Today I am off to G-Land! The historic, beautiful, massive stretch of reef with epic lefthanders on the eastern tip of Java in the Alas Purwo National Park. In order to surf this wave you have to stay in one of the several camps situated by the beach in the jungle. (You could also boat in but that would be a totally different experience.) I’m staying at Bobby’s Camp, the original first surf camp, one of the first in the world that essentially started surf tourism. It offers an all inclusive package including pick up from your hotel in Bali, ferry to camp, 3 meals a day, lodging, an allotment of a couple beers in the evening, and transport back to your hotel in Bali when it’s all done. The packages come in multiples of three days, this is when their boat goes back and forth from Kuta Reef, Bali, it’ll drop off a new group of guests and take back guests who’ve finished their stay. I’m staying for 6 days, Oct 10-16th, as a gift to myself for my 30th birthday. Really looking forward to this experience. I’ve heard all there is to do there is surf, rest, unplug, repeat. Perfect.
Woke up at 5am, got picked up at Manta Guesthouse, and got dropped off at the beach by Kuta Reef greeted by members of Bobby’s staff. There’s a humongous statue of three deities riding on the back of sea monsters through the waves. The main, biggest guy in the middle is riding a giant horned sea turtle with crazy buck teeth. Awesome, I’ll take it as a good omen. Meet the 8 or so other guests who I'll be staying with at the camp, have a cup of joe and chit chat while our boards get loaded on the fast boat. I’m the youngest of the group, still in my 20s, barely, all the other guys are between 40 and 65 years old, all Aussie. Once the boards are in we hop in a panga and are dropped into the fast boat, moored in the harbor. Leaving Bali we meet perfect glassy conditions, the boat is flying, we’ll get there in no time. After about an hour or two, getting into G-Land, the fog really comes in and the captain really slows down the boat after a near miss with a small local fisher boat. We would’ve destroyed them. We cannot see the shore, the boat fully stops and we wait for the fog to clear. We have to wait it out or we risk running the boat into the reef and not into the lagoon in the bay where it is safe to enter. The fog clears and in we motor.
A little truck picks us up by the lagoon and it’s a 5 minute drive down the road to Bobby’s. It’s pure jungle right up to the beach, monkeys in the trees, not super verdant and lush because we are nearing the end of the dry season, but totally dense. Deer forage, wild pigs cruise around in packs, there are leopards out here, once upon a time there was the Javan tiger. Bobby’s is a landscaped grounds with a big open air dining hall/ hang out zone in the middle. Around are three different sets of cabins arranged in a circle: Standard, Deluxe, and Superior. I’m in Standard, the most humble of the accommodation setups, but it’s good enough for me, it has two double beds in a small room and ac, that’s luxury. I’m in the cabin by myself, not sure if someone else will come later for the other bed and I’ll have to share the space, hope not.
At the dining hall, everyday begins with a trip to the kitchen to fill out a little sheet with everything you will eat that day. There are three breakfast options and three lunch/dinner options, as well as the dinner special for the day written out on a whiteboard. Breakfast is served with a little side of fruit and small cup of sweet porridge and lunch/dinner comes with a little cup of ice cream or pancake for dessert. There’s always a local Indonesian dish option and something western. To my delight, by the coffee, there is a Milo branded drink dispenser but unfortunately there is only water and orange juice in there. For a second I thought this was truly going to be the greatest place on earth, drinking my fill of milo everyday.
After breakfast I go for a stroll up the way and head to the top of the wooden three story judging tower overlooking the reef and waves beyond. The stairs are rickety and steep, you can kinda see through all three stories to the bottom through cracks between the steps, vertigo if you glance down. From the top you can really get a perspective of where you are and just how expansive this reef is. From the beach, waves break super far out, and you can’t really tell what is what, where to sit, or how big the surf even is, sometimes the waves break below sea level. From up here, you see how the playing field is organized. It is low tide, tide pools stretch on and on below me in both directions, waves break on the shallow reef. Directly in front, Money Trees looks beautiful but I know not to get sucked into that trap of perfect looking waves breaking over a shallow reef. Behind, is the expansive jungle as far as the eye can see. The only development here are the couple of shacks around the few camps and the two judging towers. Everything else is dense as hell tropical jungle. Literally monkeys everywhere. Seeing all this from the boat coming in would’ve been incredible, passing the waves as you approach the jungle.
I go back to the crib, nap, set an alarm so I don’t sleep through the high tide evening surf window. Get some food, grab my 6’6” Ordainer, and make my way up to Kongs. Kongs is more or less the furthest up section of the reef that picks up the most swell. When it is small like today, it’s probably your best bet for surfing. It’s a solid 20 minute walk up the beach and then tip toe out over the reef (booties mandatory for me on account of this walk) till you get to a place where you can start paddling. Then it’s probably another 10 minutes of duck diving and paddling before you get to the take off zone. The waves are overhead/head high, probably 6 ft max (CA standard) and to catch them you really have to be on the peak to glide in. Waves under head high don’t even break. Some of them are just drops and the wave goes kind of shouldery as you try to wrap back towards the pocket, but others hug the reef beautifully and run down the line, glassy, like a lefthand Malibu. Long lines and drawn out bottom turns, perfect for the Ordainer. I don’t think I’m ever going to surf my 5’8” Gaffer out here this week. The forecast predicts a slight jump in size and with this type of surfing, the shortboard will probably stay on ice. A fun surf session yes, but nothing remotely looking like the perfect G-Land I pictured when coming out here. An unexpected twist on the whole Indo perception is that for some reason the water here is freezing. By freezing I mean Southern California summer, gets chilly in the breeze after a little while of waiting for your next ride. After two hours in the water I go in around sunset shivering my ass off. Thank God I brought my long arm spring suit, a last minute decision made in LA. I haven't used it thus far, but I vow to wear it every sesh in G-Land.
