Rampant development threatens another wave in Bali
Photos are beginning to surface on the 'net of a rockwall extending into the impact zone of one of Bali's quiet gems. Situated in the Nusa Dua region but outside of the main wave is a lesser known but higher quality wave. It breaks offshore from The Nikko Hotel which also gives the wave its name.
Directly next door to the Nikko Hotel is the Kempinski Hotel which constructed four rockwalls into the lagoon in 2012. According to locals the walls affected sand flow but the outside wave was still ridable.
However, in February they began extending the northern most jetty by a few hundred metres, finishing it with an artificial island that sits in the impact zone of The Nikko.
Photos Project Clean Uluwatu
According to a spokesperson for Project Clean Uluwatu, Kempinski Hotel worked "quickly and illegally, taking advantage of Indonesia's disorganized bureaucracy to destroy what took thousands of years to create."
If you don't like what you see feel free to give a holler to the Public Relations Department for Kempinski Hotels:
Kerstin Heinen, Director of Corporate Communications
[email protected]
Comments
Just got an email from a local fella: "These are all multi-million dollar hotel groups building 5-star luxury accom. Surfers are hardly stakeholders here and it’s not a place local Balinese really frequent (they used to farm seaweed there) so I doubt the builders will apologise and pick up their rocks."
captain cook defiantly took a wrong turn at albuquerque….and missed indo.
how do we colonise this country and just start with the basic government funding for education a sewer system clean water and maby a proper court of law. the list goes on too.
Well the Dutch did try, administered from Batavia, but were swept away (along with Admiral Doorman's ABDA command) in early 1942...
The rockwall is an eyesore, but what about the hotel?
Come, let's take a look...
thats a Monster! by anyones standards. Nope, I dont think they are competing with the Komune at Keramas....
A couple more being built to the Sth Green Balls area and further towards Ulu temple construction resembling mining landscape
3-400+ room hotels all with there very own effluent holding tanks.........which get released into the ocean after midnight every night.
Reminds me of the devastation of Dreamlands. The place is a pit now with a giant turd overlooking the beach. This thing is even bigger. I still can't work out how the service a building of this magnitude in a place like Bali. Sewer, water, power......totally out of control.
The government destroyed a mad little novelty near Cimaja last year, karang sari point. Groms(Dede Suryana started there) would hone their skills on it before moving on to Cimaja.
BOMBARD THEM WITH EMAILS. Welcome to copy and paste this. This kind of fuckery must not go un noted.
Dear Ms Heinen,
I am shocked and appelled by the development of a rockwall in front of your Bali hotel and subsequent destruction of the ecology and human amenities of the reef in front. As far as anyone is aware, there is neither purpose or effective legislative mandate to have done so and you have wilfully committed an act of environmental and social vandalism that is as ugly as it is unnecessary.
To quote:
'Integrating our hotel operations into the life of the local community and society of our host countries is highly rewarding for Kempinski and our employees. We believe that the local economic and social impact of our hotels can be managed positively and responsibly.'
Please explain how this fits with the above statement from your own website on corporate and social responsibility, and how you will mitigate or undo this responsibly.
Sincerely,
Gibbs it is appalled. I have sent something similar hope everybody on this list does the same. Am over there in about 5 weeks so will do a fly by and post some photos. Wonder if Ms Heinan would be up for a face to face? Ahhhh don't think I would get past the security.
Like the local bloke who emailed Stu, I'd say there is little point in arguing for the protection of the wave. The market share cornered by surfers in Bali these days is nothing like it used to be. I still sent an email on anyway, but it's pretty pointless.
Tourism, greed, ignorance, money.... I'm glad my connection with Bali has nothing to do with the coastlines, but it stills fills me with equal parts sadness, rage and dread to see what people will do for the almighty dollar. Sometimes the easiest thing to do is to turn your back on it and pretend it's not happening.
Sad. Stopped going to bali because it
Commented awhile back on the hideous hotel that now sits on top the old road/track to Gerger beach, which I think also covers the creek as well, the place changed so much in a few years and not for the better. The locals have no hope against the developers.
The man made island may be doomed though as the same things up Sanur way are inside the fringing reef and sheltered from the swell, but this sucker is right in the zone and it may have a not so peaceful life when the next Muzza sized swell hits....it would be sweet justice if it got taken out, hope mother nature can wreak some havoc on it.
