Uluwatu is a world famous surf spot, off the most western tip of the Bukit Peninsula, which hangs off the bottom of the island of Bali like a bunch of ripe bananas. 

To get there, you ride in on your motorbike, pay the $2,000 IDR* parking fee, walk along the path, down a few steps, and then you see the waves.

There are almost always perfect sets rolling in. 

Uluwatu offers great vantage points for watching the surf (and surfers) thanks to the steep cliffs that meet the coast. You can easily see the entire point break from Single Fin's multi-tiered balconies as well as from nearly every oceanfront bar, restaurant, surf store and ding repair shop, all built on top of each other into the side of the rocky earth. 

To get down to the small channel of water from which you can paddle out, you walk down steep steps and through random alleyways lined with tourist stores hawking sarongs and small restaurants to get to a slighly ominous staircase leading into a cave. Then you walk down and through, popping out onto the thin strip of sand. With steep rock walls on both sides, you wade in to your waist and then, when you think you've got the timing right for an opening between sets, jump on your board and start paddling.

If the current is strong, which it usually is, you paddle in the opposite direction of where you want to go, since you’ll probably end up getting dragged past it anyway. On one day, I watched Mike get sucked out sideways (not the direction you’re trying to go at Uluwatu, unless you’re on a wave) about 300m before he could paddle out. 

"Looks rough out there today," I thought to myself as I sipped a cold glass of pineapple juice. 

On small to normal days, there are around a hundred surfers in the water, all competing for the best waves. 

On big days, like the 9 ft swell on the day we left Uluwatu, that number shrinks to about 12.

You’re far away, so you can’t really tell how massive the swell is, until you see a full grown man drop in and realize he looks like an ant crawling down over the tip of a tennis shoe. Or a piece of lint being swept off over the side of a bed. (You get where I’m going, right? The man looks teeny tiny, because the wave is easily double overhead, sometimes triple, ready to crush anything in its path without even feeling it.)

In addition to the views and surfing action, I liked Uluwatu for the cheap goods - I got a replacement baseball cap after seven months without one - and cheap beer. All of the restaurants will gladly let you hang out for as long as you want after you've ordered something. 

The energy at Uluwatu can't be beat. Surfers walk by all day long. Wet surfers, slightly winded, walk up, heading for the bar or parking lot. Dry surfers, with a pep in their step, walk - almost float - down to the water's edge.

The better the waves, the better the vibe. It buzzes in the air. When someone catches an epic wave or gets crushed in a massive break, the crowd cheers out accordingly. 

Our last day in town was a super big day - double to triple overhead. The mood was subdued, both in the water and at the various viewing stations. It was also a Monday, so that might have contributed to the drop. Believe it or not, because it's so close to Australia and flights are so cheap, there's a weekend crowd that comes in from Oz and leaves Sunday night, in time to make it back for work on Monday. 

We loved Uluwatu so much that we're planning to go back again before leaving Indonesia in a few weeks. 

*IDR is the currency code for the Indonesian rupiah. For anyone interested, 1 Indonesian Rupiah = 0.000075 US Dollar. Yet another reason we love it here!