At the end of the path to Bobby’s is a little deck by the beach with a cooler full of beers. Every sunset, the camp heads down there and has some Bintangs, chills and shoots the shit till nightfall. Here I meet most of the other 10 or so guys, the ones that were here already, we are the new-comers for the week. The majority are Aussie, one Californian, a Japanese, and a Brazilian. All of these dudes are in their 40s and 50s, most have families and life back in Oz, this is their getaway to surf epic waves with friends. Beers flow, vibes are good, these are the people I will be spending my birthday week in the jungle with. The sunset is gorgeous. Dinner is good.
Set the alarm for 5am because first light is 4:30 (it also gets dark way earlier too, by 6pm it is pitch black.) By 6am I have my spring suit, booties, and board ready to go. I run to the dining area for some water and orange juice. Go to paddle out and some of the guys hanging out on the deck looking at the waves remind me that I’ve got to fill out one of the papers with my food order on it. “You better put that in before breakfast is over. Brekkie ends at 9. Fill it out and when you come back your food will be waiting for you.” Ran back and filled it out and made the walk up to Kongs.
The tide is nice and high so I drift down with the current to Money Trees, the section of reef directly in front of the tower, a much faster and premier section of G-Land. There’s one dude with a hat, I ask him if this is Money Trees or Launching Pads or whatever, he doesn’t really know. He catches a wave and goes in. I am totally alone surfing head high/overhead waves, glassy, twinkling in the sun, fast, down the line for 200+ meters on the Ordainer. Any wave I wanted. Pumping through the wave, no turns, no barrels. A school of fish with electric blue lines down their sides swim between me and the reef, every now and then one of five turtles come up to the surface and gasps for air. Looking back towards the beach, a hazy view with only the tops of trees and the wooden tower visible as the fog lifts. Catch my fill of beautiful waves.
After about an hour and a half of this a wave catches me inside and I take another two on the head. Nothing scary or serious but it kinda shook me the way taking a 6 footer would and reminded me that I hadn’t had breakfast. Back home I can wake up at dawn and go surf and then have breakfast when I come back no problem. But here the waves are more powerful over the reef and every beat down requires some energy to get through. Probably smart to eat a little something beforehand for the extra energy to fight the stronger impacts.
Incredible, dreamy solo session. The incredible thing here is that this is subpar end of season G-Land. No barrels on offer today, not seeing the caves and incredible sections this wave offers when it's the version of itself that we’ve all seen in the magazines etc. People are getting on the boat and leaving. This would be a day that we would talk about forever back home. Overhead fast pumping lefts roping down the point, are you kidding me? Likewise, my standards for surfing have changed over this trip thus far too. After seeing Desert Point go off, really good Uluwatu, and the perfection of Padang, surfing these incredible down the line waves is just good fun now. Again, something unheard of back home is just a cool ride/wave now. Sitting in the lineup I have to check myself, “Dude, you’re out here alone on a world class reef surrounded by turtles and fish, jungle in the distance, the surf is pumping! Count your blessings!”
Cruise in for breakfast, most of the others are getting ready to paddle out. The older dudes go surfing in the mid/late morning because that’s after the fog burns off and the offshore wind starts to pick up and stands the wave up. No wonder I was all by myself. Have a mellow day til the evening sesh at Kongs, nothing crazy just fun surfing. Sundown at the deck with Bintangs and all the squad. Only good vibes.
Really starting to settle into G-Land pace of life here, dictated by the tides, whether I’ll have one or two sessions, and the sundown Bintags on the deck with the boys. Had some food and paddled out around 8am and stayed out until noon, marathon sesh.
Yesterday’s surf was way more down the line at Money Trees, today I couldn't find a wave down there and saw some others making waves up by Kongs/Fan Palms area. Moved up there and had some fun on burgery waves with big wrapping turns until it went dormant for like 30-45 minutes. I’m sitting there thinking when a wave is going to come and then a big set breaks like 30 yards outside of me. What the heck is up with this place? Eventually more of the homies showed up and it started pulsing. They brought the fresh energy. The waves began lining up way more too and on some I was able to do 3-4 big swoopy turns, that felt really good. Who knows what it looked like haha probably weird but I was having a blast. Ended up being a really cool surf session with long rides and nice rail surfing.
By the time I came in, my eyes were cooked after that long session. Bloodshot. I need to do a better job protecting my eyes, bottom line. I’ve neglected my bucket hat because I’m scared to lose it in some of these powerful whitewater beatings, but I’ll just have to hold on because I need it to cut some of the glare. It really does help. It’s the wait for the waves in the sun, during lulls, that really got me. Threw in some eye drops and sunglasses and stayed out of the sun for the rest of the day. Did not go for a second sesh.