Ash I reckon that turd happened in one year. Couldn't believe it when I came back the following year it was like Chadstone had happened in a year. Nusa Dua is no holds barred as long as it is up marker. All these big monsters are 5 star which is what Nusa Dua was set up for in the first place.
Always overpay and tip at the Geger Co- op warungs I reckon.
The happier they are , the longer they'll hold out against development.
Not to mention the fact that they're fucking legends.
We can't talk in Aus though remember Bastion Point. Just a different class of tourism.
First saw that lovely spot last week and... damn.
It's a fucking sad day.
It'll never come down and a couple of the Geger locals - captains - reckon it's throwing sand out the back of the the Southern channel of the Nusa Dua lagoon .....fucked if I know how it's meant to be doing that though.
Niko might survive but it's exactly as the photo looks - you don't want to get rolled into that break wall by a few sets.
Looks like the wave is over one way or another now that photos of it are out there anyway....
Like everything else in Bali it's amazing the speed it was accomplished with.
It was my favourite wave in Bali :-(
x2
Haven't surfed this spot, but hate the fact it's either wrecked or made into a lesser wave by uber rich developers.
Hope the ocean can remodel the bullshit little waste of time into an even better wave
Just got back ,first visit in many years.,unrecognisable from back then! Huge hotels charging mega bucks and using the local
People as slave labour ,lots of outlets asking for western prices that's ok if it's feeding down the line . Got caught up in a protest with the locals ,reclaim Bali , against developers and Government building hotelsIn Benoa Harbour,Chinese money everywhere .just hope the Indonesian government doesn't use the military when this escalates.
Tragedy yes but 7.4billion people on Earth...8 billion by 2025. This isn't going to stop no matter what anyone is thinking. I actually get annoyed these days with people whinging about the numbers in the surf. Not sure what we all expect. The days are gone and eventually everywhere will be crowded and Gen Y will be saying 'remember in my day'. It is a great concern the apathy of all people not willing to make changes for a greater good.
Sure they could build a smaller and more sustainable resort but that population clock keeps ticking over...9.6 billion by 2050. The social fabric is changing globally and most of us are clutching on to the past. I have no answers and I'm part of the problem
The Mulia , the massive hotel recently built at Nusa Dua , has an absolutely shocking vacancy rate apparently.
Personally I hardly ever see anyone there when I'm around.
Blue Sky Hotel Development Corp. Heaps of places are empty but the financiers roll on, what else they going to do?
As long as you have 2 kids or less, and encourage your kids to do the same, you're not part of the problem.
If your kids grandparents are alive, then you are contributing to population growth.
fair point
So you have 0 to 2 kids, raise them well and to care about the environment. Others, who don't give a shit, have 6-8 kids. Or 14. Tell me what do the election demographics (these determine environmental policy) and environment itself look like when you are old? You assume if you leave less of yourself and values in the future, it will magically get better. Take into account the growth rates of others, and their culture's attitude regarding the environment (hint: Chinese reef evisceration to make man made islands - like the honey badger, they don't give a shit) and tell me how it all pans out.
Pesky waves making it too dangerous for the hotel guests...who never leave poolside anyway.
That creek was filth during and after building of the mulia.
So sad what is happening there.
Was surfing there in February, I had no idea they were doing that at the time, yes the hotel is an absolute bloody monstrosity.
The whole place is geared towards the Chinese and Eastern Europeans these days, there are so many of these large hotels I suspect many are a recession or terrorist attack away from bankruptcy.
On the bright side I guess the break wall will catch all the crap and plastic bottles floating about down there!
You guys think this is pretty bad well I have one that's even worse.I live in a little hamlet called Gracetown in WA that has a couple of breaks and our local Liberal Politician Barry House has put forward the idea that we need a major development(subdivision) and a large boat harbour.The dumb cunt wants to destroy about 5 different waves least of all the iconic North Point.
Get fucked really. Bazza's looking for a bashing.
We cannot let Gracetown go the way of Smiths, Gnarabup etc...absolute rich pricks havens, most of whom have no idea what the true meaning of 'down south' is or what the area was like before all this shit. They honestly believe they deserve it because they ripped some poor unsuspecting soul off in a business transaction, was somehow kissed on the dick and had a windfall, or mummy and daddy simply left them shitloads of coin the little cunts. Soon you won't even be able to pitch a tent anywhere on the coast. Development west of the ridge from Cape to Cape should be eradicated. This land should be for all people.
re Gracetown, is there anything online detailing the boat proposed harbour works? Sounds like a major threat to the bay.
