21 posts tagged “mentawai”
- News on Indies Trader 4
- How is the global recession affecting Mentawai bookings
- Variations on the standard Mentawai trip explored
- New Telo Islands resort with strong backing
- Coming soon: Historical Mentawai swell data crunched and explored - how often does spot X really work?
Indies Explorer boat first caught my eye when featured in a surf video a while back. It's one of the largest and most recognizable charter boats in Indonesia, a Pinissi schooner over 100 feet long, bright white with two tall sailing masts. I saw this iconic boat at Thunders in August 2006. It was a small day of forgettable surf and 40 people were in the water groveling for some chest-high sets. Indies Trader 4 was also there, so we felt pretty smart that our groveling session didn't cost $1200/person/day.
About Indies Explorer, when I was looking for a Mentawais charter boat I was intrigued by the large size and relatively low per-day cost, but the boat holds 12 guests which was sort of a turn-off and the schedule didn't work out for the dates I had available. That day at Thunders I felt fortunate to have skipped since it looked like the boat didn't have much shaded common space with a view of the surf (always a precious commodity on surf trips). The sleeping cabins below decks all had ventiliation hatches in the middle of the main deck and the deck sloped up forward and aft, basically killing the most logical place for a picnic table, hammocks, etc. When we drove by in our dinghy there were also bits around the stern that looked kind of beat up and run-down. I scrutinized the other boats we came across as much as possible - there are only so many boats over there and I wanted to see what kind of shape they were in, did they pitch and roll a lot when anchored, etc. The truth is that some boats just look better on the internet and Indies Explorer is probably one of them. Using 6-year-old photos on the booking web site is one slightly deceptive practice - recent boat photos are always a good thing to ask for.
Anyway to make a long story short, I was thinking about all this because I recently learned that an overnight storm washed "a big white wooden sailboat" up on the beach in Padang. I don't think there are many other such craft near Padang besides Indies Explorer. For all the things that looked impractical about it you can'd deny the boat has soul. If anyone is thinking about going on Indies Explorer in 2008 or knows if it did in fact hit the beach drop me a line.
The big quake is coming to the Mentawais
If you've always wanted to surf the Mentawais (Siberut, Sipora, North Pagai, South Pagai) but just haven't gotten around to it, you should go soon. I hate to cry wolf here but Sumatra has been very seismically active lately. There were TWO major quakes of Northern Sumatra, the Christmas Tsunami quake that killed hundreds of thousands of people and THEN another huge 8+ quake off Nias in March 2005. The Nias quake rearranged (reminder to self - find photo of uplift in Simeulue) surf breaks all around Nias, but didn't really affect the Mentawais. When we sailed by the SE corner of simeulue we saw where the former waterline had been lifted up by about half the height of a coconut tree - 15 or 20 feet out of the water. Yes there are new breaks and some breaks got better, but most breaks got worse. Bawa, the famous swell-magnet right in the Hinakos is not nearly what it was before. Forget about catching it like Tom Curren did in the Rip Curl search video from 1994.
Whether the upcoming Mentawai quake pushes the breaks up or down, any change to the bottom contours of a perfect wave like HT's or Macaroni's is a change for the worse. Nature does not by default create perfect ruler-edged reefs - great surf spots are a freak of nature, even in indonesia. Also note that it's the offshore reefs that refract swell almost 180 degrees around to HT's lineup - if they submerge or rise that spot may stop working entirely.
Crowds are lower than they have been for years
A few days back I got a mass marketing email from Sean Murphy the president of Waterways travel. I've pasted in his message below in quotes. What he's saying echoes what I've noticed on booking sites and heard from other sources.
"
WHY:
The Mentawai Islands are experiencing a downturn in traffic for a variety of reasons. Last year was one of the worst seasons in the Ments in recent history due to slightly less swell than previous years combined with persistent south wind conditions. When the winds blow from the South in the Mentawais there are only a few breaks that favor this wind such as Thunders and Burger World which also pick up quite a lot of swell. In attempts to get their passengers the best surf possible many of the boats congregated at the few spots which were best given the conditions. As a result, many charters experienced crowded conditions, unfavorable winds, or lack of swell given the breaks chosen by the captains and passengers on-board.
Compounding the poor conditions many experienced last year, it was apparent to all who made the journey that there are a number of upscale land camps under development which have already opened, or were scheduled to open for the 2007 season. Although this is true, the land based resorts are experiencing their own problems this year. Accessing the land camps has proven difficult, often requiring unreliable local ferry transportation. Macaronis Resort had based its schedule around a sea plane operation which has just been cancelled effectively resulting in the cancellation of all bookings for the 2007 season. Other currently operational resorts such as Aloita Resort (Telescopes/Playground) and Katiet Villas (HT’s Lances etc) have wide open availability for the 2007 season as a result of late confirmation of flights from Padang to Rokot (Mentawais). Katiet and Aloita are not listed under specials below. Contact our office if interested in Mentawai land based resort for current detail.
Finally, WaterWays has been approached by many boats over the past 2-6 weeks that are either represented by other surf travel operators, or have been operating independently, to see if we could produce any groups for them this season. For the most part we have turned these boats away preferring to stick exclusively with our current fleet which is proven and thankfully mostly booked this season.
Given that most the resorts and many of the yachts have the bulk of their space remaining available at this time, it is unlikely that their occupancy levels will increase significantly. Most people booking a 14+ day trip to Indonesia book well in advance, especially if trying to coordinate a group. Our March/April groups have been surfing with no crowds even at the big name breaks – empty lineups.
