Most surfers have the Mentawais on their hit list. It’s just one of those magical places on earth. There’s 70 islands in the Mentawais hanging 150kms off the coast of Sumatra, Indonesia. Why is it so good? The waves are incredible here (consistently). There is just so many different reefs to surf and being on the equator the winds are usually calm and variable – thus, clean barrelling waves are plentiful.
To get here you need a boat. Yep, land camps have popped up in a lot of locations, but the real gems are hidden in the remote parts of the islands – best accessed by a charter boat. This year we’re on the well known Ratu Motu (Old Indies Trader 4) – a luxury charter vessel with all the fruit. We’ve got 12 surfers on board, 15 staff and plenty of room on a beamy 39 metres of west aussie steel.
We’ve been here many, many times together. I can remember updating Aquabumps 15 years ago with a hand held satellite gizmos standing on the roof of the boat all night. Things have progressed thankfully!
:: uge
Great images, I like the street image of Padang, but would add most Padang streets are quite nice and on the whole the town is not that poor.