11 posts tagged “bawa”
I'm not the first to name this spot or put up a map, that was this guy or the World Stormrider Guide Volume 2. The spot is also known as Machine Gun Rights. Several boat operators refuse to name the spot, all the while treating it as the focus of their Northern Sumatra boat trips.
However, once I went there I realized the spot is NOT where the online map or the map in World Stormrider Guide Vol. 2 say it is. Those maps are an inside joke that do exactly what this blog post is trying to do - reveal that there is great surf in this general area, and if you actually make it to indo and ask around or book with the right operator, you'll probably be able to score it. Any of the boat operators I list as "dedicated" to Northern Sumatra on this post can dial you in to a session.
There are important downsides to this spot however:
1) Treasure Island needs a fair amount of swell from a specific direction - not every swell angle will get in.
2) It's not a swell magnet - it needs to be decent sized to get going.
3) The area is extremely isolated. Forget about flying in, and it will take a long time to get there by bus/ferry. The area is lightly populated with poor land access to the break. You won't easily be able to buy shelter, food, or transport from locals anywhere near the surf spot. There are definitely no local surfers, nor are there really any local villagers. The extreme isolation means that boats accessing this spot have limited time to wait around for the right swell/wind combo to make it happen. It's at least a few days motor from Padang, meaning if you book a 10 day trip out of Padang and opt to head north you'll surf the Telos on Day 1, Nias on day 2 or 3, and up north by day 4 or 5. Your trip is half gone and you're just getting there. The "Sjalina" operating out of Simeulue, "Mikumba" or "KM Nauli" out of Nias or Sibolga, and "Bohemian" out of Sibolga probably have the closest access and could conceivably surf there on the first & last day of their trip. But remember - for those sensitive to time off work, just getting to Nias or Sibolga takes an extra travel day coming in and going home.
The camp featured on www.simeulue.com claims quiksilver travel as their US booking partner but if you visit quiksilver travel's site the Simeulue camp/boat trip is nowhere to be found. As with most camps/boats in indo that drop off the scene it's probably more perception and loss of marketing partners than the camp folding or going away. Here's the scoop from reader Jon:
"I finally got ahold of quik travel and got the lowdown on baneng beach resort. The old owner got tired of muslim law i.e. not being able to drink beer and took a job w/ the UN. Since the camp is so remote and they're not familiar w the new owners, it is too much of a logistical nightmare to book trips w/ them. The good news is that everyone who stayed at Baneng was stoked on the waves!"
Simeulue is one of the last frontiers in Indo surf travel. It's very exposed to swell, and many of the known breaks were rearranged in the March 2005 earthquake. It's a big island, and boat trips to Northern Sumatra rarely make it past the SE corner. It's very isolated and hard to get to though.
If you're taking a boat trip to Northern Sumatra (Nias, Hinakos, Banyaks, Telos, Simeulue), you may end up experiencing Sibolga. It's a one-day motor from the Telos and much closer to Nias and the Banyaks than Padang, but that's about all you can say in it's favor. I'm not sure if Teluk Dalam on Nias is any better, but I discovered quite a few things going against Sibolga:
The Airport - it's tiny, over an hour from the port, and served only a few days a week by Merpati. If you're lucky enough to fly to Sibolga consider yourself extremely blessed and bitch not about how far away the airport is or the tiny aircraft you'll be flying on. The only thing you have to worry about is DON'T MISS YOUR FLIGHT because there isn't another one and then you'll be facing:
The Drive - the drive from Medan is a total kick in the nuts. Even if you get into Medan first thing in the morning, you have roughly 10 hours of car travel ahead of you so you won't arrive until after dark. Lake Toba is in the middle and you'll get lunch with a breathtaking view high above the lake with perfect Hawaii breezes and cooler temperatures, but really you're not even close to the ocean so don't fool yourself. The road is good, except after it gets dark and people start to fall asleep, then the super-twisty 45 minute descent into Sibolga kicks in and it's murder.
The Bugs - In the space of 15 minutes I killed 20 mosquitoes sitting in the lobby of the nicest (only?) hotel in town. When you kill 20 mosquitoes one at a time it makes an impression. I know the malarial ones are small and silent and all westerners are way to paranoid about malaria, but I didn't have it growing up and I have to go to work pretty much the day after I leave Sibolga so cut me some slack.
The Smugglers - You're in a shithole town in an underdeveloped corner of a developing country. Two ethnic Chinese guys wearing Ferrari Formula One jackets and Ray-Ban aviator glasses are feeding gas into their shiny new powerboat with two huge Yamaha 250's on the back and enjoying tall Bintangs at the nicest (only?) proper restaurant in town. This close to Thailand and Myanmar, what do you think they're up to? We were smart enough to not ask.
