Kuta Beach

This guide to Kuta Beach in Bali opens in 1936, when Louise, fleeing a marriage to a Hollywood screenwriter, arrived on this then-quiet fishing coast and fell for a tennis coach named Bob Koke. You'll hear how the couple built the first hotel on this shore, shipped over a redwood surfboard from Hawaii, and taught their Balinese staff to shape their own boards and ride these same waves. It also traces how word of their discovery spread and drew early wanderers to this once-quiet coast.