Kuta Beach Bali

Kuta Beach, the most famous beach in Indonesia. Today Kuta Beach was fairly quiet due to the cloudy weather. Beach vendors know how it works, blue skies equals tourists, wind and rain equal empty beach. With my shades on the waves look almost psychedelic. My glasses are polarizing and the color I see is a dark vibrant green.

Pulling up to a stop next to the taxis, across from the McDonald’s, I saw the usual drivers lounging around and asking everyone walking by if they want a ride, a girl, or whatever. Today was slack for them. Beginning surfers however, or just just surfers new to Bali has an okay time this morning. Although cloudy, it was high tide and there was some surf. The wind was negligible, meaning it was possible to catch nice little waves. Plenty of Bali boys in the water, plus Japanese and the odd, wild man Aussie.

For newcomers to Bali, you can rent surfboards on the beach for maybe 40,000rp per hour. Always negotiate and wait till high tide (that means when the water is close to shore). During high tide the waves are more gentle and don’t close out so aggressively. Don’t worry, the Bali boys will try to rent you a board whatever the conditions. If you rent one of their repaired boards, take it out at high tide, get slammed and the thing snaps, they’ll want 2m rp for the thing. You are better off waiting till high tide renting from a reputable place like Palu on Poppies II.