The State of Development - The locals who live in the valuable real estate along the main road do not use cooking gas. They use bundles of sticks for heat and cooking, as we saw for sale all over. I have no idea what people in the country were up to. Mobile phones are nowhere in evidence among those with motor vehicles. The bemos are rustbuckets having no stickers, pieces of flair, or sweet car-alarm horns. The rivers leading to the ocean are fetid. Visiting Balinese would be shocked this is their country. It's not as ugly as the slums of Jakarta, but this is a tiny little town for Chrissakes. The major downside of this for a visiting Westerner is there is zero local market for things you might be interested in. The tough beef we ate on our boat trip traveled in from Medan with us on our drive to Sibolga. The best meat available in Sibolga is probably pretty questionable.
Worst of all, The Smell - For our midday drive from the harbor to the airport, the sun was generally out, and in the 45 minutes between departing the harbor until we were in a rural area NOT ONCE was our vehicle not bathed in the smell of sewage. It didn't come and go. It was right there the whole time. The whole city.
I'm not down on Indonesia or the developing world, just this town. It's awful. The only saving grace for surfers is that Sibolga is doing its part to keep the surf spots of Northern Sumatra uncrowded. So if you're committed enough to get there, you'll get more than your share.
This is a semi-complete list of all the agencies and operators that are selling boat trips in Indonesia. Consider this a work in progress. I expect this will need to be updated again in the future. Please note that some boats based in Padang may run trips to either the Mentawais or Northern Sumatra, so they are shown on both lists. For the Northern Sumatra boats, I've noted which boats are dedicated to Northern Sumatra. These will tend to have more experienced captains that know the spots better. The Mentawais have too many boats to list here, but the other areas have a smaller number of boats so I've tried to list them here.
Mentawais
Sumatran Surfaris - www.sumatransurfaris.com
Quiksilver Travel - www.quiksilvertravel.com
Saraina Koat Mentawai - http://www.mentawaiislands.com/
Indies Explorer - http://www.wavescape.co.za/indies.htm
World Surfaris - www.worldsurfaris.com
Wavehunters - www.wavehunters.com
Waterways Travel - www.waterwaystravel.com
Indies Trader boats - http://www.indiestrader.com/
Freeline Surf - www.freelinesurf.com.au
Northern Sumatra (Telos, Nias, Hinakos, Banyaks, Simeulue)
"Mikumba", "Southern Cross" (both dedicated to Northern Sumatra) - Sumatran Surfaris - www.sumatransurfaris.com
Indies Trader boats - http://www.indiestrader.com/
"Bohemian" (dedicated to Northern Sumatra) - Waterways Travel - www.waterwaystravel.com
"Indo Jiwa", "Tengirri", "Mangalui Ndulu" - World Surfaris - www.worldsurfaris.com
"MV Addiction", "Mangalui Ndulu" at Wavehunters - www.wavehunters.com
"Aileoita II" - Saraina Koat Mentawai - www.mentawaiislands.com
"Sia" - www.surftravelonline.com
"Sjalina" (dedicated to Northern Sumatra) - www.quiksilvertravel.com, www.freelinesurf.com.au
"KM Nauli" (dedicated to Northern Sumatra) - http://www.surfingsumatra.com/
West Nusa Tenggara (Nusa Lebongan, Lombok, Sumbawa)
"Moggy" World Surfaris - www.worldsurfaris.com
"Dreamweaver", "Partama" - www.surftravelonline.com
East Nusa Tenggara (Timor, Roti, Sumba)
"Mahalo II" - www.waterwaystravel.com
"Moana" - www.surftravelonline.com
"Sri Noa Noa" - www.freelinesurf.com.au
West Java (Panaitan Island)
"Nomad" - www.nomadsurfindonesia.com
"Just Dreaming" - www.quiksilvertravel.com, www.freelinesurf.com.au\
Peucang Island camp - www.surfpanaitan.com/
Most americans get two weeks, or 10 actual work days off per year. If you don't have a job then skip this post because you won't care. If you get seasick and never take boat trips then also skip this post, you won't care. But if you value your time off then these free suggestions could save time off work, get you more time in the water, or both. This isn't rocket science, it just takes some knowledge of airline flight schedules and common-sense travel logistics. Here are three easy steps to get the same trip for fewer days off work.
