Fully booked airlines landing on runway 090 afforded a dream view out the starboard windows of the five best waves on the planet marching down the Bukit peninsula. Bali was flaming sunsets over golden beaches, postcards of bare-breasted native women, and swirling, impossibly-colorful dance troops. Surfers flocked to Bali in droves to surf her absolutely perfect waves. And from the moment it flickered on screen in Australia, surfing in Indonesia would never be the same.
He’d borrowed the name of his movie from this Hindu summit belief, naming his movie Morning of the Earth instead. They call this moment “the morning of the world.” In 1972 a young filmmaker named Alby Falzon debuted a fledgling surf film which featured the first idyllic images of surfing in Bali. Essential to the Hindu culture of the island, the people believe that each earth day begins when the first rays of the morning sun touch her summit. She left her scraps for the monkeys as, silent as smoke, she turned and vanished into the jungle.Īt over 3,000 meters Gunung Agung, an active volcano, lords over the island of Bali. Still, she decided, she would have to keep her distance until she knew more about them. They were always looking out to sea, shading their eyes, again and again. And the two men on the beach were not interested in the jungle. And they carried things that did not look like danger, unlike the steel poles the poachers used. Though she sensed these two were weak and tired. Her head shot up, ears pricked, eyes searching. Later the sun would set and she would return to her mate and cubs and they would hunt the wild boar together until dawn.Ī noise. And she would listen for signs of danger in the silence that came between the great waves that would roll in hissing in unison across the edge of the reef in the distance. There she would hang her head and eat slowly. When it came time to feed she would carry her pile of food in her great jaws back to her spot overlooking the reef. Join The Inertia+ for the price of an oat milk latte (or two bars of wax) a month. Early access and reduced pricing to exclusive events.Access to premium features and reporting.