Bali wraps up.

This is Jake, Robin, and me at tonight's sunset, my last day in Bali. You may notice the claw making an appearance! Jake and Robin man the stand where I rent my board every day.

Today, my last day of surfing, didn't start on the most positive of notes. But I don't mind, since I had already accomplished what I wanted to.

After about half an hour in the water, I ended up tweaking my shoulder muscle. The paddling motion became painful, so I had to come in. My shoulder still hurts, but not as much as it did twelve hours ago.

It happened when I was battling waves, trying to get out past their breaking points. This area is termed "outside", while the area where the waves break is called "inside". Everyone waits outside until they see a wave of their liking, then they paddle towards shore and catch the wave as it speeds by.

When your ride is done, you must head back outside again, or else you must deal with waves that break infront, on, or just behind you. Being outside is calm and peaceful, while being inside is hectic and tumultuous. Everyone gets outside as soon as possible.

So, after riding a crappy wave too far in, I ended up way inside, close to shore. I had to make it back outside, so I could start paddling into waves again.

I ended up paddling back out when a big set started to come in, and I had to take three or four waves on the head. The best way to get out of an incoming wave's way is to "duckdive" under it. To accomplish that, you press the nose of your board into the water, diving after it while you hold on.

You begin this motion when the wave is just about to clobber you. The force of the wave and the downward angle of your board send you and your board under the wave, and ideally you resurface behind its fury.

The board I am using is wider, longer, and more buoyant than some other boards out there, so it's somewhat difficult to duckdive. I've managed to do it though, which is nice.

A big wave came in, the third in a row that I had to deal with. It broke about two meters in front of me, and I duckdove under the wave. I didn't do it right and must have gotten my back twisted and tweaked about by the wave as I tried to hold onto my board. When I resurfaced, my shoulder was in a lot of pain and paddling hard was impossible.

I proned out(laying on my board, not paddling) and rode the next wave all the way into shore, and ended my surfing holiday. I tried to save the day by having a massage at Carla Spa, but to no avail.

I got an epic two-hour massage for the low price of 100 000 rupiah, about ten dollars. Afterward, my shoulder still hurt, so I knew I wouldn't be heading into the water again. I went and had a nap instead.

I returned to the surfboard stand at sunset, where I bought the boys a beer to commemorate my last sunset in Bali. It was a good ending to the day and my month in Bali. I'm not too frustrated that I didn't surf much today, because my holiday has been excellent, and I learned to surf. I hope my shoulder continues to improve and doesn't cause me grief while I travel back to Canada.

Tomorrow I wake up at 5am, and head to the airport. I've been here for just under a month, and I'm ready to go home. It'll be a mission to make it back to Canadian soil though. Here's an overview of my travel plans:

Bali to Kuala Lumpur: 4 hour flight
Kuala Lumpur to Macau: 4 hour flight
Macau to Guangzhou: 2 hour bus ride
Sleep in Guangzhou
Guangzhou to Hong Kong: 45 minute flight
Hong Kong to Vancouver: 14 hour flight

Yikes!