Surfing illness: Something that can happen to you in Indonesia

Traveling has its share of risks, including illness. Surf traveling exposes you to even greater dangers, including, broken bones, gashes that won’t heal, eye and ear infections as well as ingesting bacteria in the water. An article in Calendarlive.com tells the story of Timmy Turner, a surf videographer who almost died of an infection he picked up in some exotic land surfing.

A few months ago I was eating dinner in The Balcony, on Jl. Benesari and they were playing a wild surf documentary about guys trekking to a remote Indonesia island and surfing big empty waves. The conditions were horrible, they were camping on a mangrove type beach and had an hour long hike through shoreline trees and rocks to get to the break. After surfing till sunset, they’d take the same route back, arriving at their tent to a pot of 2-minute noodles. Eventually they sacrificed the goat they brought with them. Anyway, these guys were totally out there and produced some sick footage, including a minute long ‘in the pipe’ section at the very end.

The movie is called ‘Second Thoughts’. Timmy Turner spent a month in intensive care and then more time in a rehabilitation center in the US. The bill for all of that must of been huge. To get checked out at BIMC here in Bali for a few hours, will cost you 4m rp, I know it happened to a friend of mine. If you are going to risk life and limb surfing in exotic locations, get some travel insurance just in case things don’t go as planned.