Just Back From Mentawais

Everything you've heard is true. Imagin the very best day here on Delmarva say in the last 30 years, cause it isn't even close to what we saw and rode in Indonesia over the last 3 weeks. Best surf trip of my life and one my son and I will never forget. I could go on for hours about memerable sessions and particular waves and never fully be able to discribe the experiance. Just go and find out for yourself!!!!

 

The biggest expense is the airfare which will cost somewhere in the neighborhood of $1800 round trip to Indo. Plus surfboard fees, which in my case came to $750. Some don't get charged, it seems like no one really knows what to charge they just kind of wing it at the counter. In NYC they charged me $150 per board over 4 boards. In Jakarta they charged me $150 x 2 because my coffins were over 20 kilos each.

We flew into Bali for a week and stayed at a local hotel which was very reasonable. Depending on your buget, one could stay in Bali for as little as $30 a day for lodging, food, and transportation. Bali was fun but very crowded which was a factor in my overall rating of the place.

From Bali we went to the Mentawai Islands which was truely heaven on earth. This part can be expensive because you either have to charter a boat or stay at one of only a handful of surf resorts. We stayed at Kandui which was awesome. This resort is right in the middle of the playgrounds region and is an easy boat ride to at least 15 different breaks. One could go "feral" for cheap but be careful as standards are nothing like one would expect in many areas of the world. Local fishing boats can be chartered for cheap, but you may not make it back. I will be happy to elaborate in detail later. Wife is calling got to go.

 

Total cost for trip just to Mentawais figure about $5,000. There are about 30 boats working now out of Padang. I would recommend Kandui hands down over any boat though. Uma for 2 people larger than all but the largest boats. Plus you have the island to explore and many other features including no sea sick nights. They have speed boats that can move you from break to break much faster than most boats. We would pass boats on the way to a break only to have them show up at the break an hour and a half after we were surfing it.

Crowds really were not a factor though. If we did encounter other surfers, it was usually very friendly and everyone would rotate turns with plenty of waves to go around. Many days we surfed waves by ourselves, just me and my son. Keep in mind that some waves were so long that it took a long time to paddle back to the take-off area and you would want to rest a couple of mins. anyway. We surfed one particular break where rides were as long as 600 yds. and you could hardly see someone when they kicked out.

I did encounter a couple of guys that were staying with locals in huts close to certain breaks. I know the accomadations were very cheap, but they did have to bring in thier food and it was crude living conditions. Most of these guys were staying for months. If you can only go for a couple of weeks, one of the boats or camps is really the only realistic way to go. Keep in mind that the area is still very remote and getting in and out can be sketchy. We had to exit in a local "speed" boat because the scheduled plane was grounded. My understanding is that this sort of thing is a very common occurance.

Would I go again? In a second...................I met guys that left everything here in the states to live there permanently with nothing so that they could have everything. If waves are all you need, you can gorge yourself allmost everyday.

 

OK, depression is setting in. Are the waves here really this bad? I should have just stayed.................................

 

Next year I'm going for the entire summer............I've already start counting down the days.