Rumor is that waves are gonna be bigger tomorrow, we’ll see if it barrels and we see a little glance of G-Land. Still haven’t seen real G-Land yet, hopefully it’s coming. It’s important to remind myself that average G-Land is all time anywhere else. I can only imagine when this place gets a proper south swell and 8ft Speedies unloads into a barrel fest, I can see the world class potential.
Character Profiles:
Tom- 63 years old, Individual, scientist, volvo enthusiast, fisherman, single fin rider. He’s been refining his boards and winged tipped Cheyne Horan designed fin for his boards. Tinkering with different stringers, shapes, fin placement, his boards are like 3 inches thick, one’s a 7’6” and when it's big he takes out the 7’10”. Been coming to G-land for 35 years. The lockdown during covid, as well as the death of his mother really hampered his surfing. At his age he reminded me that you need to keep going or you lose it. This trip is him really getting back into surfing again. He went fishing three times and every time came back with trevally, prepared sashimi and shared with the boys before dinner was served. “Sometimes you have to let your defenses down and take the shot!”
Robbie and Dave- best friends, played professional rugby for australia in the 90s. Guys are huge. This is their 4th or 5th time in G-Land. Robbie is recovering from hip replacement, hasn’t surfed in many years and was convinced by Dave to come out to G-Land and get back in the game. Poor guy’s in nerve pain when he surfs. Paddles out and gives it his best everyday hoping for less pain than yesterday. After talking in the lineup one day and giving them my opinion on what will happen when the tide drops, they’ve dubbed me “local.”
Oct 13
Wake up at 6, had a little breakfast, foggy beach, can’t see the waves. Paddle out with Chris, one of my new friends, when the fog clears around 8:30. I’m eager to get out there but everyone’s saying it’s smarter to be out there when you can see your landmarks nice and clear, know where you are on the reef. At first, wait for a wave for a while around Kongs, the top where we paddled out, it’s not really coming. Since it’s higher tide I know Money Trees should be an option right now, I’ve been absorbing every piece of information about surfing here from the older dudes. The good news today is that the swell direction is more south today, still about the same size as yesterday, (4-6ft+ on the California scale, probably 2-3ft Hawaiian) but now different sections of the reef are lighting up. Now Money Trees is working even better than yesterday.
As I started my move down, I caught an incredible wave that hugged the reef beautifully and I pumped down the line and flew past all the dudes surfing Money Trees. “Wtf, these waves are amazing down here!” Can’t believe I even dabbled in Kongs for 20-30 minutes.
The waves down here are sick, it is showing 2 faces of itself. Some of the medium sized sets, head high, are breaking deeper than the pack and are lining down the reef for extremely fast, long, high quality rides, like a left point. The big sets would hit the reef a little differently and lurch and go hollow. Guys were throwing themselves into these pits and more often than not, not coming out. I think if they were like 20 meters down they would be in a better spot and make way more of them, but all it took was one knucklehead to make one from deep and now the pack moved there. I sat inside of them a little down the reef thinking I’m in the right take off spot for some of these hollow waves, but every set goes to the pack first, they’d make the drop, but not make it out of the barrel every time. I wasn’t going to burn anyone at G-Land obviously, you have to give everyone the benefit of the doubt but after seeing so many go unmade, I realized I’d just have to join them or else I wouldn't get a set.
I ended up going back up a little ways to the medium sized, non barreling deep peak and catching several long pumpy waves past the pack. It was like having a point break all to myself again as long as I picked the correct wave, and then would zoom past all the dudes who were waiting in line for their closeout barrel. Really fun session. Went in a little while later, probably cut the sesh a bit too short looking back on it, but did not want to slam another morning marathon like yesterday again. I vowed to have an evening session and come in all stoked, still dripping, straight to the deck for Bintangs with the boys at sundown. This time I wore the bucket hat, any time I went down I’d grab my head to save the hat, I probably should be doing that anyways when surfing over reef.
Got some work done and chatted with some of the dudes around camp. Camp is really not that crowded so everyone is getting to know one another and telling some great stories. Like Desert Point, everyone here has a unique surfing career, with great tales of waves and the like to share.
Turns out after I went in, Speedies started working. Speedies is the final section of the iconic G-Land reef famous for fast barrels over the shallow reef. It’s most likely the section you see in your head when you think of pumping barreling G-Land. All the other sections up and down the reef can barrel on its day and give you ins and outs but Speedies is purely a sick top to bottom barrel. From where I was I couldn’t see anyone down there but people were actually there getting nice long tube rides. Including Suzuki, a Japanese surfer staying at Bobby’s, that broke the news to me. Several of the dudes that had been packing closeouts while I was out moved down there and were getting sick ones. He said all the barrels were down there! WTF! My goal for tomorrow is to check it out while it's surfable.