Well well boys, it started a long time ago when that first guy agreed to pay someone to carry their board from the boat fee to the bar fine it goes on, and correct me if I'm wrong but Bali's been fucked for years homies, why would you ever want to go back theres other waves but boo hoo thier a little harder to get to right and you might have to paddle out to the reef, and by the way its not part of Australia and full of corruption so how'd you think for 1 sec that a few emails are going to stop development like this........
All it is is just a way to clean up dirty money, most probably Russian or Chinese........
Anyways thats my take, seek and yah shall find, go searching again giddyup ...
Its hard to swallow said the pro, but its been going on every where since the 70s,cue morning of the earth.....Kuta was a tiny little village with cow paddocks down to the beach and a few losemans scattered about,Canngu was rice paddies and even our own gold coast was not much......its sad alright but hey thats what surfing and money can do for a place........
Hey Noel,it was just in our local rag on friday,going to smash out a stack of letters to the editor a little closer to the election and try and screw the local Liberal party as much as possible.(I am not affiliated with any party).
So what was the reason given
for building this wall/island?..make the beach bigger/fishing? i dont get it
I hope this works so you can see but on another note, this is what's happening in my neck of the woods and it seems like nobody is prepared or willing to do anything about it.
The Japs are hellbent on walling off their coast in the vain hope of protecting themselves fron a future tsunami. Since the big one we had five years ago they're ramping it up even more and going bigger and higher. More and more beaches are disappearing which once were great places to surf, fish, walk dogs etc, now they're just cement strewn wastelands and the construction companies move on to destroy the next stretch. I've personally witnessed 7 great surfing beaches destroyed in the last 10 years and that's just in my local area. They bulldoze the forests down behind the beaches to get their heavy equipment in and as some form of token remediation they pile up a heap of sand and throw a few grass seeds on it. That's their idea of rehabilitation. The fuckers even have the nerve to put a plaque on the wall saying how ec0-minded they are.
I'm at my wits end. You cannot get it through to anyone about how fucked up this is. Most just shrug their shoulders and say that it provides jobs.
The latest wall in these pics is slated to go as far as the eye can see. And this isn't even a big one. We asked will they construct beach access? The answer was simply- 'no'.
I was hoping I could get someone on board like William Finnegan to write about this in the New Yorker to somehow embarrass the Japanese. I don't know how to go about it though.
I know this is off topic but if you think Bali is fucked up, come and have a look at the biggest fucking environmental hypocrites to walk the face of this earth.
Wow talk about a fukup,how far is that 'wall' going .......enviromentally criminal.....does Japan have a 60 minutes program or something similar?
Simba, totally environmentally criminal. In fact, my parents came to visit me a few years ago and I showed them another (formerly) pretty little beach that had just been walled off. My mums exact words were 'oh my god, that's just criminal' which sums it up. And she's not far off it too because most of these construction companies are legitimate Yakuza fronts and there is big competition from politicians in the various ministeries that award the contracts in terms of bribes and kickbacks. A lot of the politicians go on to sit on the boards of these companies, perpetuating the cycle. I've heard that people have spoken out about the walls and tetrapods in the past only to silently disappear (and more than likely end up inside these walls). The tetrapod/seawall/erosion control business is worth billions a year so any threat to that is not taken very lightly.
That's why most Japanese just shrug their shoulders and say nothing more.
And to answer your question, if you look at the pic you can see a black shadow on the beach in the far far distance? That's where this one will stop to be joined by another they're making coming south towards us.
Oh, and the beach in front is (was) a nice spot. One of the few in our area that handles the summer southerlies. Throws up a racy left that reels into the beach on a good day for 100+ metres. Full tilt as fast as you can go, so much fun. We call it 'little Namibia' or the 'Shinkansen' but it's real name is Uno Misaki or 'Cormorant point' in Japanese.
Fuckers.
PS yes they do have a kind of 60 minutes but it mostly centres around whinging about China and Korea. This woudn't even get a look in.
Bloody hell!
I started looking into this and I can hardly believe what I'm reading. I thought surfing was kinda big in Japan? I guess the revenue from sea walls dwarfs it.
How do you even go about stopping something like this... It's so completely fucked.
I can't seem to put up pics but if you can help me out that would be great.
Doesn't seem to be the option there used to be when posting up pics.
There seems to be a real insanity about that wall Zen, tragic.
Reminds me (again) of The Simpsons "Man vs. Nature - The Road To Victory".
