhere.

I got in around 10 am and the tide was too low, I grabbed a book from the restaurant out front, took it back and fell asleep reading it in my room. I woke up a couple hours later and checked out front, the tide had risen, and there was a small but rippable wave. I counted 45 dudes out, they must have all thought the same..

Back to my book and my bed, which is where I stayed until I went for dinner. Took the short walk off the main beach path to the best restaurant on the island. I may even claim the country. 

Here is the menu:

This place is owned by a couple, Ketut and Ketut. They have been in the same location for years but due to the steady beachfront development their place is easily missed or overlooked. Those who do happen to find it won't go anywhere else though. You walk in to smiles, handshakes, and Jenga. The friendliest staff, and most welcoming environment. I ate here for dinner on my first night, and lunch the next day before I left. And this is what I had every time:

Chicken and Cashew, DAMN!!

After dinner I took a couple photos, then again in the morning when I looked out and saw even smaller waves with the same crowd. I had accepted that the trip was a failure, for surf at least. Here's some of the shots I got:

Explains why the locals all rip.