Long before Google Earth there were commercial jet liners with small portholes and 35mm film cameras with zoom lenses. That’s how all of these photos were taken. Although shooting through double pane plexiglas was not high quality optics; the results were viewable and the God’s eye view sometimes spectacular. The Gradjagan Bay, G-land, Plengkung photos give a great perspective of the remoteness and exposure of the surf spot. It’s probably well known that Bill Boyum first spotted G-land from a commercial flight. The Deserts shots give a great look at the geography of the area, the wrap the waves take, and the Lombok Channel which contains the “Wallace Line”, once the only oceanic separation between Asia and Australia. The channel deep, foreboding, and greatly feared by the locals still holds many mysteries; such as why the waves at Deserts can turn on and off in a heartbeat. The photos of Bali’s Bukit Peninsula date back to the 70’s pre-development era. Hard to imagine then that some of Bali’s most arid, inhospitable land would become some of Indonesia’s most valuable real estate in a mere one generation. Take a close look at current Google Earth imagery and see what happened. I’ll take the 70’s any day.