Pick a boat trip schedule that lets you travel to and from Indonesia on weekends
Play this right and save two days. Here's an example. The same boat has a few different 10-day, 11-night trips available. Which one do you want? If you and your crew care about minimizing time off work, the most important consideration is that the trip starts on a Sunday or Monday night. That way you can work on Friday, leave Friday night, travel all weekend and be surfing in the Mentawais on Monday morning, or Tuesday morning if you buy flights with long layovers. If Tuesday is your first of ten surf days, your last surf day will be Thursday. You go back to port Friday morning and typically get back to California on Saturday. Then rest up Sunday and back to work Monday. But why rest Sunday in California when you can extend your boat trip for a day? Most operators are able to accommodate such a request. If you extend for one day at the end, then 10 days off work equals 11 potential surf days or 10 surf days and a jet lag recovery day before you're back at work.
For a negative example, a trip that leaves Padang on Wednesday night. A typical Padang flight itinerary has you flying Monday and Tuesday, sitting around on Wednesday, and your first surf day is Thursday and your tenth and last surf day is Saturday. You're back in Padang Sunday morning, back at home Monday, and back at work on Tuesday. You took 11 days off and surfed a maximum of 10 days. You wuz robbed.
Buy schedule-efficient flights
Buying the most efficient flights may cost you money, hassle, or both, but you will save time and potentially two work days. Again, whether or not you have this time to waste depends on your boat schedule. It is possible to depart on your boat from Padang two days after you leave the US but only if you connect in Jakarta. If you're willing to deal with Jakarta and buying a second ticket on an indo carrier, then you want to leave the US late Friday night and you can get to Padang sunday evening, and you're surfing on Monday. A more typical schedule has guys leaving the US midday Saturday, overnighting in Singapore on Sunday night, then arriving in Padang mid-afternoon on Monday, cool your heels for a few hours before the boat makes the crossing at night. Your first surf day is then Tuesday. Longer travel duration, less surf time, plus the extra expense of an overnight in singapore. China Airlines via Jakarta has the best flight schedule from SFO, with Singapore Air a close second. Cathay to Jakarta can also work from LAX, and Eva might also work from LAX but I'm not 100% sure.
Get back to Padang early in the morning
If you live in Southern California or the Bay Area it is possible to get home the same day you get into port, but only if you go via Jakarta and only if you get back to port early in the morning. There is one flight that isn't too early for port arrival and isn't too late to switch terminals in Jakarta. If you check out www.dohop.com from PDG to CGK you can see there is a daily garuda flight that leaves Padang at 9:15 AM and arrives Jakarta at 10:55 AM. To make a 9:15 flight you need to be at the airport by 8:15, leave the port by 7:15, and therefore be back in port and tied up before 7AM with your shit packed up and ready to unload. If you're all on the same flight itinerary fine, but if you need to be back in port that early, it might force a pre-sunset end to surfing activity on your last day to ensure the boat has enough time to make the crossing and arrive by 7AM.
Include a holiday weekend in your trip (Memorial Day, 4th of July, Labor Day)
This one should be pretty self-explanatory but here goes: If the holiday falls in the beginning or middle of your trip, then you get the same trip with less time off. If the holiday falls at the end, then you get more trip for the same time off.
I consider myself an expert on travel logistics to Indo. I've planned flights for myself and a other people. I've spent hours on the phone trying to cash in frequent flier miles for Indo tickets with American, Delta, and United. I've worked all the angles. I know how much time and money it takes to get people from the west coast of the US to the Mentawais, and here's the scoop:
Buying a cash ticket to Padang
If you are in the US, traveling with surfboards (as opposed to bodyboards), and want to pay cash for your ticket to Padang, you should definitely book with Quiksilver Travel. That's right, a human agent, not a web site. I've worked for internet travel companies for years spending time building a better travel mousetrap but right now there is no website that can put together the itinerary that most surfers need at the best price. The itinerary has to be manually built by a human agent on one of those green-screen things. Bryan Pohlman and Debbie at Quiksilver travel are on the ball. That's really all you can ask for in a travel agent, just someone who's responsive and pays attention to detail. Wavehunters is also a decent alternative, but steer clear of Waterways unless you absolutely have to.
Pinching Pennies?
The major surf travel agencies have contracts with Singapore Air that will save you some money. There are two catches though: You have to pay by check (this saves the airline 2.5% credit card fee) and you DON'T get frequent flier miles for your 19,000 mile roundtrip. Nineteen thousand frequent flier miles is worth about $200. So for a $1500 published fare plane ticket you should save at least $250 by booking through Quiksilver. Sometimes the airlines offer the agencies contracts with an additional 10% off over the credit card and mileage savings so you pay about $1100 to go to Indo.
