Has " Indies Explorer " left the Mentawai charter scene for good?

Indies Explorer boat first caught my eye when featured in a surf video a while back. It's one of the largest and most recognizable charter boats in Indonesia, a Pinissi schooner over 100 feet long, bright white with two tall sailing masts. I saw this iconic boat at Thunders in August 2006. It was a small day of forgettable surf and 40 people were in the water groveling for some chest-high sets. Indies Trader 4 was also there, so we felt pretty smart that our groveling session didn't cost $1200/person/day.

About Indies Explorer, when I was looking for a Mentawais charter boat I was intrigued by the large size and relatively low per-day cost, but the boat holds 12 guests which was sort of a turn-off and the schedule didn't work out for the dates I had available. That day at Thunders I felt fortunate to have skipped since it looked like the boat didn't have much shaded common space with a view of the surf (always a precious commodity on surf trips). The sleeping cabins below decks all had ventiliation hatches in the middle of the main deck and the deck sloped up forward and aft, basically killing the most logical place for a picnic table, hammocks, etc. When we drove by in our dinghy there were also bits around the stern that looked kind of beat up and run-down. I scrutinized the other boats we came across as much as possible - there are only so many boats over there and I wanted to see what kind of shape they were in, did they pitch and roll a lot when anchored, etc. The truth is that some boats just look better on the internet and Indies Explorer is probably one of them. Using 6-year-old photos on the booking web site is one slightly deceptive practice - recent boat photos are always a good thing to ask for.

Anyway to make a long story short, I was thinking about all this because I recently learned that an overnight storm washed "a big white wooden sailboat" up on the beach in Padang. I don't think there are many other such craft near Padang besides Indies Explorer. For all the things that looked impractical about it you can'd deny the boat has soul. If anyone is thinking about going on Indies Explorer in 2008 or knows if it did in fact hit the beach drop me a line.

Mentawai Boat trip bookings bouncing back after slow 2007

It's the beginning of what the cruise industry calls "Wave Season", the first 5 months of the year when the majority of cruises, the majority of leisure travel, and the great majority of indo boat trips get booked. From what I've been hearing Mentawai bookings for the 2008 season have been pretty strong. The 2007 season had slow bookings because of the strong, consistent SE winds in the Ments during July-Aug-September of 2006.

These winds didn't really affect Northern Sumatra but they caused bad word of mouth for the whole area. It's not hard to imagine why - with strong SE wind you blow out all the rights that typically need some combo of N or W wind. When most surfers are regularfoot and HT's, Bank Vaults, and Rifles are blown out for the better part of 3 months, you're going to have mostly dissatisfied guests. If they wanted windy lefts they would have gone to Fiji.

The bottom line is if you've been thinking about a boat trip this year you should book early, especially if you want a specific boat, need specific dates, or want to go off the beaten path. Many of the most popular boats/guides are booked out a year or more in advance by repeat customers. Boats going to more obscure areas like Northern Sumatra or the southern Ments need longer trips, which means fewer total trips to choose from on top of fewer boats that run those routes.

Rags Right is gone - 3 ft. of reef uplift in Southern Mentawais

The article below came out on 9/28. I've been getting married, getting away, and getting sick so have been kind out out of it.

http://www.nytimes.com/2007/10/02/sports/othersports/02surf.html

This article quotes Scuzz (Chris Scurrah) and Christina of Sumatran Surfaris. Sumatran Surfaris is currently doing a company trip/relief mission combo and probably invited some media along to cover the trip. The article quotes respected CalTech scientist Kerry Sieh as saying that the southen Mentawais have been lifted roughly 3 feet according to GPS. The article notes that Rags Right is gone and Macca's is shorter, shallower, and more dangerous. As far as other spots go, if Rags Right is affected that much then Thunders is probably pretty different with lots of exposed reef on the inside. It was pretty shallow/hollow but rideable from 3-5 ft faces, hard to know how it will be affected. The Hole may also be gone since it was shallow/heavy to begin with and pretty far south. Green bush was named by Surfing Magazine, has been featured in videos, looks shallow, and I believe it's near macaroni's so it could be gone also.

Tipping the crew on your Indo boat trip

A reader asked about tipping on boat trips. In surf travel, just like any other form of travel, there's always potential for a culture clash when people don't know what's expected of each other. Hopefully this will clear away some of that confusion for future visitors to the Mentawais and Northern Sumatra, and result in happy returns for those of us who are looking to go back.

Why tip the crew on a boat trip?
1. Indo is a poor country. The Indonesians working on boats aren't spending weeks away from their families for kicks or for surfing - they need the money. Maybe some of the crew will blow it on crack and whores, but most have direct or extended families that count on them for food, shelter, medical care, school fees, etc.

