Yesterday we crossed the 2nd deepest water channel in the world, the Lombok Strait, which is 3 kilometers deep in parts. A one-hour speedboat ride from Lembongan Island will take you to one of the most famous, most fickle left-handers in the world…the almighty Desert Point of Lombok.
You’ve seen it in mags, in surf movies but in real life it’s incredible. The reef is basically in the middle of nowhere with rolling hills in the background. Accommodation and amenities scarce, basically a few uninhabited thatch huts on the beach. The reef is razor sharp ready to strip you bare. Deserts switches on and off with the tides, rock up at the wrong time and it will appear flat, going low it could be 4 foot which is mainly due to the 7 knot currents racing between these islands. Deserts is for the hard core surfer (and Goofies). It’s fast and sections many times. Not much room for turns or error. Most of the time you will be falling off into knee to waist deep water. Get one all the way through to the end and you’ve surfed 300 metres of pure racey wall. Doesn’t get much better than that.
I will be back for sure. Deserts is now in my top 3.
Seeya :: uge
Ahhhhhhh. Thank you
Ill never forget 3 days there in 91.
10 foot, to 3 foot, back to 8 foot. in ONE DAY
best waves i had ever seen…..
Uge, love the photo selection today especially the last sot witht he sun lining through the clouds on the back end of the boat as she sets sail fro home…remind me again what I am doing here at my desk? Howie
Uge, love the photo selection today especially the last sot witht he sun lining through the clouds on the back end of the boat as she sets sail for home…remind me again what I am doing here at my desk? Howie
Eug nice to finally see some good surfing shots from the trip,
you have been limited with swell though….
And lembongan – it has changed big time in the past 15 yrs,
sad really but gotta roll with the times,
great you’ve encouraged everyone from Bondi to check it out…
yeh you’ll be frothing to get back and get it bigger ay, more makeable when its bigger
Youv’e probably all seen it but worth watching again…blows my mind everytime…
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4uwtqRBE4Kk
Uge, you must have gathered a serious load of good karma in your past life…
forgot to mention the desert point bit is towards the end…
tido get a grip everyone has heard of it anyway champ
heavy vibe in the water when it’s working. you wont make any friends.
you wont forget any of your waves either.
To all those that have read this story and will now go there without any hardship (a 1 hour speedboat ride?) I hope you use the opportunity to re-introduce a welcoming aloha vibe to surfing the place – sounds like it needs it? Surf travel when this place was discovered was full of intrigue. And surfing should, in my humble opinion, by and large, remain an egoless act. Even if that’s not you; try to leave your competitive energy on the shore and allow the positive energy of a perfect wave to radiate through you to others. It’s only inevitable that surfing eats itself if we allow that to happen on a personal level.
Keep your mutant slabs. When its on, Desserts is hands down the most perfect left hander getting about. Every set of tiger stripes you get from the place is well worth it. Sure its busy, but if your good enough to be out there when its on, you should be good enough to snag yourself a bomb. Get me outta here!