For the evening sesh, now the tide is lower, my plan was to go up top to Kongs and get some slopier waves good for carves and wraps back to the pocket. Suzuki’s like, “No, come with me. I’ll take you to Ledge. There’ll be barrels.” The Ledge is in the Money Trees ish part of the reef that only breaks on low tide, and is exactly what it sounds like, a steep wedgy barrel. Waves kind of double up on this section and you can get a really fast hollow ride but it is far from perfect. You need to select the correct one that will let you in and out and then kick out before you get to a sketchy shallow reef down the line, again, it’s low tide. Paddle out there, the same crew of dudes from earlier, all good vibes, but I am watching the waves for a while, see who’s catching what, don’t wanna do anything stupid on shallow reef. Suzuki’s dropping in backside on 6 footers under the lip and getting barreled for like 40 meters and kicking out before the shallow end section. I’m kinda nervous, surfing here right now goes a little against my intuition and the lessons I’ve learned from surfing shallow hollow waves at Desert Point and Racetrack not to mention Padang. The waves are sick though.
Take a little one, get my feet in the wax, and kick out, not a barrel or anything. This is not a perfect wave at all. Only the ones that double up are going to barrel around you. All the other ones are going to be essentially a shorter Money Trees like wave that you need to get out of sooner rather than later. After a few like this, I’ve started to figure out what the correct waves are. I’m watching for the ones that Suzuki is going for. One of these comes to me, it’s my turn, and Suzuki calls me in, I have to go. I drop in off the bottom, set my line and the thing shapes up like it’s a Padang wave. It barrels over me, not the deepest barrel, more of a pocket ride, my first “barrel” at G-Land! I have my trailing left arm dragging across the wave face trying to stall, planted nicely on my board, guys paddling over the shoulder are looking right at me. I know this thing is throwing because I hear the silence of the barrel and feel the water sucking up the face up to the curl. I’m realizing that this wave is more of a shortboard wave so you can take off under the lip in a high performance kind of way. On all the other sections, guys are riding bigger boards to get in early and catch the wave, but here everyone’s on like 6’0”s. First time I’m the one on the bigger board.
Come in stoked, still in my suit, to the deck where all the boys are sipping their Bintangs at sunset. Meet the rest of the new guys that came in on the boat today. Happy times. It’s starting to dawn on me how special this place is and why so many surfers come back to G-Land again and again. There are so many waves, the playing field is massive, it always delivers, so many sections of the reef to learn. Again, any little tidbit of info I get from the vets is stored in the reef database in my head. Who would’ve thought that when the tide is far too low to surf Money Trees and Speedies safely, right around the corner you have a sketchy mini Padang? All this and I still have only seen average G-Land at best, average G-Land is all time anywhere else. Small and you get roping left points. Big and you get death barrels that take balls to drop in on. Not to mention how wild this place still is. Feral monkeys everywhere, toucans in trees, massive lizards, pigs and deer come out onto the beach at sunset, leopards and wild dogs in the woods. In the water, fish over a live coral reef, sea turtles everywhere, and occasionally a dugong will come and check you out! Unreal!
Character Profiles:


Kosei suzuki- Japanese, software developer in Tokyo, has been to G-land 4 times this year already. Has been here 27 times total. Is in the water 6-7 hours a day, most dedicated surfer of the bunch and probably got the most barrels out of all of us this trip. Hit his head on his board or the reef at some point. Luckily there was a doctor here to give him 3 stitches. Was in the water the next day like nothing happened getting tubed yet again.
Same program as yesterday, wake up early for breakfast, it’s too foggy to see the waves from the deck, but by the time I finish breakfast around 8 the fog clears and out we paddle. It’s high tide, bigger than yesterday, head straight to Speedies, it’s around 6-8ft (California scale) and really good surf. Finally hit this end portion of the G-Land reef, the last section I have yet to try, the one that barrels the hardest. The wave is fast and hollow, every wave barrels, whether you make it out of the pit is up to your wave selection and how you surf it. So much fun, slipping in and out of pocket rides, trying to get deeper in but that’ll just have to come with practice. This is unlike any kind of surf session I’ve had before, a steep drop into a pump or two as the wave unloads. “This is starting to feel like real G-Land.”
Two boats are in the channel, with photographers capturing all the moments of this session. One boat has Donny, Bobby’s inhouse photographer, and the other has Harry, Joyo’s Camp photographer. Their perspective is looking into the barrel. I don’t want them to get in my head, I just want to surf and pull in, but I can’t help feeling excited that I might be able to see what I look like in the barrel later! This is the most memorable session here thus far. Every surf has been totally different. Different sections of the reef break with different swell direction and tide specifications, no two surfs are alike. But this one is the one where I got a glimpse of the true potential of this place. I could actually imagine a proper south swell that rifles off huge caverns where a really good surfer could get a 15-20 second deep tube. A real eye opener.
On one particular wave, a set, I made the drop and immediately had to pump down at the bottom of the wave as the white water broke down onto me. I got kinda stuck behind the white water and with the barrel section approaching I really did not want that lip to come crashing on me and potentially drive me into the reef. I trusted my rail and held on, fought through, and snuck up onto the face just in time to tuck in to a nice round barrel for a quick second. Not a long or clean barrel but intense and filled with drama, felt real good to come out and kick out into the channel unscathed.
