Mentawai Surfari

The reputation of Indonesia’s Mentawai Islands for superlative surf is legendary, though twenty years ago it was known only to a handful of the most resolute and resourceful travellers. By ten years ago the surf charter business was booming and the Mentawais were an open secret. Today there are five established resorts and more in the pipeline. The Mentawais are mainstream and surfing is here to stay.

So what does all this mean to the visiting surfer? The answer is multiple options. The Mentawais are home to over forty world class waves, so conditions are almost always favourable somewhere, and one of the best and most consistent is right on the doorstep of Macaroni’s Surf Resort.

Standing on the dock at Padang Harbour in West Sumatra, Indonesia, our small group of early season travellers is fortunate indeed.

Transport to the Mentawai Islands is usually via the Ambu Ambu Ferry, which is efficient and comfortable enough, but offers little spirit of adventure when compared with the vessel we are about to board – the Laut India, more commonly known as the ‘Indies Explorer’ – a newly refitted ship making its maiden voyage to the newly completed Macaroni’s Surf Resort.

As we are welcomed aboard we barely notice our luggage being loaded before the dull chugging of diesel motors heralds our sunset departure for the overnight trip to the Mentawai Islands. Over a cold Bintang we discuss weather, swell and myriad wave options with Mark Loughran, a co-founder of Macaroni’s Surf Resort.

Meanwhile, our trip was off to a bumpy start. With the threatened prospect of waiting out a day due to looming adverse weather the decision was made to sail north-west between Siberut and Sipora Islands to check a left-hander named Scarecrows. Conditions there proved lumpy and side shore, but it was sufficient a first surf as ice-breakers go.

We were still finding our sea legs and making friends on board when we sailed into HT’s, or Lance’s Rights. Leaden skies and heavy rain gave little indication of the wave we would soon encounter. In fact, it’s difficult to judge any wave when viewed from behind in a safe anchorage.

HT’s was only shoulder height, but with a gentle offshore wind was silky smooth. A perfect right-hander still producing little tubes for those flexible enough to squeeze in.

By midday the skies had cleared and the waves took on a dreamy sparkle. Some of the local groms paddled out to show us old fellas how to surf when one of the world’s best waves is in your backyard. Even the mini-groms, surfing without leg ropes or clothes for that matter, put on an impressive if comical show.

HT’s is a stunningly perfect wave, even at this modest size, and it’s easy to see why it features so heavily in surf films and magazines. If this diamond does have a flaw, then it’s a shallow end section named Surgeon’s Table. After a couple of minor scrapes we all agreed to err on the side of caution, and kick out before scraping fins or bodies across the coral – not a good idea so early in the trip.

By day’s end the clouds had cleared (in every sense) and we chatted excitedly about our good fortune, about waves and wipeouts, about the stunning location and about how it must have felt to be the first surfer here.

We were slowly getting a handle on things; making friends amongst our group, remembering the names of the Indonesian crew, and exploring the nooks and crannies of our floating home.

From its elongated bow stretching 115 feet to a stubby stern, the Laut India cuts an enigmatic figure that is every inch the childhood dream of high seas adventure, reminiscent of Mutiny on the Bounty.

It was traditionally constructed by hand in 1998 by the famous phinisi boat builders of Sulawesi, who still practice their craft on the beaches. Eschewing the use of steel, they use a hardwood appropriately named Ironwood, which is salt and rot resistant and lasts a lifetime.

 The Laut India’s graceful lines house thirteen basic but very comfortable private cabins cooled by split system air-conditioning. Just the spot for kicking back at the end of a hard day’s surf and letting the mind drift back over the breaks.

Up on deck, for we ravenous surfers life revolved around the galley and meals were eaten al fresco on the aft deck, beneath a tarpaulin canopy. It’s a great way to dine – a gentle breeze, a swaying boat, lively conversation and an acoustic guitar that appeared from nowhere, caressing the scene with familiar chords.

Our Indonesian chef of confined quarters and a Mentawaian renaissance man (more on that later) was Sonny Muchnizon who apparently effortlessly produced fresh fish dishes in abundance – our trawling between surf spots frequently rewarding us with Spanish Mackerel, Mahi Mahi and Giant Travelly.

For those who reached their fill of fresh fish, tempting beef and chicken dishes were also served, all accompanied by the wonderful rice and vegetable staples common to this part of the world.

longbreak’s highlight meal came after a visit to Katiet Village where a sizeable bag of baitfish was purchased for a few thousand Rupees. After a deep-fry head and tail whole, we ate them as entrée – crunchy and delicious! It wasn’t so much a new taste experience as a revelation to how simply one can eat and really enjoy.

Only half a night’s sail from Macaroni’s Surf Resort, nature had a little surprise in store. Another storm front passed through, driving torrential rain before it with lightning illuminating a chaotic ocean. As the Laut India ploughed steadily through the churning mess, she more than justified the reputation of the phinisi boat builders of Sulawesi.

