Surfing & Reef Adventures in Rote Island
This blog was written by Lizzy Beyer.
We just wrapped up our Rote Island season with Surf With Amigas. Over the last two months, we experienced a full range of conditions, from playful longboard days on the inside reef to cheering on our coaching team as they charged a double-overhead sunset session. The conditions here change by the hour, so we hop by boat between breaks, chasing tides and dodging strong offshore winds. Being here, I am constantly in awe of the ocean’s power and beauty.
One morning, we arrived in the dark to a right-hand reef break, hoping to catch it before the wind came up. To our dismay, it was completely flat. “At least the crowd is right,” I said optimistically. Luckily, our local expert, Sofie, knows the breaks better than anyone. She confidently assured us we should wait it out because the tide was dropping and the waves would start coming soon. So, we waited.
Sure enough, we scored empty peeling rights as the sun rose. That morning turned out to be what dreams are made of: glassy, friendly conditions with plenty of waves for everyone. We surfed our hearts out until the tide got too low and the wind blew us back in for second breakfast.
“Surfing is also about the places we get to go, the people we meet, and the opportunity to be in intimate relationship with the ocean.”
One of my favorite moments from the season happened during a very different kind of session, though. We were in between swells, and there weren’t enough waves to go around. I found myself staring at the horizon, praying for a set, when instead a sea turtle popped up right next to us. I just smiled as I remembered surfing is about so much more than riding waves.
Surfing over living coral is especially humbling. Looking down through crystal-clear water and seeing the reef as I paddle into a wave reminds me that there is a world below brimming with life.
On flat days, we traded our surfboards for masks and fins. The reefs around Rote are some of the healthiest I’ve ever seen. Snorkeling and freediving here is mesmerizing. The reef is alive, vibrant, and colorful. Fish of all shapes, sizes, and colors zip by, seemingly unbothered by our existence. Some travel in schools so synchronized it’s as if they are one organism, while others wander alone. Eels and lobsters peek out from holes in the reef, and on the luckiest days, a sea turtle will pop by to say hello.
This magical snorkeling experience is super accessible in the shallow water close to shore. If you venture a bit further off the coast, the water gets deeper and the life gets bigger. I’ve been feeling super curious about the marine life here, so when I heard Sofie was hosting a whale shark talk at her coffee shop, Ombak Rote, I knew I had to go. The presentation was led by the team from Thrive Conservation, an Indonesian nonprofit leading research and conservation efforts for whale sharks and other marine megafauna in Rote.
Just offshore, Rote is home to remarkable and rare marine animals, including the extraordinary whale shark.
“Whale sharks barely seem real. They can grow over 60 feet long, making them the largest fish in the world. Yet they move through the ocean calmly, with their mouths open, filter-feeding on plankton and small fish.”