11 posts tagged “sumatra”
First of all I don't have any information now, but will post any I receive as I hear back from friends or contacts with first or second hand experience. The only people who know the real scoop are out on boats now or will be going out over the next month or so.
I realize it is a bit crass to be discussing surf spot changes when there has been loss of life and much loss of property in the area, but if you can take a longer term view the world class spots offshore from Sumatra are some of the most consistent in the world and are one of the best chances to bringing low-impact, high-dollar tourism and development to this area. Ask yourself, would Dr. Dave Jenkins have started Surf Aid to prevent malaria in a group of rural, undeveloped islands on the _eastern_ side of Sumatra? Surf spot changes (which are bound to be mostly negative) will impact the long-term growth prospects of this region. I hope there were no negative effects on spots and that the word gets out that Macca's is still working while people are still thinking about where to go for next season.
Generally speaking it usually takes an 8+ earthquake to materially deform the earth's surface, and the 8.6 that hit North of Nias in March of 2005 has had a big effect on spots in Nias, the Hinakos, Simeulue, and the Banyaks. I did some imprecise Google Earth measurements and Lagundri Bay on Nias is about the same distance from the 8.6 Northern Sumatra quake as the southern end of South Pagai in the Mentawais is from the recent 8.4 quake. I realize the most recent quake may or may not have created much uplift but just on distance alone it still could affect Thunders, The Hole, and other secret spots in the southern Ments. Waves on Enggano or mainland Sumatra could be more significantly affected. Finally, Northern Sipora (the telescopes area) suffered a direct hit from a 7.2 aftershock. That's almost as big as the Loma Prieta earthquake that hit the Bay Area in 1989. Even if there was no effect on local surf spots it might be a bit harder to find a family to stay with if you want to go feral in Tua Pajet.
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.
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/
If you are cashing in miles to get to Singapore or Jakarta then traveling onward from there as I did on my trip to Northern Sumatra & many do on surf trips to the Mentawais, then this will be of interest to you. Airlines engage in a form of price discrimination (aka charging more to those who are willing to pay more) by the point of sale of the ticket. Here's the example. Silk air from Singapore to Medan, Indonesia. Going to expedia.com (the US version) to shop for this ticket, it was about $550 USD. This is an outrageous price. If you look at a map, Singapore to Medan is a very short flight. It turns out that Silk Air was only making full-fare coach Y-class inventory available to travel agencies with a point of sale (aka ticketing location) in the US. I did a google search and emailed a travel agency in Singapore to see what fare they quoted - their price in singapore dollars was equivalent to $250 USD for the exact same flights. I ended up buying a few tickets for me and my buddies from Philomena Tan of Holiday Tours and Travel in Singapore. Email me if you'd like Philomena's contact info.
Also, for tickets originating in Indonesia, never ever buy them on the internet. Definitely work with an agent in Indonesia to buy tickets that originate in Indonesia, you will save a LOT of money. Danny at Sumatran Surfaris can connect you with the travel agency in the Hotel Batang Arau in Padang, those guys are great. Email me for Danny's contact info or go to www.sumatransurfaris.com
Cashing in Miles to get to Sumatra can cause Problems at Singapore Airport if you aren't arriving on Singapore Airlines
Real problems like ruin-your-trip problems with scary secret police carting you away? No, just the kind of things you wish you'd known about beforehand. Here's my example:
The Scenario
Ian cashes in a pot of AA miles for a biz-class seat on Japan Airlines. Like every other mileage program, this one can't get me to Sumatra, because Silk Air doesn't take anyone else's miles, so I'm going as far as Singapore, then I bought a separate ticket from Singapore to Sumatra (Medan in this case).