Book early to get on Singapore AIrlines
Singapore airlines flights from the west coast will totally book up, especially for Friday departures. They don't overbook, so when the plane is full you can't buy a seat at any price. Because Singapore Air is the poshest way to get to a bunch of cities in India without connecting in Delhi, lots of Indians fly this way. Expect your plane to be full of ethnic-Indian extended families who go as far as Singapore. Your flight to Indo will typically be empty.
Cashing in Miles to get to Padang - Airline alliances
Unless you oddly have a lot of miles with Singapore Airlines, cashing in miles means you will get as far as Singapore or Jakarta, then have to buy a separate, cash ticket to get you to Padang.
United - Best best - can put you on either United or Singapore Air - push hard for Singapore, get your own TV and save big on board fees.
Delta - Delta's ludicrously useless deal with China airlines will only get you to Taipei. Delta miles are good on Singapore air though.
American - Only Cathay Pacific or JAL can get you to Indo.
Northwest - They can get you as far as Singapore or Bangkok on Northwest planes. Expect less from Northwest, but free is free.
US Airways - You can definitely get tickets on United but I have no idea about Singapore.
Southwest - Rapid Rewards won't even get you to Mexico hahaha you have no hope, give up and pay cash
Upgrading for free?
If you fly a lot you may be upgraded for free from time to time on domestic flights. However, don't expect this on a long-haul transpacific flight. Transpacific flights frequently take off with empty seats up front because this is how they get business travelers to actually pony up $5K for the ticket.
Boat travel logistics is an unappreciated aspect of the trip that you don't really grasp until you've been there. This post assumes you're on a boat that cruises at 8-10 knots, and even fast boats can only go fast during the day.
The Crossing
First of all your prototypical 11-night boat trip leaving from Padang really only has 10 surf days. The first night and the last night has you crossing the channel between Padang and the islands. It really does take all night. if the wind is up for any reason, the crossing could get pretty bumpy.
Playgrounds/Northern Sipora
The shortest distance between Padang and the Ments is to the Playgrounds area between Siberut and Sipora. This area is densely packed with spots that work on a variety of conditions. Bank Vaults, E Bay, Rifles, Kandui, Burgerworld, Pit Stops, Chubbies, 4 Bobs, etc. Northern Sipora is nearby with also has 2 good lefts and one epic left, Telescopes. Because this is the typical arrival and departure point for the Mentawais and has consistent spots that work with almost any conditions, a boat could conceivably spend all 10 surf days in this area. This is a risk you take when booking the cheapest trip you can find. However, if you're scoring pumping Rifles, Telescopes, and Bank Vaults for a week straight you'll be too tired to care that you never made it down to Macaroni's.
Southen Sipora
About half a day's motor from Playgrounds, this area has HT's and Lance's, both of which are consistent waves that work on opposite wind conditions. Always lots of boats congregated in this area. Coming straight here on your first day is pretty unlikely since the guide wants to make sure you get some waves the first day and Playgrounds is a sure thing for rideable waves. You could conceivably surf this area on your last day but you'd only get a half day session because the crossing would take so long. Figure you get 8-9 surf days max at HT's.
North Pagai/Macaroni's
From Playgrounds, on a typical boat it takes a full day to get down to Macaroni's. Which means you either miss surfing for a full day or you drive there at night. No waves for a full day is a non-starter early in the trip for the guests. Motoring all night the night before or after the crossing is a non-starter for the crew, or at least a favor the guide can't call in very often unless he thinks it will get everyone a healthy tip. So therefore you cannot spend the first or last day of your trip at Macaroni's, leaving you with a maximum of 8 surf days as far south as Macca's on a typical 10 day trip.
South Pagai
The South Pagai area has heavy duty hollow waves like Rags and really consistent swell magnet waves like Thunders. A typical boat will spend most of a day getting to and from Thunders from Macaroni's, so you're really left with about 6 days max in this area, and those days must fall in the middle of your trip. The area south of Thunders is home to a number of semi-secret spots that require specific conditions, for example the spot where Dane Reynolds got the killer left barrel in Young Guns 2. Surfing magazine outed this spot as "Green Bush", but chances are you won't surf there without taking a longer trip with a motivated, knowledgeable captain. Most boats will not go south of Thunders because it adds a half day of motoring each way and the captains either don't know about or won't chance the spots that require specific wind and swell directions.
Breaking the Cycle
There are a finite number of boats, their schedules are published, and the only real flexibility the guides have is in the middle 5-6 days of their trip. Therefore although it may seem farfetched, it's not that tough for a guide who knows the boat schedules, the current conditions and the spots to guess where the other boats will go and go somewhere else to score uncrowded waves.