So it was, through slightly bleary eyes, that we got our first look at Macaroni’s famous left-hander. A good swell was running about head high, maybe more, but with a degree of cross-shore chop.

As we cruised past, a committed surfer took off deep, negotiated the bumps and pulled into a very clean barrel before emerging and working his way down the line. We hooted and exchanged ‘did you see that?’ glances, all impressed that a wave could still break so well in a chunky side-shore wind.

The anchor was soon dropped; the Laut India had found its new home and a well deserved rest. While the others were sorting out their luggage and transferring onto smaller boats, longbreak was wondering ‘where is the resort?’.

We had pictured it opposite the break that bears its name, or at least in the bay, but repeated scans revealed only palm trees, empty beaches and surf – not that there’s anything wrong with that!

Macaroni’s Surf Resort actually sits on a lagoon that joins two bays at their narrowest point. The illusion was revealed as our transfer ‘longboats’ carried us across a narrow channel and into what we had presumed was land.

If first impressions count then Macaroni’s Surf Resort is tranquil and welcoming. The lagoon is crystal clear and reflects the resort’s public face. There are eight chalets perched directly on the water’s edge, and a three-storey building with an expansive restaurant at its base, an entertainment area in the middle, and a lookout at the top.

But our thoughts were firmly set on one thing, so after lunch and a brief rest we were all keen to put the break universally known as ‘Macas’ to the taste test. Fortunately there’s no need for carrying boards at this well designed resort. Each chalet has a balcony and a set of stairs offering direct access to the lagoon. At the appointed time a longboat and driver dutifully arrived to collect surfers and equipment.

From door to wave takes a grand total of five minutes. Just enough time to wax up and slap on sunscreen. Then it was straight overboard and into the lineup, where a small and relaxed crowd was taking turns for the mid-afternoon session. We joined the back of the queue and took a moment to check conditions. The surf was wind affected and choppy, but bigger than it had looked from the boat.

The sets were well over head-height and very consistent, which is one thing Macas is renowned for. Whether it’s one foot or six feet, high tide or low tide, onshore or offshore, the wave is generally the same.

The take-off begins with a sudden kick, as swell meets reef and decides to break – immediately. For the goofy footers it’s straight into the tube. For the naturals, there’s a quick rail grab and hang on tight. Either way there is little time to spare. The barrels are clean and makeable with an easy exit point, after which there is a wall and lip just waiting for you to practice your skills. Bottom turn hit the top, working your way down the reef edge. Occasionally even a brief second tube presents itself.

The only thing Macas doesn’t seem to offer is big open faces suited to lazy cutbacks. This is tight in-the-pocket surfing that is thrilling and adrenalising. And yes, it is suited to the shorter board.

However, every action has an equal and opposite reaction. Across the bay lies a righthander named KFC’s (who comes up with these names?) or Macas Rights. It’s mellower, slightly shifty, and more suited to the longer craft. The rides are long and great for drawn out bottom turns and swooping cutbacks.

As you ride into the bay things become more interesting as the reef draws nearer and tubes start to appear with each new section. This is a fun wave and breaks best on mid to high tides. In fact, most of the day it breaks with no one out, as the lure of the famous left-hander is too strong, the perfect counterpoint to the intensity of Macas and the crowds that it sometimes draws.

The righthander is just you and your mates in the water, laughing and hooting, calling each other into the empty sets. It’s pure joy compared to pure action. It’s cruise versus charge. Choose your mood and take your pick.

We had memorable sessions at both locations. After our initial bumpy introduction at Macas the swell backed off slightly and dead glassy conditions became the norm.

Not a bad way to pass the time.

The resort itself has an interesting history, and stands testimony to the motivation necessary to build a complex business where no infrastructure of any type exists. Mark Loughran is a chef by trade, and worked on surf charter boats in the Mentawai Islands for three seasons while developing his business plans.

It was at the end of his first season in 2001 that Mark realised he had passed an entire year without getting to know a single Mentawaian. Back in Padang, and feeling he was standing on the outside looking in, Mark decided to catch a local boat to the town of Sikakap, on North Pagai Island’s protected south east corner.

An overnight journey, which he casually notes took three days because "the motor broke and we nearly sank".

He then caught a ride with a logging truck across the island and walked the last five kilometres into the village of Silabu, the closest large village to the Macaronis break and, not surprisingly, Mark’s favourite wave.

There he stayed for a month, taking in the Mentawaian culture and discussing his plans with the village elders. When he wanted to go for a surf he took a dugout canoe several kilometres to the break.

The Silabu villagers enthusiastically embraced the project. They knew that surf boats were coming through, parking on their doorstep, then leaving. They also knew they lacked the know-how necessary to gain a foothold in the industry and this could be their entry point. They showed Mark where they had already considered building some Losmen.

Back in Australia, Mark started researching how to develop a business plan. He bought some software, started writing and "it just got bigger and bigger and bigger", he explains.

