“Taxi, miss? Taxi yeah? Where are you going, Taxi?”
As I dragged my massive board bag through the airport and covered a yawn with my hand about a million taxi drivers were fighting each other to take me to my destination. As the time display on my phone was showing 2.30 am and the message “no service” was flashing across it I made my way towards the back of the people eagerly searching for the one person who would bring me to the fluffy pillows and the dreamy white sheets that was the one thing on my mind. All of a sudden I saw my name on a sign and, as my eyes traveled upwards, two rows of smiling teeth greeted me: Ketut! Even at 3 am the cheerful driver was chatting happily and telling me all sorts of gossip as he loaded my board bag into the welcoming air-condition of the minivan and started zigzagging through the Balinese traffic. By 3.30 am I reached my goal, thanked Ketut and crashed out as soon as my head hit the pillow.
The next morning I woke up with butterflies in my Stomach and went outside to be greeted by a house already full of movement. Surflodge Limasan looked even better than I remembered with the big lofty spaces, dark blue pool and the little palm-trees that Gabbe had planted when I was here last was now a full blown jungle full of colors and flowers. The rest of the house had already been awake for an hour as they had a morning yoga class and now they were all getting ready for breakfast. I took my seat and sipped on a fresh mango juice while listening to the chat about where the best surf would be today. Before I knew it was was sitting on a scooter, a board strapped to the side of it and heading for the long white beaches for my first surf in almost 10 months!!
Surfing is so much harder than wakeboarding and I have so much respect for the ocean after getting crushed so many times in the impact zone. The waves were pretty big but also really nice and round so I caught quite a few and after a few hours when my arms stopped working even though I tried to encourage them to “Come on, just one more wave” I had to reluctantly give up and paddle to shore with a big smile across my face. After a BBQ dinner back at the house and a bit of worry on how I was supposed to get out of bed the next day I fell asleep with the same smile on my lips. It’s going to be a good end to the year!