Text + photos: Tim Hain

When you think of surf spots on the island of Java, there are a very few that come to mind easily. G-land of course, then Panaitan Island and Cimaja, and for the more well traveled, Turtles and Ombak Tujuh. But when you take a look at a map and see how much of the island is exposed to the Indian Ocean, you can’t help but think of how many thousands of waves must be going un-ridden every day in the various nooks and crannies of those thousands of kilometers of coastline.
Of course the challenge is how to access those nooks and crannies, and if you’ve ever done any traveling in Java you’ll understand why they remain either undiscovered or unrevealed! Tiny roads, suicidal bus drivers, washed out bridges, cows and goats, street markets, and just about anything else you can name as a possible obstruction make driving like something out of demented video game programmers fantasy.

So is there anyplace that is relatively easy to get to, yet still a quiet and undeveloped, and also has some waves? Of course there is.. Pacitan. OK then, where the heck is Pacitan and why does the name ring a bell? Could it be because you’re in Indonesian politics and did a background check on President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono, and found that he was born in there? Or perhaps it was because one of your friends from Yogyakarta said that they heard there was a beach there, with fun waves and nobody out in the water?

Just a relatively painless two and a half hour drive from Yogyakarta, the cultural and educational epicenter of Java, is a scenic coastal town situated in a small bay. To the left a river runs down into the bay, and to the right is a small harbor. In the middle is nothing but a long stretch of sandy beach and a few small warungs, and the famous “Baywatch” lifeguard tower. The town of Pacitan itself is actually inland from the beach strip, not a long ways far but far enough that you could forget that there is really a beach nearby.
Check out SURF TIME MAGAZINE for full story