2. You have been provided good service in a very personal way. Everyone working on a boat works hard either behind the scenes or in direct contact with guests. You'll see the crew first thing in the morning, last thing at night, at every meal, they'll pick you up and take you back to the outside when you're too tired to paddle but just need one more, you'll learn their names, they'll help keep your bunk area tidy, and make sure your favorite boardshorts on the clothesline don't get blown off in a squall.

3. Tipping rewards skills that you, as a surfer, want to be available to you when you come back. You don't want that expert ding repair guy, the guy who shoots great video, or the dinghy driver who knows the safe spots in the lineup at Kanduis to be driving a cab in Padang next time you come back. Make it worth their while. It's a small industry, next time you come into Padang you'll probably see a familiar face and they'll be glad to see you.

4. When the waves went flat you and the boys had a bender and kept the crew up at night, then left a mess for them to clean up in the morning. Happens on almost every boat trip, and a decent tip helps fix any hard feelings.

5. Plus honestly, it's no skin off your back. You probably just coughed up in the neighborhood of 5000 US Dollars for a plane ticket, a hotel night or two, a couple new boards, and 11 or more nights on a private boat. In the grand scheme of things, a nice tip for two weeks worth of work for an indo boat crew is less than the cost of a big night out in a major western city.

How to discuss tipping

With your group

Agree on an amount. If you're organizing this thing, throw out an amount just try to get everyone to go along. If the cheapskate in the group knows everyone else is coughing up a hundred bucks, then they'll grumble but they'll do it too.

If going solo

Ask around (a subtle reminder to others who may not remember to tip) but in the end you must chart your own course.

Ask your guide

You guide will tell you how it usually works, and will organize the crew to all be in the same place at the same time without disrupting anyone's work or sleep (not as easy as it sounds - the crew is busy on the last night!). Generally this happens on the last night of your trip, after dinner but before anyone goes to sleep.

How much to tip

I took a 13 day trip with eight total guests and a crew of 5 plus a guide. The guide refused to accept any tips. We tipped USD100 per guest for USD800 total and the crew (once it had been counted out) was stoked. By the crew's reaction I judged this to be an acceptable, possibly even above-average tip. The total cost of this charter was a little under $20,000 so this amounted to a 4% tip. This is LOW by the standards of US restaurants, bars, taxicabs, and hair salons, but 15% of a charter boat price seems outrageous and I hope expectations never get to that level. Regarding higher-end boats - more of the cost of the trip goes to the capital cost of the boat and less to the variable costs of crew, food, fuel. On luxo-liner boats the crew may be the cream of the crop from other boats and expect better tips in return for better service. The crew can also gauge how much you can afford to tip by the quality of your boards, clothing, equipment and how much the boat costs, so may have higher tip expectations in that situation. So for what it's worth, I'm going to say 4-5% is a good number.

who gets the tips?

Usually there's a hierarchy among the crew. Honestly, this isn't really your business, and these guys need to work together and already have an understanding in place that you shouldn't try to disrupt. It won't surprise you that the guys with the most money invested in the boat and the most responsibility get their take first - guides, captains, cooks. They have the most skills and the most alternate work opportunities. But the underlings don't just get the scraps - the senior guys know their deck hands, skiff drivers, mechanics, and assistant cooks are all part of providing good service and could get work on other boats so they will share. If they are working a full season on a boat things get to be pretty family-like, and you can screw family a little but not a lot.

What currency to use

USD or Rupiah. I'm not being an ugly American here, the dollar really is king. This finally hit me when I watched a Japanese guy fish out 25 US dollars from his wallet and pay the indonesian government's visa fee at the Jakarta airport. If the indo government takes USD, then it's damn near coin-of-the-realm. In theory Australian Dollars, Euros, Pounds, or Yen would also be useful to the crew but would probably entail a much bigger spread between the face value in the country of the currency and the actual value they'll get for the non-USD foreign notes whereever the boat pulls into port. So if you have those currencies and want to use them for tips then you should give 10-20% more in USD value.

Bring new bills

There's no ATM machine on the boat or anywhere you'll be stopping. So if you didn't bring enough cash on the boat, you won't be able to tip the crew. Duh. Also, USD notes that are of an older type or look beat up won't be worth as much in exchange. So when you go to get the notes you're going to take to Indo, make sure you get crisp new ones.

Non-cash compensation

Before a boat trip I asked a Balinese coworker if there were any items that were hard to get in Indonesia that I could schlep over to Indo and give to the crew. She said, "Money!" Seriously, I've heard that school supplies, tools, western-style clothing, surf gear that could be resold are all very thoughtful. So if you've got this stuff laying around and can bring it along to give away, then do it. It's not a substitute for cash, but it will probably find a use.

