Trouble in paradise: at Bali surf spot Medewi the good old days are gone, as tourists who ‘forget what surfing is all about’ crowd out locals

Medewi is a reminder of how Bali used to be – shacks on a black, volcanic beach backed by emerald-green rice fields. Its long waves make it a surfer’s paradise

The breaks used to be the preserve of locals mostly, but these days 100 surfers can be queuing to catch a wave – mostly tourists who ignore the sport’s rules

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Dropping in, or stealing someone else’s wave, is among the worst breaches of surfing etiquette there is, and in the breaks off Medewi, Bali, it has become more common with the growth in foreign tourists surfing there. Here, a woman surfer drops in on another surfer riding a wave. Photo: Instagram/@onedayasurfer

Published: 1:45pm, 26 Dec 2022Updated: 1:55pm, 26 Dec 2022

Three hours’ drive from Bali’s original surf mecca, Kuta, the village of Medewi, on the island’s far west coast, is a throwback to the Bali of yesteryear: emerald-green rice fields, children swimming naked in creeks, bamboo shacks where tourists can get a meal or a massage for a few dollars, and long, black volcanic beaches littered with coconut husks and palm fronds.

Medewi is also home to the longest waves in Bali: curved mirrors of water ranging from two to 10 feet (0.6 to 3 metres) high.

“When conditions are right, you can ride waves for up to one-and-a-half minutes here,” says Mike Holzrichter, a surfer from Austria who managed a homestay in Medewi before the coronavirus pandemic.

Things have changed since Holzrichter chanced upon this surfer’s paradise 15 years ago.

Mike Holzrichter has seen the surfing off Medewi change as it has become more popular. Photo: Mike Holzrichter

“Back then, there would be maybe 20 surfers out on the waves – mostly locals and a couple of blow-ins from Kuta. But today there can be up to 100 surfers on any given day. And they’re all hungry for waves. They forget the rules.