While I was trying to get on top of my board, I spotted myself in the impact zone of another wave that was coming hard at me. I braced for impact, took one last breath and let myself be thrown around by the wave. “It’s washing machine time”, I said to myself. I was so sure that I was going to hit my head on the reef.

As the sun comes up slowly, I get to see more closely what’s around us and how high up I am. The clouds are below us, and there is this mysterious shadow of the whole mountain being cast across the landscape. This kind of shadow can only be seen from the top of the mountain. I see the whole of Bali from here, the Indian Ocean, and some neighbouring islands with peaks of their volcanoes visible as well.