Surfing at Echo Beach – Hard to find – Hard to forget

Echo Beach

Surfing at Echo Beach – Hard to find – Hard to forget

 It is one of the last all-natural beaches in Bali. But now, the first work is in process. It is a project by the Indonesian government to keep the land behind the beaches safe and clean, because in high tide the water destroys all the plants on the shores. So they build stonewalls in order to keep the water away and safe. Except this wall, the Echo Beach is all-natural. The black sand is there since the first people discovered the beach, and also the stones everywhere were natural in their position. 

Maybe that is why the Echo Beach is such a good place to surf. The rocks and stones in the water make the water breaks on and keeps the sand away, so it is clear and you have a better view on your surrounding. Moreover, in Echo Beach you can go surfing in high tide as well as in low tide, so everybody can surf there at anytime. There are always good waves! As the beach is such a spot for surfer, many restaurants build their buildings along the beach, but compared to other beaches, the Echo Beach is free from mass tourism, it seems rather to be an insider tip or just a meeting point for surfers from all over the world. Once a year, in Echo Beach there is a big surf contest, the “Oakley Pro” surf contest, but there are several small contests just for local surfers held by the Canggu Surf Community (CSC).

Next to the surf contests, the Surf Community also cares for the beach, they organize meetings in which they clean the beach and teach the new surf students to surf and how to handle the beach to keep it healthy.   As one of the first restaurants, the Echo Beach House opened his doors just in front of the beach on the top of some small rocks. This restaurant also gave its name to the beach, as the actual name of the beach is Pantai Batu Mejan. It is located next to the temple that belongs to the community of Canggu. The temple is called Pura Batu Mejan, also build on rocks just in front of the ocean. For the local villagers, it is very important as they are economically poor but rich in their believes. Many local people have to work in two jobs in order to feed their families; one example, a person has to work as security guard during night and in a beach bar during day.
All in all, Echo Beach is one of the most beautiful places in Bali, even as it is one of the last all natural beaches, and especially for surfers from all over the world or just to see the fantastic sunset from one of the restaurants or beach bars there. So Echo Beach is worth a visit, for sure!

Surfing at Echo Beach – Hard to find – Hard to forget