Fabio, mid 50s, one of our Brazilian camp guests, was waiting out the back and taking some of the biggest ones of the day on his yellow 7’6”. Benni kept charging, backside, under the lip into shallow zones, not giving a fuck. He surfs big waves in Australia and does not have the same type of fears that I do. Chris, Aussie friend of Benni, got a sick long one over from Money Trees and kicked out right in front of me. I tell him it’s pumping over here. I paddled for a weird one, didn’t go, and left Chris in the perfect position for a set on its way. He got the screamer and went all the way through into the channel. He paddled back stoked as hell, two killer waves back to back. “Holy shit, feels like I’m at G-Land,” he says. We are psyching!
The surf session begins to slow down a bit and after waiting for 30 minutes for a set a juicy one comes my way. It’s one of the bigger ones of the day and has a sweet wall to it. I scratch over and out to it and turn to get in. Knife the drop, get my rail set for a second in the trough and the barrel begins to throw. Travel through the tube for several seconds, but in there time stops in silence, raw beauty, slow motion. As I slide through, the perfection shifts and the barrel gets almondy and begins to pinch in front of me, the wave isn’t breaking on the reef properly. I pump up in the tube and take the highline, almost instinctively, thinking that up high on the face I can squeeze out of the increasingly tighter exit. It inevitably clamps on me and down I go, not a bad wipe out but I do take the next 4 on the head and get washed down the reef quite a ways. Essentially I’ve taken the greatest closeout of my life! Although I didn’t make it out, it was my best wave at G-Land thus far. It included significant barrel time but more novel, I was able to make a decision while in there about changing my line to try to get out of the thing. This was the first barrel ride of my life where I felt I had time and space to move and weave through it. Thus far in my surf career all barrels I’ve caught have been pump, set a line, pull in and hope for the best. Feels like improvement and I’m happy with that. With waves this good, this became a marathon and after 3-4 hours of this my eyes are cooked and I’m exhausted.
These are photos I bought from Donny (later) of the two waves described above:
Dramatic Wave
Beautiful Clamper
After the usual Bintangs on the beach, we cruised up to the dining hall for dinner. Today was sirloin steak. Seemingly normal dinner scene, conversation, chill. All of a sudden, the lights went out and Bobby’s staff comes rushing out of the kitchen banging on pots and pans, screaming happy birthday on a megaphone, a parade around the dining hall until they arrive at my seat. Everyone’s singing happy birthday as they lay down the birthday cake in front of me. It is a pancake with a raw banana in the middle and two ice cream balls on either side of the base, a couple of candles poked in. A full on cock and balls on a plate! All the boys are screaming with laughter like it’s the funniest thing they’ve ever seen, “blow it out, mate!”
It turns into a full on party, after all it is Saturday night, tomorrow the swell is predicted to seriously drop, so why not celebrate the birthday boy now. Bintangs are flowing and we kinda get the chairs into a big circle and talk and laugh for hours. At some point Kimbo, more on him later, goes to his room and pulls out a bottle of vodka. “For your birthday I’ve brought out the good stuff, Titos! One day you’ll be my age, and you’ll give a young bloke shots for his 30th.” Everyone is hilarious, these Aussies are crass, lively, really good story tellers and everyones taking a turn. There’s a little bit of surf talk but mainly it’s just crazy funny situations, characters they’ve met along the way, etc. Any time I’m about to finish a beer, a new one appears, and one of the guys goes, “You only turn 30 once, mate.” Everytime. Literally never had an empty beer, they all kept buying me more and were stoked about it. Super good time.
As it gets later people begin to trickle away back to their rooms and leave only a handful of us to hear Kimbo’s tale. Kimbo the doctor is in his early 70s, beginning to quiver in his voice, but still walks completely upright, the oldest gentleman in camp. He left Australia at 17 years old to surf in the Gunston 500 in Durban, South Africa against Shaun Tomson, he said there weren’t that many pro surfers in those days. Spent some time in Africa trying to make ends meet, running from wars he was conscripted to fight in, obviously the world then was completely different. Afterwards, he got into sailing racing yachts around the world to make money, races where they’d only pay if he made it to London and placed highly, a broke surfer taking a gamble. Eventually he made it to Bali in the 70s. Was one of the first surfers in G-Land in the 1970s, stayed with Mike Boyum and is a personal friend of Bobby. He’s been coming to Bobby’s for 40+ years, one of its first guests and is now building out the small clinic here. Has seen it all, literally. Incredible stories, some I cannot repeat. Although he is up in age, he is still totally one of the boys, a youthful twinkle in his eye, he chimes in at punchlines and riles people up. Despite the raucous nature of the night, when Kimbo speaks everyone listens.
Get to bed around 2:30 am. Very, very late by G-Land standards. What a great party.

Kimbo- literal legend, in his 70s, a pioneer of surfing, has stitched up surfers for decades.
Paul- Oz expat living in Bali. Has explored tons of Indo, he can’t remember how many times he’s come to G-Land. Tells great stories, including one where he survived a lightning strike while surfing on the Gold Coast, had us all in stitches.
Wake up late, have breakfast, it’s a great day to be hungover. The waves are really not that good, it has really come down in size, probably head high max up at Kongs and super lully. You could paddle out and keep your hair dry. Super cruisy. Did have one really fun wave though.
