Het weer in Uluwatu, Bali, Indonesia in mei

May opens the dry season here and regulars describe the shape of it rather than the total: overcast until about half past eight then sunny, with rain overnight, at breakfast, or as a downpour about four that has cleared by evening - and on this coast the showers often last five or ten minutes. Our 93.9mm across 15 days is that pattern, not a wet month, though 85 percent humidity turns 30.4C into a felt 36C. The surf reason for coming is the same season: the west side of the island works while the dry-season winds hold. The sea is 28.6C and nights stay at 25.3C. The record: 10.6 hours of sun, a 16.6 kph wind and AQI 48.

Uluwatu-forum and surf-guide threads on July agree it's the peak of the low-rain season and the peak of the swell: the year's biggest groundswells arrive this month, reliable SE trade winds blow offshore into the Bukit Peninsula's west-facing breaks every morning, and rainfall runs among its lowest totals of the year. The trade-off is crowding - the lineup itself is described as resembling a small city by mid-month, though most surfers call the wave quality worth it. Wind is the other consistent theme: mornings run clean and glassy, but afternoons turn genuinely blustery, choppy enough to affect snorkeling and noticeable enough that clifftop restaurant tables catch a steady breeze through the evening. Warm, sunny days are the norm. The record: 27.4C days, 24.5C nights, 57mm across 18 days, a 27.6C sea, 73 percent humidity and 10.9 hours of sun - more scattered rain days than the guides' "minimal rainfall" framing suggests.