Arrival in Singapore
I Leave SFO at noon, flying pretty across the Pacific, connect in Tokyo, and arrive Changi Terminal 1 a little after midnight two days later. This is when I notice something is awry. The building looks similar to the Changi I know, but all the airlines are different. Ones I've never noticed, Qatar Airways, Sri Lankan, Vietnam Airways, never seen these guys before. On all my previous trips to Changi, I had arrived on Singapore airlines in Terminal 2, enjoyed the amenities, then connected to flights departing from Terminal 2 and gone on my merry way. I had assumed that Terminal 1 was just the distant south wing of the big ass building that I thought was the entire airport. Nope, it's a completely separate building. So anyway, I know I've got to get to Terminal 2 to check in for my flight on Silk Air. Problem is, my bag is coming out in Terminal 1, and I have to re-check it in terminal 2. This means I have to leave passport control, get my bag, then schlep it over to terminal 2 and go to the Silk Air check-in counter. Little automated train thing takes me to the other terminal
Arrival at Terminal 2
Recall earlier when I arrived: Midnight. So by the time I get my bag and get over to Terminal 1, it's about 1AM. I'm thinking, just get that boarding pass, get back behind security into Electric Changi loveyland where they have 24 hour food, $5 showers, $8 private nap room, and I'll be totally set. Except there's no automated check-in kiosks at Silk Air. Also, no people at Silk Air. Nobody at the counter, no boarding pass. No boarding pass, no talking my way past the nice security lady, don't even think about the baksheesh here, "pa una refresca", what do you think this is, Paraguay? I'm on the outside, man. OK, I'm a traveler, I can roll with the punches. I'll go get the airport hotel in Changi Village, noted home of transvestites, and crash out.
Who is that cheapskate guy crashed out in the cafe?
There's a 24-hour hotel desk guy just outside of baggage claim. He knows that the nearby cheap hotels are full. So I'm about to pop for a nearby hotel that's like $85. I make the reservation with the guy, and he wants $20. Singapore Dollars. I hand him the credit card. He says, no credit cards, cash only. No floggin way. This is the last straw. I'm not going to the ATM and getting Singapore cash to pay a $5 fee to my bank and then be stuck with Singapore dollars I can't spend in Indo. Cancel the rezzie. I spy a cafe outside the baggage claim area with a dude already sacked out in a plush-looking chair. I figure if I stash my board bag under my legs and sack out next to him, it'll look like we're together and nobody will make off with my stuff while I'm asleep. Plus what do I have to worry about? Singapore is a police state. All was ok when I woke up 32 minutes later. It was 1:38 AM, and I was wide awake thanks to jet lag. Silk Air ticket counter opens at 5:30 AM, and my flight to Medan leaves at 8AM. Time is really flying now.
"You're a dumbass. This would never happen to me...."
Silk Air flies short flights and short flights don't depart at 1AM, so why would anyone be at the check-in counter then? What was I thinking? Why didn't I figure this out before I left? Honestly, given the tickets I bought there's nothing more I could have done. If you had a hundred thousand American Airlines-brand magic beans that were depreciating slightly more slowly than the Zimbabwe dollar, wouldn't you trade them in for a business class ticket to Singapore? Hell yes you would. I'm just warning you, if you cash in your miles to go to Sumatra, and you aren't on Singapore air, this will probably be you. "No Way!" you say, what dumbass would buy a flight that arrives at midnight. If you're on United, Northwest, JAL or Korean, you're in Terminal 1 at midnight, probably without the boarding pass you will need to get in to Terminal 2 and crash out. And you can't NOT leave terminal 1 until after your nap, since unless you managed to check your bag all the way through your precious boards are outside passport control, circling around on the baggage belt. Overall, it's not terrible, I'm just warning you.
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.
Danny Siudara has posted a great surf video here: Sick Northern Sumatra Footage, it's 8 min long and well-edited. Ironically some still photos from the session at the heavy right are being used to market boat trips by wavehunters.com, a competing surf travel agency.
Danny is the booking/web guy for Sumatran Surfariis (www.sumatransurfariis.com), a fantastic, word-of-mouth marketed boat trip operator offering a great-quality Mentawai/Northern Sumatra boat trip product at a price point that only the most bare bones operators can match. They do this by selling directly and only offering a small commission to whoever brings in the business. Other agencies like waterways and wavehunters have slick-looking websites but are charging 30%+ commission which gets paid by their customers. Usually you get what you pay for with boat trips but in this case you get what you'd pay 20% more for elsewhere.
The other angle here is since Danny represents a few boats exclusively, he knows the whole trip from top to bottom, and can answer detailed questions about everything from flights, boat amenities, airport transfers, food requests, etc. At the worldwide agency type shops while their websites may inspire you to go surf the world their representatives don't really know much about each boat and there will be a couple days delay while they email someone who does. Mostly they don't get back to you unless they think you're really going to book something, which doesn't build confidence.