WITH ALL THE ABOVE FACTORS IN PLAY, THIS IS THE BEST TIME FOR THOSE WHO ARE ABLE TO TAKE ADVANTAGE OF THE SITUATION AND GET TO INDO TO EXPERIENCE THE BEST SURF IN THE WORLD"
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.
All across Indonesia local farmers, merchants, and fishermen live in front of world class surf breaks. For a very small fee, you can probably get a place to sleep and eat some local food. I'm not going to talk about these options in this post, because first of all, they are rarely marketed on the internet, so I can't help you find them. Second, I've never stayed in one, so can't make personal recommendations. These arrangements are generally referred to as "feral", and I use the term with no disrespect. It's just not for me, not right now. What I've got listed below are non-feral options on Sumatra and the offshore islands. Some have A/C, some have internet access, some have a speedboat, but all have non-exclusive access to 5-star waves straight out front.
I may get around to discussing non-feral options in Java, Bali, and Nusa Tenggara in a later post, but for now, this is just Sumatra options.
Northern Sumatra (ex-Lagundri):
Baneng Island Resort Simeulue
Asu Paradise (formerly "Gangster's Paradise")
Hinakos Hideaway
Telos Lodge
Mentawais
Playgrounds surf camp (playgrounds)
Wavepark (playgrounds)
Kandui Surf Resort (playgrounds/Kanduis)
Macaronis resort (North Pagai/Macaronis)
Aloita resort (Northern Sipura/Telescopes)
Katiet Villas (Southen Sipura/HT's)
Eco Bay (playgrounds/e bay)
links and more camps coming soon...
Check out this site for a reasonably good listing of global surf camps, that includes some of the indo camps I mentioned above.
This itinerary gets you to Padang (Where all mentawai and many Northern Sumatra boat trips depart from) in the least amount of time with the best in-flight service and entertainment and the least board bag charges. You could substitute China Airlines and it might be a little cheaper on airfare but no seatback TV's and $100 more in board bag charges. Friday night after work - grab your board bag and head to SFO AIR SINGAPORE 1 COACH CLASS 744 LV: SAN FRANCISCO 120A ONE STOP AR: SINGAPORE 1140A ARR DATE +1 AIR SINGAPORE 958 COACH CLASS 772 LV: SINGAPORE 1250P NONSTOP AR: JAKARTA/CGK 125P AIR GARUDA INDON 164 COACH CLASS 734 LV: JAKARTA/CGK 420P NONSTOP AR: PADANG 550P Just in time to see the sunset and get on the boat! Get shacked for 13 days and 14 nights Sunday morning - arrive back in port before 7AM or you'll probably miss this Garuda flight. Remember, if you miss this flight, you miss your connection in Jakarta and you'll have to spend the day in Padang, Jakarta, or Singapore. My picks would be Padang at the Hotel Batang Arau or Singapore. AIR GARUDA INDON 163 COACH CLASS 734 LV: PADANG 900A NONSTOP AR: JAKARTA/CGK 1040A This is a bit of a tight connection here, but you should be OK since Garuda arrives back in the international terminal. Non-Garuda indo airlines fly into the domestic terminal and it's non-trivially hard to get your board bag on to the shuttle that goes from the international terminal to the domestic terminal AIR SINGAPORE 957 COACH CLASS 773 LV: JAKARTA/CGK 1220P NONSTOP AR: SINGAPORE 255P SUNDAY AIR SINGAPORE 2 COACH CLASS 744 LV: SINGAPORE 500P ONE STOP AR: SAN FRANCISCO 725P And look at that by the magic of flying east and crossing the international date line you have arrived back in foggy SFO at 7:30PM on the same Sunday you got back into port. That's efficient! So if these are the best flights, what is the price and how do I buy it? You CAN book this itinerary on Orbitz, but the price they will quote is horrific. For example $3,909 for the ticket below, and just $1300 to get all the way to Jakarta. Screwy, eh? Instead I suggest one of two tricks:
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/
China Airlines is based in Taipei, Taiwan and often has the cheapest convenient flights from the US to Bali and Jakarta, so this might be of interest to anyone who is looking for a plane ticket to Indonesia. I mentioned I was going to fly China Airlines and a former coworker with lengthy experience in the airline industry who pointed out that China Airlines has a terrible safety record of pilot-at-fault accidents. This isn't to say that they crash all the time, just that they crash significantly more often than any other airline that flies transpacific. Seriously, check out the record here. But really, what are the chances of a crash? The real question is how is the service?
- Service - Better than that on domestic US flights. Which is to say, if you have very low standards, China Airlines will exceed them.
- Food - the food from the US to Taiwan was awful, but on all the other flights to and from Jakarta and from Taiwan back to SFO it was great. China Airlines needs to fire whoever is catering their SFO operation.
- Entertainment - uh, what entertainment? China Airlines' website talks about their seat back person TV screens with on-demand movies. Except for the 747's that fly from SFO and LAX to Taipei. In-flight entertainment is your friend on a 13 hour flight, and it is missed. These planes will be replaced or refurbished at some point, but they don't have the TV's right now. The 6-hour flight between Taipei and Jakarta did have seatback TV's with on-demand movies, so that was nice
- Surfboard charges - you can count on paying $50 each way for your boards, so if these guys aren't at least that much cheaper than Singapore, go Singapore Air since they have no board bag charges.
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.
