Indonesia

Indonesia is the largest country in Southeast Asia. It stretches across the equator and lies between the Indian Ocean and the Pacific Ocean.

It is also the largest island country in the world, with 18,110 islands and only 6,000 of them inhabited. It has the second longest coastline that spans 54,716 kilometers.

The Best Surf in the World

Indonesia is a surfing paradise. It has more world-class waves than any other place on earth. Its exposure to the Indian Ocean, tropical reefs, and excellent winds create the best and most consistent waves in the world.

It is also the largest archipelago in the world, with thousands of islands and thousands of miles of coastline. And there is surf from one end of the country to the other. So, you can surf the best waves in the world all day, every day in Indonesia.

How surfing came to Indonesia

An American surfer named Bob Koke was the first person to ever surf Indonesia.

Bob and his wife Louise came to Bali in 1936 and opened the Kuta Beach Hotel on Kuta Beach.

He saw the surf potential of Kuta and had his redwood longboard sent from Hawaii. Bob surfed Kuta alone and was the only surfer for thousands of miles.

But the couple had to flee the island in 1942 when the Japanese invaded it during World War II. Bali was not surfed again until Australian surfers rediscovered the surf paradise in the late 1960s.

Surfing Bali and beyond

The classic 1972 surf film, Morning of the Earth revealed the world the perfect waves of the Bukit Peninsula for the first time. It put Bali on the surf map and made the island a sacred surf destination.

Kuta Beach and Kuta Reef reefs were the top surf spots in the early days of Bali. But soon, adventurous surfers started exploring the rest of the island. They discovered even more, barreling reef breaks and world-class beach breaks – and they were all empty.

Bali would become the steppingstone to other surf breaks in Indonesia. It inspired surfers to explore and search for more waves throughout the archipelago. Before long, they discovered world-class waves in Java, Lombok, Mentawai Islands, Sumbawa, Nias and beyond.

The Indian Ocean side of Indonesia is now famous for its quality and quantity of waves. But each year, more surfers are getting off the beaten path to search for waves on the Paciﬁc side of the archipelago. The search continues and new discoveries are being made, even today.