Indo Surfing Boat Trip Web Sites

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/

Panaitan Island - Off the Beaten Path

I went to Panaitan Island off West Java a couple years back, where Timmy Turner camped out and shot Second Thoughts. Panaitan Island is part of Ujong Kulon National Park. It was inhabited before Krakatoa blew up and killed everyone on the island in 1887 or so, now a National park in a very natural state. I'm not exposing or promoting anything here, just wanted to share my experiences and you can judge whether or not the island is off the beaten path for a reason or if you're dying to beat a path there.

The island has some very strong points going for it, but the cons will become apparent below. For now, here are the pros:

Easy transportation logistics - fly to Jakarta with nonstops from most Asian cities, a few hours drive to your boat.
very light crowds with few boats and no land-based surfers
some spot variety

Overview

A lot of what you don't read about surf spots concerns consistency - are they mysto waves or do they do their thing every day? The spots on Panaitan generally need specific conditions and more-than-background swell. Surfing all day every day is conceivable but unlikely, even if your endurance permits it. Also, all but one spot are exposed to the trade winds that prevail during peak swell season.

No trip to indo is complete without a little reef rash but the spots on Panaitan are pretty much for experienced surfers only. There are plenty of novice-friendly waves in Indo but only one on Panaitan and it's not worth the trouble. Either you are comfortable in the tube or you should head elsewhere.

Here's a breakdown of the spots. I don't think I'm revealing any super secret info here, this stuff is in the world stormrider guide, wannasurf.com, and that other indo surf spot book I reviewed. Some of these spots are called "Inside Left" or "Inside Right" elsewhere.

One Palm Point

This is the main attraction, an absolutely world class machine-like left that reels for hundreds of yards. It produces one of the best lineup photos in the world with 3 waves in the same picture all barreling perfectly. If you watch Second Thoughts, someone at the end of the DVD (Travis Potter I think) gets a 48 (!) second barrel at One Palm, and then gets worked on the reef. You get occasional glimpses of the shallow reef in the DVD, but really only if you're looking for it. The funny thing is that it actually IS really shallow, from start to finish, and you actually will hit the reef very hard most every time you mess up, and sometimes even when you do everything right. The upside is you'll get the longest barrel of your life there, period, end of story. I paddled out with three buddies and our guide in a 3mm fullsuit and Gath Helmet, we had it to ourselves under ideal mid-tide conditions and a swell that was showing shoulder to head high. I got four waves there, pulled in four times and got one ten second tube and four car accident reef beatings. I'm not talking about grazing the reef or scraping my foot or getting a little raspberry on my back, but hard impacts that could cause major joint damage or remove large chunks of skin. I've got One Palm scars on my back even through the wetsuit. On my last wave I was flying down the line in the barrel when, without warning, a completely dry coral head showed up about five feet in front of me. I mean like 4 inches out of the water dry. My board thunked into it, I flew off the front and got rolled hard on the reef like grandma pasting a pie crust with the rolling pin. While getting rolled if I hadn't put my hand in front of my face I probably would have torn the end of my nose off. I was pretty shaken up when I got back on the boat, not tired, not happy to be alive, not in need of a beer, just totally shaken up, like PTSD thousand yard stare mentally shocked. Such an unreal mix of rush, danger, and pain.

One Palm needs a decently big swell and a mid tide, and is the only spot on the island that won't blow out with strong SE trade wind. It's experts-only, and even insane chargers like Timmy Turner wear wetsuits & helmets there for reef protection.

Napalms

Napalms is the photo slut spot on the island. The boats park in the channel looking right into the eye of this reef-pass like left. The wave looks beautiful in photos, and any jerk can get good shots here from the deck of the boat drinking a high-formaldehyde "Anker" beer. The wave barrels from start to finish, and the guys

Perfect wave 2, Indonesia (YouTube video embed)

who have it wired will stall on the outside, pump two or three times through the slower section in the middle, then race through the inside barrel and kick out. At a couple feet overhead the wave slows down and requires some stalling, and at shoulder high or below the inside barrel may not really be makeable.
For lesser riders, blowing the takeoff is forgiven but getting too far back for the inside barrel or failing to kick out can be problematic. You won't necessarily hit the reef when you fall, but if you're not on the last wave in the set, you'll get pushed into knee-deep water on a very uneven and sharp reef with cuts to follow. The reef at Napalms is pretty much dry at low tide, yet the wave won't be breaking much further out. Experts only under those conditions, otherwise advanced with Gath recommended.

Illusions

This right breaks on W wind and can be quite shallow, yet doesn't really get hollow. Pretty fast down the line though. Call it a hotdog wave with consequences.

