Hello, Thinking about saving up and booking an Indonesia boat trip this summer with a few close friends. Still in early stages of planning and just exploring some ideas/logistics. There are a lot of boats to choose from with vastly different price ranges. If you anyone has any suggestions from experience , it would be much appreciated. As of now, it's 4 of us and we would ideally go in the beginning of July. Best, Justin
A1! DO IT details....pics, regale us with tales of tubes so deep, you saw though time! some boats brag about being faster and hitting spots catching swell before other boats can, thus you and your boatmates outscoring the johnny come latelys happy hunting
did this trip 3 years ago. worth every penny. best trip of my life. not sure anything can top it. i went through Wavehunters. They work with several boats throughout the Mentawais. Our boat was the Samudru Biru - dual hull catamaran style. http://nusantarasurfcharters.com/ Not sure if Wavehunters works with them anymore but that was the way to go. they set up flights for us, the boat, transfers, etc. We had 10 guys on the boat - 9 from our group and one random who ended up being super cool. three years ago, the boat was like $2900 and the flights were around $1800. PM me with any questions or just post here.
You can do what I did and just fly into Padang and snoop around for boats departing with an empty berth. Check the online schedules and time your arrival before the greatest number of departures. Pay the capn direct in cash and you can negotiate it way down. My backup plan was to retreat to Bali if I couldn't get on a boat, but I snagged one the first day. Got on a decent boat (and, really, who cares where you're sleeping so long as there's A/C?) with 6 crazy Europeans for about 600 bucks in 2009 when the going rate was 2K+. Prices online now are crazy! 3K for one spot on a 10-man boat? Tips: July is going to be super busy, so plan for crowds. Go when school is in session for lower crowds. Wrap yourself up white boy. Long sleeve rashy and lots of sunscreen on your face/the back of your legs. Bring as many boards as you can cram, and resin for repairs. Drink the mango juice while it lasts. By the 11th day there won't be anything left but nasty pineapple and orange. Watch out for Europeans, they are snakes. Be aggressive around them if you want waves. Visit the locals while you're there if there are any flat days.