Tom found a pair of bedazzled sunglasses on the reef and gave them to me. Said I should wear them in the surf to protect my eyes and when the wave I want comes, stash it in my suit and surf. Since the waves were so non consequential I decided to give them a spin. Out I am in the lineup with the shades on, between the scratches and the fog on the lenses I can’t see shit. A wave approaches me and I paddle into it, easy take off. Can’t see a thing when I’m up and riding, glasses come off and to my surprise it’s a really nice wave hugging the reef for a long ride. Glasses in hand, I pump and cruise down the line, a beautiful glassy wave on the Ordainer. As I approach the shoulder I place the glasses back on, cool as a cucumber, and as I’m kicking out throw both my hands in the sky and give double peace signs to the homies paddling past. I don’t know why but it felt like just the right amount of performance. The hangover sunglasses claim. Coolest thing I’ve ever done on a board. Did end up losing the glasses at some point, back to the reef they went, only lasted me 2.5 waves.
The entire day is in and out of waves of hangover, went pretty hard last night by G-Land’s standards. In the afternoon Benni, Chris, and I went over to Joyo’s camp to check out some of the photos of yesterday’s session at Speedies. Between Donny and Harry they’ll have the whole session well captured. In Joyo’s it feels a little weird, like we are in enemy territory. Kimbo told us last night that once you go to Bobby’s you become part of the Bobby’s mafia and never stay at any of the other camps. Everyone here supports each other and seeing other Bobby’s guests in the lineup is seeing friends in the water. I’ve become friendly with some of the other guys in the water but for whatever reason the camps don’t really mix.
We get to the little office with the Mac computer to see the pics and the first one they pull up is a pulled out front on land angle shot of a beautiful, glistening overhead G-Land wave with a surfer up and riding. “That’s you.” I do a triple take, I cannot believe that’s me. I don’t even recognize myself let alone the wave, doesn’t look at all like the wave we were surfing in the water. “That’s me?” It’s hands down the best surf shot of me I’ve ever seen, due to the angle, no other surfers are in it, and it looks totally idyllic. Turns out, a third photographer, Will, was shooting from the Speedies tower and got a sequence of three beautiful pics of me on my best wave. I bought all three cash right there. I bought the water/boat angel shots from Donny later. (Donny got beautiful water shots of the same wave featured above.) Super happy reliving the session with the homies on the computer going through all the photos and frothing out.
Back to Bobby’s for the usual Bintangs at sunset, the cold hair of the dog will be nice. Kimbo organized the staff to light a bonfire on the beach to continue my birthday. Basically made of driftwood and bamboo, it lit super fast and burned out in less than an hour. Most of us are leaving tomorrow on the boat mid morning, it’s our last night here and real pleasant. Rumor gets out that I got a cool photo from yesterday so I’m doing the rounds showing all the guys. They’re all stoked. “You’ll cherish that forever.” “Hang that up in your man cave, mate.” Tom said, “You see there’s a beam of light eminating from your heart upon the wave.” Blessed.

Sean- prison guard, tough guy, super funny, rips on his backside. Didn't like when I played John Prine, “play some good music” and switched it to a Soundgarden radio station. “Longboarding is like sex without cumming, it's fun but in the end it’s not that great.” Surfed some good heats in the U15 division in Oz. Came up against Damien Hardman, Matt Hoy, and got smoked by a 9 year old Mark Occilupo who surfed circles around him. “If this is what pro surfing is, you cunts can have it and shove it up your asses!”

Adrian- New Yorker, chiropractor living in west oz for 30 years. Coming back from a shoulder injury. Snowboarding pioneer in Japan, still a surfing grom. Believes if all the world practices breathwork and everyone takes one collective breath at the same time, the world will be more peaceful.
My 30th birthday, this was a really special day, one for the books. Woke up well rested, had breakfast thinking I was to get on the boat shortly and make my way back to Uluwatu. Throughout breakfast the camp is buzzing because there is new swell in the water. Head down to look at the ocean and it’s looking like proper 8ft Hawaiian, 12-15ft California, massive faces, unruly, morning sickness. Looking at it from the beach, I have no idea where I’d even sit out there. I really don’t want to go back to Bali, this is my only shot at surfing real proper G-Land. Can’t miss this.
Back in the dining hall, I decided to stay an extra day. They told me that for an extra $100usd I can stay in my room for an extra night, all meals included, and for $25 take the boat with Joyo’s camp tomorrow back to Bali. Benni decided he was staying last night, now Chris is going to stay too, he can’t go back if none of us are. We have no reason to be in Bali today, the surf is pumping here. Dave says, “Time to make your first adult decision and stay today.” Paul tells me, “Stay the extra day. You’re never going to miss those 100 bucks when you’re my age.” Say goodbye to all the lads as they pile into the truck that takes them back to the boat, now the camp is going to be really empty, only a handful of us left. “Look how good the surf got for your birthday with no one out, congrats!” Kimbo, sitting shotgun, beckons me over, “You’re staying?” "Yeah, Kimbo, gonna eventually paddle out and try my best and have fun.” He cautions me, “Remember mate, no heroes in the jungle.” Basically, the doctor was leaving and this was not the time to take risks and be stupid out there.
