Pantai di Serangan (Beach in Serangan)

Warung Karina

Today we hung out with a family from Owen's class that is originally from El Cerrito.  We drove with them to a surfing beach that is off the tourist track and got to see the contrast of a more local and surf beach with the tourist beach in Sanur that we went to yesterday.
 
The beach today had small warungs that were much more basic vs. the restaurant with tables on the beach, lounge chairs that were free of charge, ladies still offering massage and souvenirs, but not with uniform like shirts as in Sanur, an ice cream man selling popsicles from his bike vs. the gelato stand and less trash.  The area is also called Turtle Island.  It is officially an island, but you can drive over a bridge to get there.  It is a nature preserve that used to be a turtle breeding ground with coral reefs frequented by divers. Years ago there was a plan to build a resort and casino and a mixture of sand and limestone was dredged up and dumped there to create more land, doubling the area of the island which was basically a sandbar. This killed much of the mangroves and the turtle breeding habitat.  


While here, Owen got to play around with Johnny's surf board (Xochi's dad) and I can tell we are going to have to try to find some lessons for him.  He was fired up about the idea of surfing and seemed eager to learn.