Apocalypse

This is the too-fast-for-pros Backdoor Pipe lookalike featured in Second Thoughts. Watch Koby Abberton try really hard to make this wave in that DVD. He's pumping, not stalling. If you're reading about surfing on a blog then there is a 99% chance you wouldn't make it either. There's probably a reef down there somewhere but I think the beatings here are more about high speed and heavy water. Like most rights in indo, it needs glass or W in the wind, so don't expect to find it doing it's thing on a July or August afternoon. It's way inside the bay, but has some kind of trench of swell amplification going so probably holds the most size of any spot on the island.

Ted's

Ted's is a fun, hollow-but-forgiving low tide left that picks up more swell than Napalms or One Palm but handles less wind. Glassy or N wind best, but light trades might be OK. Ted's has very makeable left tubes, and despite the visible dry reef on the inside and trying tons of dumb stuff on the outside, I never even touched the bottom here. As you get the wave wired you can take off further and further back, maybe even backdooring the initial peak. The wave ends in a bumpy rip section that conveniently flushes you away from the reef and back towards the lineup. It's really hard to tell what's happening at Ted's from a dinghy or the channel at Napalms, but if it's glassy and low tide it's probably good. I surfed four or five sessions here from shoulder high to overhead and had a hell of lot of fun. We saw some bomb sets come through but the spot doesn't really handle much over 8 ft faces very well, generally closing out. So figure on a 6-7 ft 14-15 sec swell Ted's would probably be maxing. This wave is very photo-unfriendly - our cook took a couple of water shots but given photo-ready spots elsewhere on Panaitan you will probably never see photos of this wave published anywhere.

Pussy's

A long, slow longboard type wave that picks up a lot of swell, handles trades OK and oddly will keep you inside and make you paddle a whole lot for some of the slowest waves in Indo. Low tide might be better but seriously, longboards only. It's a nice place to relax and screw around, especially if you can get the dinghy driver to ferry you back out to the top of the point.

How to get waves

The Camp

This guy who owns a surf camp at Grajagan wanted to start a camp here inside the point at One Palm. He bribed some officials, chopped down some trees, and started to build a surf camp in what was a totally pristine national park, including blowing up reef to build a dock, and hired some indo guys and a crappy boat to hang out there. This camp may or may not be running but the entire industry seems to have coalesced around the idea that the camp is a BAD THING. Nobody is willing to accept advertisements for the camp and their web site doesn't work. I'm not going to buck that trend by posting any info about who owns it or how to book it, if it even still operates. I will say that having been to the island and seen the layout of the spots, a boat big enough to sleep on and prepare food is essential. Being abandoned in the sun for 3 or 4 hours across a three mile wide bay or having to go back to the camp for a meal in the middle of perfect wind or tide conditions would defeat the entire purpose of coming to the island, and also could leave you in a bad spot if you got injured while surfing.

Boat Charters

A boat charter is the way to go and the best option for a boat charter is the Nomad. The Nomad also had one of the cheapest boat charters in indo when we went in 2005, $140/pp/day. Without the need for a long crossing or lots of motoring these charters can be shorter, like 7 or 8 days. The website for the Nomad is www.nomadsurfindonesia.com but the owner Todd is trying to sell his boat/business. He'll be running trips for early season 2007. If you book directly with Todd it will most definitely save you money. He pisses off surf travel agencies that book the Nomad by undercutting their prices but he's the best game in town for West Java so the agencies have to grin and bear it.

The other boat is Just Dreaming but I think it's a notch down from Nomad. It looked smaller and more crowdedand kind of ghetto. It may also be bookable directly on it's website, but Google it to find the URL or check the major online surf travel agencies.
A third boat option is that from time to time boats will transit from Timor area to Sumatra and on their Bali to Southern Sumatra leg they will often stop at Panaitan. Indies Explorer (big white two-masted sailboat) and Indo Jiwa (another 100ft+ sailboat) offer such trips in the early season.

A fourth boat option would be local feral boats. If you really want to do this then perhaps hanging out in west java fishing towns like Anyer or Labuan would be the way to arrange it. This assumes that your time is cheap and your tolerance for hot sun and bare-bones sleeping arrangements is high.

One of the best reasons to take a boat to Panaitan is the chance to go climb Anak Krakatau in lieu of surfing on your last day. It's a unique chance to see the remnants of one of the greatest natural disasters ever and smell the sulfur of an active volcano to boot.

The Locals

There's a hardcore crew of Jakarta expats that will take a boat out to the island for a long weekend when the swell is up. If they are there they will take off deeper and emerge more often than the visitors, thus by default getting the set waves. They have seen their share of drama and visitors but overall are nice guys with a great attitude.

Overall - it's a go.

It's worth going for Napalms and Ted's alone. Panaitan should be a go for early season (late March-May) or late season Oct-Nov. This will give you max odds of good winds combined with good swell. It's a no-go for June-Sept unless you're really focused on scoring One Palm as consistent trade winds will ruin other spots.