Head up to the tower with Chris and John to do some stretching and watch the waves. On our way over there we ran into Tom, the first one of us to paddle, suited up with his 7’10” ready to go. “Hey Tom you see the waves yet, looks pretty sick out there huh?” Looking at the horizon, Tom didn’t crack a smile. “I’ve seen this wave for 30 years, mate.” Holy shit his game face was on, he was matching the intensity of the waves.
What looked chaotic and crazy from the beach, looks a lot more groomed and organized from up on the tower. Some of the waves from far away look like they go below sea level and there’s so much water moving that you can’t possibly tell what’s going on when the waves are this big. From the high ground you can see what’s going on. All the swell is being focused into the Bombie, the massive waves feather up there, some kind of wash through and then move into Money Trees where it just rifles down. The swell is too west for Speedies so today it’s all just wild Money Trees. Many close out, it’s not perfect barrels, but there are corners out there offering huge epic drops and potentially long rides. Watch Tom get washed down the reef as soon as he gets deep enough to start paddling and slowly make the paddle back up the reef to the lineup. In the meantime, some of the guys from Joyo’s got dropped off by boat to the top, much to the distaste of Bobby’s camp. Eventually Tom makes it to them.
Suzuki got in the water at 5am, surfed all alone out there, and got picked up by the boat from the lineup, didn’t get a chance to say goodbye to him. No way he was going to miss this action. He left a bunch of his shit in his cabin, his boards will stay at G-Land ‘til he returns.
Chris and I paddle out from the front through the lagoon, high tide, duck dive through a couple waves at Speedies, the current travels us down the reef until I get out past the surf. 20-30 minute paddle out to the lineup, pass the two photography boats in the channel, say what's up. Finally in the lineup I say my hellos to the guys and then out in the distance we see feathery white water out at Bombie approaching us. First time in a long time I’ve felt butterflies in my stomach while surfing. The wave that we saw dissipates but then jacks back up as it hits the section of the reef we are surfing. Big, big peaks, heavy water. I’ve never been surfing in waves of this size before. This session I will be pushing my limits. Guys are taking off on these beasts, incredible surfing is going down. Not all the waves, like I’ve mentioned, are beautiful, perfect barrels some of them do some of them don’t. G-Land is shifty, a massive playing field, there are incredible waves to be had but as always you have to pick the right one.
All of us are focused on this Money Trees zone, 8-10ft Hawaiian pumping bangers. Waves crest, make an amazing drop, force yourself down the face and go against the offshore wind. The longer I sit there I get kind of anxious, start second guessing myself, “Am I in over my head right now?” The wave isn’t like Speedies where you can get an easyish drop in at Launching Pad and then it’s about holding your nerve through the massive tube. Here it is deeper water, if the barrel comes to you, great, pull in, but it may not always come and you’ll have a section for a big turn. It’s big, heavy water, current pulling.
I finally muster the courage to go for one. Big drop, draw off the bottom, pump for a little bit, and kick out over the oncoming closeout section. It happened so fast I didn’t really get to see what that wave looked and felt like. Good news is it gives you enough time to get out of there if you don’t want to continue. I’ve learned my lesson, don’t pull in if you know you aren’t going to make it. Kick out if you can. Adrenaline is flowing after I kick out for sure, that was a pretty big wave, biggest of the trip so far. But now with that under my belt it gives me the confidence I need, “I can do this, I can sit out here and catch waves with these guys.”
At the top of the peak, where the biggest waves are breaking, sits Tom and Fabio on their bigger boards. Just inside of them are John, Chris, Benni, Sean, me, Glen (West Oz shredder) and a few others. Basically everyone sitting up top on the main peak is from Bobby’s camp. These are all friends I’ve been making and getting to know for the past week and it’s a great time watching them get into waves. There’s an intensity in the lineup when the waves get big but with all these friends around me there’s also an aura of joy. Any time anyone paddles for a set I’m hooting for them, stoked. Amongst us is an Aussie 50+ year old, Paul, from Joyo’s camp, surfing on a 6’4” super thin board, shortest board in the water. He is ripping, the best of us out here today. We paddled out at high tide, now the tide was dropping, still full, but as it drops the wave gets shallower and more hollow. There’s a bit of a race against time because at some point it gets too shallow to surf safely.
It’s my turn, a warbled, weird looking wave comes towards me. I couldn’t really read what the wave was going to do as it approached me but I liked the look of it so I went. A nice chunky 6ft drop, fight the wind, come off the bottom, and immediately the thing looks like it’s going to barrel. I get small and the lip throws over me. Stay in the barrel, stay in the barrel, stay in the barrel, I travel down the line in the tube for 5 seconds, that’s a very long time for me, it feels like slow motion when you’re in there. It started almondy, as I went through the next section it threw over and went square, then warbled and opened up like a cylinder again. At the end I had to go for a doggy door exit as it was clamping, and tried straightening out just before the lip of the oncoming section got me. Tried busting through as the lip got me in the back and down to the back of my board but went down. Luckily didn’t get lipped on the head or directly on my board, that could’ve been a bad situation. A damn near make, but no cigar. A huge confidence builder, I feel like my barrel riding skills are improving as I’m weaving through distinct barrel sections and adjusting while in there for the first time. And on a day like today, no less, this feels terrific.
