The High Priest of Uluwatu

A quick word about existence on the Bukit Peninsula with Mega Semadhi.

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If you’ve spent time surfing on the Bukit Peninsula, you’ve probably seen Mega Semadhi at Uluwatu, lacing deep barrels with stylish carves and massive airs. In issue 24.2 of TSJ, writer/lensman Tommy Schultz spent time with Mega to get a sense of what it’s like to grow up on Bali and watch one’s home coast change so rapidly over the years. Mega is a member of the Pecatu community, one of the largest and oldest on the Bukit. His grandparents owned a ranch atop the massive cliff that overlooks Bingin. At a young age, it was determined by his elders at the Uluwatu temple that Mega would take up the role of high priest as an adult. Between the sense of duty to his community, his own world-traveling ambitions, and the many points of conflict that a local on Bali faces, Mega has a lot to balance with his surf life. That story unfolds in issue 24.2 of the magazine. Here Mega sits down for a quick word about existence on the Bukit.

Tommy Schultz’s feature story on the surfing life of Mega Semadhi (“The High Priest of Uluwatu”) appears in issue 24.2 of TSJ.