Dr Josh Mol, a Cape Town surfer and doctor, headed to G-Land for the 2025 Surfing Doctors Conference and got a full dose of Indo, jungle, barrels, and a dislocated shoulder for good measure. It was his first time in Indonesia, his first time at G-Land, and his first time popping a shoulder out mid-wave.
We got hold of him to get some candid thoughts on the adventure that is Grajagan, or G-Land, the surf spot on the southeastern coast of Java, Indonesia, located in the Banyuwangi region within the Alas Purwo National Park.
Surfing Doctors Conference
My first trip to G-Land didn’t necessarily go as planned. I dislocated my shoulder on day two.
A bit of a hiccup, but that’s the beauty of travelling to a place you’ve never been before. You never know what’s going to happen, and you have to adapt. Overall, it was a surreal experience to be surrounded by the jungle and to surf these pristine waves. It was an epic thing to do, especially with the rich surf history of G-Land.
Expectations:
I didn’t have many expectations because I’d never been to Indo before. I’d heard of G-Land, mostly from the old Quiksilver Pro that happened there. Still, I didn’t really know much about the place until I watched the Patagonia movie The Yin and Yang of Gerry Lopez. I know he didn’t discover the place.
There’s that scene where he’s alone at G-Land, talking about being by himself in the jungle with tigers, surfing those beautiful lefts every day, and how it was quite a spiritual experience. That really got me. I felt like I needed a bit of a spiritual cleanse in my own life, and I’d wanted to go to G-Land for a while.
Conference 2025
Then I heard about the Surfing Doctors Conference through a mate, and I thought, “I’m down with this.” I booked my flights last-minute, tagging along at the tail end of everyone else. The trip to get there was quite tricky: Cape Town to Johannesburg, Hong Kong, Jakarta, Banyuwangi, and then the drive from the airport to G-Land.
By the time I arrived, I was knackered. But when you get to that National Park gate and start driving through the jungle, the excitement really starts to build. You get glimpses of the ocean, and when I finally pulled up and saw those perfect lefts, all the travel was suddenly worth it. I was so stoked. But yeah, I didn’t really have big expectations.
The Highlight
Day One, I woke up at the crack of dawn. I know you’re supposed to wait until the trade winds come through, but I went early, right up at the top at Kongs. It was cooking, and I’d never really surfed waves like that before. So much power. I started right at the top and got a couple, and as I got braver, I worked my way down the point and started surfing more around Money Trees. Eventually, I worked my way towards Speedies.
That was my first day of surf, and it was classic four-to-five-foot G-Land, light offshore winds, and crystal-clear water. I sat out there for seven hours, got burnt to an absolute crisp, and had the best time of my life. There were great people in the lineup too; everyone was very respectful and waited their turn. It was epic. The power of those waves was something else. That was the highlight of my trip for sure.
The Lowlight
I’m hesitant to call anything a lowlight, but I’d likely say the shoulder dislocation on day two. After the first day of epic surf, I was chomping at the bit to get out there again. I woke up at the crack of dawn while everyone was still asleep and ran back up to the top.
It was a bit bigger at Kongs that morning and a bit messier, as the trade winds hadn’t come through yet. I surfed Kongs for a while, with turtles and dugongs swimming around me in this surreal, clear water. My confidence was up, and I worked my way down the point, surfed Money Trees for a bit, and then finally plucked up the courage to go to Speedies.
I hadn’t surfed Speedies properly before, so I sat there for a bit and watched. Then I took one short, mid-sized one, raced off, hopped off, and paddled back to the top of Speedies. Then the perfect one came through, and I thought, This might just be the wave of my life.
I Have To Commit!
I turned, paddled in, nice leisurely paddle, nice drop, long bottom turn, and I saw this thing starting to double up. I thought it was going to throw over me, and I remember thinking, “This is the wave of my life; I have to commit.” So I did a long, drawn-out carve at the bottom, tried to pull in, but I was just a little bit too late.
I got clipped by the lip on the head, got chucked forward, and fell with my arm extended. When I hit the water, I felt the wave rip my shoulder straight out of its socket.
I knew immediately that I’d dislocated my shoulder. Then I got pushed down against the reef, and my booties got ripped off. When I popped up, I tried to get back on my board, but my arm wasn’t working.
I swam down, tried to grab the reef and relocate it myself, but couldn’t manage. Out of frustration, I ended up just banging my shoulder against my board, hoping it would pop back into place miraculously, which, in hindsight, wasn’t a great idea, because I ended up with a bad fracture and some nerve damage.
Survival Mode
Then survival mode kicked in. I realised I had to get back in. The tide was a bit low, so I checked my arm on the board and started paddling in for about half an hour, in quite a bit of pain. I could feel the head of my humerus sticking out of my arm.
When I got to the beach, two guys, one from Western Australia and one from Hawaii, helped me back to camp. At the camp, Jim just popped my shoulder back in, no painkillers, nothing, and it was perfect, cleanly done.
The adrenaline was still pumping, but when it finally subsided, it all hit me. My first dislocation, and I wasn’t going to be back in the water for a while. Not surfing again on this trip was a tough pill to swallow.
Everything happens for a reason, though. I learned quite a bit about myself from the experience, and I don’t regret anything that happened. But yeah, that was probably the darkest point of my time in G-Land.
Most Memorable Wave
It was probably when I first arrived there, late afternoon. The sun was about to go down, and I thought, ‘Let me quickly paddle out and get a wave.’ I met this guy from West Oz who showed me where to paddle out at low tide at Kongs. We sort of walked out together, waited for a while, just watching the waves and trying to suss it all out.
Then this set came through, and I caught one. It wasn’t a big one, maybe two to three feet, but the joy of being in boardies in the tropics, surfing this perfect left, was unreal. I’m a regular foot and I love rights, but this just felt so lekker. I was on my little 5’7″, just pumping down the line with a grin from ear to ear.
It might not have been the biggest wave, but that moment, arriving at G-Land, paddling out for the first time, and catching that first wave, was pure magic. Definitely one of my most memorable waves ever.