13 posts tagged “simeulue”
I've started to plan my return surf trip to Northen Sumatra in May. I've already been there once. Why am I going back?
- I've seen how consistent the swell is on Surfline (even though it was sort of small last time)
- I know there are a lot of world class spots up there
- There still aren't very many boats operating up that way
- No effects from the recent Mentawai earthquakes
What's different about this trip?
- Boat leaving out of Padang, not Sibolga, Simeulue, or Nias
- A day longer on the boat
- More efficient flights meaning less time off work and more surf time
- Half the guys from last time have had kids and can't go back
Why May?
- Memorial day weekend gets me an additional day for free
- Historically a very consistent month for swell
- technically peak season but possibly a bit less busy than June/July/Aug
Did I already mention I love surfline? If you're a premium member they do these long-range forecasts and show you what's coming up in the next two weeks. These things are great as you get closer and closer to the date of your trip. Me, I don't have a trip this year, so this is pure vicarious viewing on my part. If you're heading to indo any time this week, you're scoring. Note that the swell will basically never drop below head high for two weeks. Even if the macker swell for 5/16-5/18 turns out to be a little overstated it will still be plenty big. The only variable now is between two and three times overhead. By the time these things get to 5-7 days out the swell is basically already in the water and the forecasts are pretty solid. I've been watching these charts for a couple years and Indo has two week runs like this fairly often during the season, which is why I devote so much real estate to talking about it - it's pretty much a sure thing with respect to consistent clean swell and benign winds.
Note also the nice SW swell direction, great for some spots in Northern Sumatra and sure to light up spots in the Mentawais that need a strong SW push like Telescopes. If the swell actually comes through at 11 ft 19 sec that is tow-in city.
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:
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.
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?
