Keramas Surf Season
Bali, Indonesia · part of the Keramas spot guide
Keramas is a genuine two-season wave. The dry season, roughly April to October and peaking May to August, is the powerful, marquee season — long-period south-southwest groundswell threads the Badung Strait, and the mornings are offshore before the sea-breeze fills. The wet season, November to March, is the "east-coast wave" season, when the northwest monsoon that blows out the west coast is offshore here and abundant east-to-south swell and windswell keep it working. The changeover months are the widely-cited sweet spot.
Where the swell comes from
The powerful mode is Roaring Forties southwest groundswell refracting up the Badung Strait — the same storms that light Uluwatu — while the wet-season mode is direct east-to-south swell and windswell that the east-facing reef catches when the west coast is blown out.
Historic swells at Keramas
The Corona Bali Protected
A clean dry-season south-southwest groundswell held roughly six-to-eight-foot faces for the Championship Tour event, the best-documented Keramas swell (Kanoa Igarashi won).
The tour’s return
Keramas came onto the Championship Tour in typical dry-season south-southwest groundswell — its modern coming-out on the world stage.