Even the lazy will score in the Mentawais
Scuzz of Sumatran Surfariis sold me on a Ments trip by noting that in spite of the 40-odd charter boats, "There are so many 'B' waves in the Mentawais". If you have pumping swell and no wind, then there will be 25 quality waves going off all over the ments, and even with two boats each on 20 top spots you'll still score more waves than your endurance can handle. Given their consistency, Mentawai B waves like Icelands, Bank Vaults, Lance's, or Thunders would be destination waves anywhere else in the world. Getting one of them with just you and your friends out will make for an unforgettable session.
The short answer is not a lack of swell or lack of quality spots but because it's more than a day's travel from international jet traffic, and that probably won't change any time in the next 5-10 years. The only place on the west coast of Sumatra with international arrivals is Padang, thus the Mentawais are easy. Easy for customers to get to, easy to fly in crew, supplies, boat parts, and Haagen Daz. The international airport is the crux of this.
The same is true for all the corners of the pacific and indian oceans that still hold warm, uncrowded, consistent, 4 and 5 star surf spots. Once you understand fetch and wind patterns it's easy to spin a globe and say, "I'll bet that island gets a lot of swell." But how do you fly there?
Check out this website, called "Great Circle Mapper". Swells generally follow a great circle to get from where they originate to where they are going. If you know what cities are located near where your storm systems originate, this tool will tell you the storm track and potential fetch (distance) along a great-circle path. Check out the fetch to the Mentawais here, measured roughly from Sao Paolo, Brazil to Padang. The length is like 9500 miles, almost half the circumference of the earth! This doesn't become interesting or impressive until you compare it with Hawaii, which as you can see here is only 3800 miles from Siberia (using CTS airport in northern Japan), but much closer to the storm systems themselves. For south swells coming to latin america or the US west coast, try using either PER in West Oz or CHC in south island New Zealand, you can see swell fetch for souther california and costa rica here, I don't know if there's any legit science here, but PER-SNA goes through land whereas PER-SJO does not, so this might be saying that Central America has a legitimate 10,000+ mile fetch, comparable to indonesia, whereas SoCal probably tops out at about 7000 miles. Note that the path between New Zealand and southern California also goes through French Polynesia whereas between the southern ocean and central america has almost no obstructions.
I guess another factor to consider is how much of that fetch is in the temperate latitudes where there is strong additional push vs. the tropics where the winds are calm and won't really affect the swell. On this front Sumatra probably trumps everyone since almost all the fetch is between South America and West Oz, wheres with Central america there probably isn't much extra push/fetch added between 15 or 20 south latitude and 10 or 15 north where the swell finally hits land.
I've only taken boat trips on moderately priced boats. Spending money on a boat comes down to being "feral" or "rich". It's kind of like what time you wake up in the morning. If you wake up at 7am, everyone who gets up at 6am is crazy and everyone who gets up at 8am is lazy, all about your perspective.
The very fact that you're considering a boat trip indicates you've got $250 a day for a lot of days plus a lot of airfare so you're pretty much in the "rich" category when it comes to surf trips. You are in the rarefied set of people who surf well enough to deal with Indo waves, have 2+ weeks free time to go on a surf trip, and make enough dough to blow $5K on that 2 week surf trip. However, when you're out there at Thunders and the Indies Trader 4 rolls up at 22 knots and starts spewing out dinghys, jet skis and team photographers for $1200 per person per day, then you'll feel kind of feral on your mere $250 a night boat.
Here are some boat features that add a lot of cost to the trip:
- private or twin-share cabins
- gourmet imported food like good steaks and haagen daz
- new boats
- fast boats
- new, fast boats
Notice that of all these things, only going fast has anything to do with getting waves. The rest of that shit only matters if it's flat or non-surfers are coming along.
Even with a fast boat, just because you're on a boat that can do 24 knots doesn't mean the captain is willing to drive it fast. Martin Daly was quoted as saying that driving the Indies Trader 4 at full speed is like tearing up $100 bills as fast as you can. Fuel in Indonesia now costs much more than it did in 2004, since the government rolled back fuel subsidies. It's hard to believe that the government of Indonesia used to subsidize the gas that rich westerners burned driving around in charter boats, but it's true. So if you're a boat captain and you've already made the crossing, it's much cheaper to sit around at playgrounds and wait for the swell to come up or the south wind to die rather than hauling ass down to thunders and giving your guests a shot at offshore barrels. The willingness to drive the boat far and fast is pretty much up to the captain, but it can make the difference in scoring a variety of lefts and rights or being stuck with the same few spots. The other factor with speed is safety. Going fast at night is a major no-no, and even during the day it's risky with chop on the water or poor visibility since there's all kinds of logs, junk, and fishing nets floating around out there.
