Uluwatu.

Uluwatu is the southern tip of Bali, a limestone plateau called the Bukit Peninsula lined with left-hand reefs that all face the southern Indian Ocean. Uluwatu itself is five connecting sections, Racetrack, The Peak, Temples, Outside Corner, and The Bombie, paddled out from a cave in the cliff. Padang Padang, the next bay north, is a short, hollow left over shallow reef and the venue for the Rip Curl Cup. Impossibles sits between Padang and Bingin, a long left that links three sections when the swell, tide, and wind line up.

Peak runs May through October, the dry season, when southern Indian Ocean storms send long-period south-west swell straight at the Bukit. August is the statistical peak. The south-east trade wind is offshore for every break on the peninsula, which is the trick of the place: swell and wind both arrive sorted. Tide is the variable. Too low and the reef sticks out at Uluwatu and Bingin; too high and the inside current rips you down the cliffs.

Water sits 26 to 29 °C year-round; boardies and a rashie cover it. The Bukit reef is sharp limestone, Impossibles the sharpest. Booties save feet. Crowds are the real hazard: dry-season mornings stack pros, travellers, and surf-camp buses on the same takeoff. Wet season November through March flips the trades to north-west, which blows the Bukit out. Cross the island to Sanur or Keramas on the east coast for offshore. Beginners belong on the beach breaks at Kuta or Canggu, not on the reef.