Bali is part of the Indonesian archipelago of 18,700 islands and lies approximately 8°C south of the equator. The majority of the population of Bali are (Balinese) Hindu, a unique mixture of Hinduism & Buddhism. The unique religion and culture of the Balinese people is one of the reasons the island remained an oasis of peace and calm throughout the chaotic times in Indonesia since the fall of the Suharto dictatorship in 1999 and has helped sustain the spirit of the island during the last few years as Bali and the Balinese people have suffered their own turbulent times of unbelievable sorrow and the resulting economic hardships.
Bali is blessed by nature with a short, hot wet season and a longer, cooler, dry season and tourists flock here all year round. Many tourists choose to arrive in the dry season - which nowadays appears to cover a longer period from April to late November. The busiest period is during the holiday season of August, which is also the coolest month on this Island of the Gods.
Contrary to popular belief, Bali's waves were being surfed by both visiting and local surfers as early as the late 1930s and not, as popular surfing legend has it, that the island of Bali was first discovered as a great surfing destination by a group of Australian surfers. Although, when these first Australian surfers began arriving on the island of Bali in 1967 they introduced the island to the first serious surfing equipment.
While Bali may no longer be a "frontier" surf destination, it still lies at the heart of the Indonesian surfing experience and is a mandatory stopover for anyone on their first surfing trip to Indonesia. Bali is also the first and last stop for most of the surfers traveling on to some of the legendary breaks in G-Land, Lombok or Sumbawa, or the more distant areas of East Nusa Tenggara, Mentawais and North Sumatra.
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