Surfing Indonesia

We woke up this morning, put on our bikins and readying us for a day at the beach. As we sat down for breakfast DinDin, the local tour operator, sat down to join us and told us that 3 other girls from the hotel were having surf lessons today and he asked if we wanted to join which was perfect as our goal with coming to Pangandaran was to learn how to surf.

We hurried back up to the room to get ready for our 10am pickup and our first surf lesson with Pangandaran Learn to Surf. The took us to their beach front hut on theit vespas and gave us board shorts and long sleeve shirts for us to borrow before starting the lesson withsome basic land eexercises from our instructer Harry. We were then ready to strap the board on to our leg and as the sand was warm run down to the water with the board. I headed out first and felt like a pro, running with my board, until I had almost reached the water and my right toe got stuck on the line attached to my left leg and I went down, face first, landing on my hands and knees. As I was the first one out everyone else was behind me to witness my gracious fall!

There were 5 of us in the group with 3 instructors so Therese and I had Harry as our privateIinstructor throughout the day which was great. He was able to give us and support us a lot since he had time to see us at almost every wave. When we struggled he was there to support us and build our confidence back up and when we managed to catch a wave he was behind us shouting and cheering us on! It was just such a fun day,  everything was perfect and Harry's support and engagement made all thr difference!

We finished the lesson at 12.30 after a short break half way through and we were invited to return in the afternoon to use the surf boards for some more practice. For this we paid 150 000Rp (90SEK/€9).

After surf chill

We headed for lunch at the beach restaurant Bamboo and afterwards we had a nap on the beach which we unfortunately didn't wake up from until the sun was about to go down at 18 so we missed the afternoon surf, instead we stayed at the beach to watch the sunset.

Bamboo Restaurant

Sunset at Bamboo

Perhaps it was a good thing we missed the afternoon surf seeing that I have burns all over my body. The board shorts I borrowed were too big so kept falling down and causing burn marks on my thighs. I also got a snall burn on my belly from sliding on to the board but the absolute worst are my finger tips. I have burns on every single one of them except for my thumbs! Don't think I was the only injured one, Therese dropped her board, fins down, on her toes making a nice cut across all of them and causing a slight loss off feeling in them. Despite the injuries we loved it and can't wait to get back in the sea!

In the evening we headed downstairs where DinDin and his friend Korr were playing guitar and singing before getting ready to go to dinner. They invited us along and our two new found local friends took us on their mopeds to one of their favorite restaurants, where few tourists go. They served chicken with rice and veggies that you ate with your hands and it was absolutely delicious and came to  68000Rp (40SEK/€4) for two people.

Therese ready to dig in Indonesian style

Our new friend DinDin showing us the ropes

They then took us to a different hotel where we had a few drinks, they played guitar and drums and sang with some friends. It was such an amazing night and day and it is a shame that not more people take their time to venture out here when in Indonesia because Pangandaran will definitely be hard to beat, even after just 24 hours here!