6 posts tagged “treasure island”
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.
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/
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.
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?
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.