Zen. Foreign Correspondent was on last night "into the zone" and I saw the walls they were building. There and Taiwan are just mad on typhoon protection concrete jungle.S ome walls are 5 storeys high.
Heres the link. Everything else about the doco is just plain freightening.
http://www.abc.net.au/foreign/content/2015/s4468353.htm
Nikkos eh broke a few boards there. I remember seeing a photo of it in Surfer journal in the nineties and its been in the shitter ever since. Sad day. That was such a glorious photo.
Mick is your latest Insta pic on your desert storm? How'd it go out there? Sorry for getting off topic..
Loving it. Had 3 sessions now and tried different fins. Went best at Ulus Bombie as a 4 fin. Tried it previous day with 3 and couldn't really lay turns like I was hoping but with 4 you can easily set your line and then let it run. Hows it with the beak nose you think it will pearl with so much board oit front, but it just keeps lifting. After the first go I went an ordered a new 9'1 straight away. So I think Webby maybe halfway through it now. Will put some shots up on Camel's thread when I get it. There's a few floating around here in Sydney...mate has a 8'0 and Joel has a Bula model. Was hoping to come down your way next few weekends but Im laid up thanks to Padang giving me a bung knee. I think you would have had some nice days on yours...whats your thoughts??
Ha straight on the phone for another one!
Yeah a couple of times I thought I was going to nosedive and the beak nose goes under then pops back out again. Good stuff out at ulus, Had a good day on the 9'0 the other week which one only surfed as a quad.
I've only had the chance to take the 7'6 out once since I got it. Surfed it as a thruster but heading to indo in two weeks so I'm keen to try it out with a few different fin setups. Can't wait to get it out at gland or ulus and let it so its thing on those long fast walls. Both the 9'0 and 7'6 are wave catching machines. All that foam up front really helps to paddle into them nice. Yeah I'm rapt with them. If you're still there in a couple weeks you can take it for a paddle
Thanks Mick, that was an interesting and very sad piece. Hard to imagine that the nuclear plant is less than an hour up the highway north of here.
And the fisherman is right. Building those walls are folly. If the Japs think that those cement walls can hold back a tsunami of the same magnitude as the 2011 one, they are tripping.
But, a lot of people are growing rich off them at the expense of so many others.
yeah Zen problem is most humans can only see money instead of beauty....its got me fucked .........the sooner the human race disappears off the face of the earth the better im afraid.......greedy fuckers
This is so sad. Thanks for sharing though swellnet... one good thing to come of an article like this is to see how many incensed surfers there are - if only we could band together somehow and become a stronger force to be reckoned with.
Either that or just a couple of stealth surfers learn the intricacies of demolition, and we blow this fucking thing up...
Ha! that's nothing.... wait till you see what they've done to the gold coast
The things only at the end of the wave where you be finishing the ride
Hmmm another rock wall built in front of a certain used to be pumping right hander up Candi dasa way,,,,happened a few months ago and talk of a beach road to totally kill the once secluded peaceful wave.Also talk of a ring road from Nusa Dua to Jimbaran with pylons into the famous reefs of the Bukit, so the Chinese can sit in an airconditioned car and drive around Bali.Unfortunately surfing is seen as people playing in the ocean, it's all about the new wave of tourists from China, Russia etc.Love Bali but heartbreaking what is going on there now.
Yeah the ring road is pretty concerning (image from the Tribun Bali).
Especially considering it stretches all the way to Coalcliff in Wollongong's northern suburbs.
Terrifying. What is it with tourists and driving around? It's all they ever seem to do down here in Tassie: get to one spot, take a bunch of selfies and drive to the next spot, buy some take away coffees, leave trash behind, go to next spot etc. etc. until they go home.
Still, seeing that photo puts it all back into perspective. I was despondent about one of my old favorites now playing host to a 'yoga and wellness retreat' a couple of times a year spelling the end of the world as I know it. Now it doesn't seem like such a big deal haha.
Well bugger me this is a depressing thread.
Those walls are just bizarre. Aside from being environmentally criminal they're also surely adding material that will just add to the demolition job when they get flogged by the tsunami. You want to make flowing water more dangerous? Add solid material to it. Just can't see how that would hold up under the surge. And yeah that's not to mention the travesty of the construction in the first place. Not surprised you're tearing your hair out Zen.
As for Bali, I dunno just makes me despondent and apathetic.
Another Sea wall / jetty structure - planned for Canggu
coconuts bali / The end of Echo beach