Sailing Sumatra on "Mikumba" June 27

There were a lot of last minute deals out there this year, even for some peak season dates.  Back in October I had booked Mikumba with Sumatran Surfariis.  I knew the boat was solid, and the guide would be on it.  

When the economy hit the skids a bunch of the people I thought would come had to bail.   I was facing a nightmare - I had committed to a trip that might not go because it didn't have enough people.  What happens in this scenario?  You get your money back, but only a week in advance, which is really too late to do anything except go to Padang and try to get on with some boat, any boat.

The guys going with me were depending on me to find us the best trip, and I shopped all the last minute specials and emailed every boat I could find to see if they were available during my timeframe.  If a boat is available, you have to ask yourself why - is the boat not quite what it looks like on the internet?  Is the guide a drunk who likes to sleep late?  How bad could the food be?  For the posh looking boats you have to wonder if the guide really knows what's going on.

It came down to these factors:  Most boats only had one tender boat, and Mikumba has two - this is really key for shooting video or being able to ferry guys between two nearby spots without abandoning anyone.  There were a couple of nicer boats available with experienced captains and I seriously considered going with San Souci 2, but $50 more per night for a 14 day/15 night meant the trip cost a LOT more money.  I wasn't sure it would be worth it.  

Bottom line was through friends of friends of friends and a couple of random guys we got enough people to secure a guaranteed departure.  We were totally psyched to get the boat we wanted, the crew we wanted, the dates we wanted, and the flexibility to head to the Telos & Nias with no BS surcharges.  There weren't any discounts, but in the end we still got a great value - 14 surf days for $3150, a spacious boat with a 20 foot beam, two tender boats, the freedom to go to the Telos/Nias/beyond, the Mentawais, or both, and a proven guide & crew.

New Telo Islands Surf Camp - "Resort Latitude Zero"

Looks like our former Panaitan Island guide, Todd Roesler is teaming up with one of the most respected Mentawai / Sumatra skippers, Matt Cruden for a new surf camp/resort in the Telo Islands. Matt was recently featured guiding WCT pros on his boat Mangalui Ndulu in the DVD's "Fitty Fitty" and "Somewhere".  This resort also has the advantage of being serviced by Todd's boat, Nomad.  The resort's website is here.

The site doesn't mention anything about the camp's location within the Batu / Telo island group, though likely it is in the northern Telos near the major village/port.

There is some land-based competition already in the Telos: A brazilian-operated camp in the southern Telos, and the Telo Island Lodge in the northern Telos.  The Telo Island Lodge does as good a job of documenting the northern Telos spots as anyone

http://www.teloislandlodge.com/surf.asp

Having spent a couple days in that area when conditions were less than epic, it's unclear to me how many of the spots they name actually work consistently versus those that are fickle about wind, swell, tide, etc. 

In my experience the Telos deserve their reputation for low crowds and good surf. The 5-star spots may not be happening every day, but the most consistent spots can still be a lot of fun. In practice the Telos feature clusters of surf spots that tend to spread out the crowds in a given area and offer variety between heavy hollow waves and more rippable performance waves.

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/