We are so lucky it’s late season. I can imagine if this was a big swell in peak season, July/Aug, this place would be packed with surfers from all around. A totally different vibe when it’s crowded and big, people hassling for waves, a burn on waves like this could be consequential. It would’ve been much more intimidating, but not today. This was another one of these uncrowded late season surfs. Today was an advancement in my confidence and ability in bigger surf, on my 30th birthday, a gift, I couldn’t be happier. A dream come true, I can now say I’ve surfed proper G-Land. I didn’t just come and get good waves, I saw great waves!
Back in camp I get a massage from Cadet, first ever. I get my arms, shoulders, and back rubbed down after that tremendous surf, nearly fall asleep. Afterwards, the homies go into the office and go through Donny’s photos of the sesh and relive it all again through the screen. All the waves I’ve described are there along with Chris’ massive inside barrel, and other crazy moments. So, so good. Since I’ve already paid for the photos from the Oct 14 surf, Donny just drags all of these new ones into my folder and sends them to me. I can’t believe I’m coming away with a bunch of professional photos of me surfing G-Land. At dinner the staff comes out singing and with an actual birthday cake, once again. No way, this is now the third bday celebration for me. The cake isn’t really that good but it’s the thought that counts.
I could not recommend Bobby’s camp in G-Land enough. Living on the edge of a wild jungle, with pumping surf out front, all you do is surf and relax, is a surfers dream. It is comfortable, the food is all good and taken care of, the service could not be better. An epic place to unplug from the rest of the world, you never even have to pull out your wallet. Life is goes at the pace of the incoming and outgoing tides, days are organized by your surf sessions and the scheduled Bintangs at sunset on the deck. The massive playing field of the reef and it’s imperfections could take a lifetime to master while the incredible surf history brings legends here from all eras and backgrounds. G-Land is a must for any surfer. Thank you so much to all the staff who took care of me and all the friends I made along the way for this incredible birthday week!


Fabio- (middle) cool collected Brazilian. Surfs a 7’6” and waits for the best wave. Has been coming to G-Land since the mid 2000s. Told me to stay calm and watch the waves. “When you feel ready you will go out in the big surf.”

John- (pink shorts) Mellow cat from San Francisco, good backside surfer. Met him in the water for that Ledge session and watched which waves he went for. Super nice guy, gave me tips on other parts of Indo to check out as well as gems in Big Sur.
Oct 17
Leave Bobby’s G-Land after breakfast on Joyo’s boat. Watch the waves roll past as we leave the lagoon on the speedboat back to Kuta, Bali. It’s probably still pretty good out there. Back in Bali I say my goodbyes to Chris and Benni. Chris is going back to his family in Victoria and Benni is staying in Indo and going to Krui on a two week surf trip with some friends. These were my boys this trip. Really glad I got to meet them and have some great surfs together, obviously including the big day yesterday. Depending on the swell forecast this week and how I’m feeling I may head to Krui, Sumatra, and meet up with Benni out there.
Just before I’m to head back to Manta, my hotel in Uluwatu, I remember I have an appointment today with the immigration office in Denpasar to extend my tourist visa. On entering Indo you get an automatic 30 days and you get one 30 day extension that requires a trip to the offices for your portrait photo and fingerprints. On Diego’s advice, I paid for a service that gets it all taken care of for you, when they’re ready, you come in and handle the photo and fingerprints at once. He said he tried to do it on his own last year and got totally confused and ended up having to go back and forth a bunch and pay a bunch of money. I leave my boards and stuff at Bobby’s office in Kuta and roll out via gojek to the immigration office. My driver weaves through the traffic, it’s like 2pm and the office closes at 4. Kinda cool seeing another part of the city but I’m pretty hungry, haven’t eaten since breakfast at 7ish.
At the immigration office, I have the chillest, easiest bureaucratic experience of my life. I don’t know if it’s because this is how a standard procedure like this goes or if it’s becuase I paid for the service per Diego. They have my file ready to go and after waiting 5 minutes in the lobby they call my name and I go into the photo room. The man asks me a couple questions, is satisfied with my answers and I get my photo taken. He thanks me and says I’ll get my visa extension. I ask him for my passport and he tells me I’ll get it in 4 business days with the visa in it from the man I hired. Alrighty, now I’ll have to be here at least a week or so waiting for my passport to come back, got to extend my stay at Manta at least til then. I walked in 10 minutes ago and now I’m off on a gojek back to Bobby’s office to pick up my boards.
A great surprise was running into Isabelle from Desert Point in Bobby’s office. She had left boards or was grabbing some friend’s boards or something, don’t remember, before heading back to Mexico later tonight. Great catching up, she’d been back to Desert a couple times since I last saw her and got good waves out there. I shared some stories of G-Land.
Made it back to Manta at night, exhausted and starving.
Character Profiles:


Benni & Chris- friends from Victoria. My homies I ended hanging the most with during this trip. Benni, 46 years old, plumber, charges. When it got big he sat inside and nailed backside drops under the lip. Chris, 41 years old, has a young family and a ranch by Bells Beach, got one of the best photos of him pumping through a large barrel on the big day. Really good dudes, enjoyed their company, we shared a lot of laughs.
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