Another season was spent working on the boats, and his plans remained just that. But fortune smiles on the brave, and at the end of 2002 Mark’s uncle, Tony Mascali, a financial advisor and builder, began coaching his nephew. Together they edited all aspects of the plan, calculating what it would be worth to investors and how to raise the capital.

The dream must have captured Tony’s imagination too, for he soon bought in as the first investor. The next year was spent with Mark finalising land deals, which proved to be an arduous task in a region where land ownership is recognised from one tree to the next.

Building plans where drawn up and construction began in April 2004, with Tony coordinating events from Australia. Mark now found himself chef-come businessman- come builder.

The logistics of all this are difficult to grasp. Building a resort where infrastructure already exists is one thing, to build a resort in one of Indonesia’s most remote and under-developed locations is quite another.

Macaroni’s now boasts eight waterfront chalets boasting air-conditioning, spa baths, wireless computer access and satellite TV with access to CCTV supplying live vision of the surf from a camera in the resort lookout. With thatched roofs, rattan furniture and an upstairs loft, each chalet comfortably accommodates up to four people.

French doors open to spacious balconies overlooking Silabu Lagoon, the resort’s greatest natural asset – apart from the surf of course. The lagoon is a salt water mangrove, but not the dark and murky backwater we usually associate with mangrove. Flushed constantly by the tide, and with a white sand bed visible through sparkling turquoise waters, it is more like a giant aquarium. Snorkle from the furthest end of the lagoon and a gentle current will carry you along.

Amongst the labyrinth underwater mangrove roots there is a wide variety of sea life, including starfish, seahorses, squid, octopuses, sea snakes and the odd small crocodile.

It’s an upside-down world, where eels display their singular ability to swim backwards and tiny trumpet fish cruise beneath the surface in concert with their own reflection.

Unlike coral reefs with their boisterous display of colour, mangroves are all subtlety and camouflage, because blending in means survival. The only ostentation here is from the scorpion fish, floating along like a slow motion parasol. This poisonous predator knows that he doesn’t have to rush and hide.

The resort’s standout feature is its main building. A commanding and impressive three-storey, pagoda-like structure of Indonesian hardwoods, like red and yellow balau. The top floor peeks over the tallest of palms and offers a 360-degree view of beaches, bays and surf.

The central entertainment floor has table tennis and pool tables, but most of the action – or should that be inaction? – occurs in the ground floor restaurant. Spacious, cool and comfortable, the restaurant is a franchise of the popular Fellas Bar and Restaurant in Padang.

The menu is largely Indonesian and Chinese, with meals like sate chicken, crumbed calamari and peppered eye fillet tenderloin steak served buffet style, always delicious and with plenty to go around.

Every Thursday evening – departure night – there is an outdoor BBQ with fresh fish prepared Sumatran style. Not surprisingly, seafood is a specialty here and longbreak recommends the sashimi.

The bar offers a good selection of beers and cocktails. The stools and lounges are ideal for relaxing at day’s end and watching the latest surf DVDs on the big screen. Or better still – if there’s a video camera in your group – watching you and your friends surfing one of the best waves around.

As a land based resort, Macaroni’s has one foot set firmly in the water. Their boats come in a variety of sizes designed to access different breaks along the coast, from day trips on the smaller vessels to overnighters on the Laut India.

longbreak took a short trip down the island to a break named Greenbush, only twenty-five minutes away in a longboat powered by twin 40hp outboard engines. It’s another great left-hander sitting in a wide, emerald bay. There was no sign of human occupation as we approached, but the smell of cooking fires drifted out on the gentle offshores. It was one of those David Attenborough moments, sitting at the bow of the boat, legs dangling, feeling like we should be wearing pith helmets and ready to make first contact.

We dropped anchor and were soon joined by a couple of local lads from the village hidden inside the bay. They had come for a friendly chat with the interlopers, casually paddling their dugout canoe with the nonchalance of those who have never seen a paved road.

The swell here was smaller than we had anticipated, perhaps not wrapping fully into the bay but, as we had it to ourselves, who could resist?

The larger sets broke cleanly and quickly, with plenty of room to manoeuvre. The smaller ones usually left us bouncing across the shallow reef (don’t forget to take a good pair of booties to this part of the world). Either way, it was a great experience to ride a quality wave that broke so close to the jungle – we could hear forest birds singing from the line up.

Heading home, we dropped a fishing line and promptly caught a Giant Trevally, before stopping at a break innocently named Gilligan’s. It was exposed to open swells, definitely larger than Greenbush, and looked like an enjoyable, if short, ride.

A paddling over for closer inspection revealed a nice right-hand peak, followed by a fat section, followed by dry reef. It turned out to be similarly short surf, but at least we now had fresh fish for dinner.

Further north from Macaroni’s lays a mellow righthander named Batcave which, in the strange etymology of surfing place names, is situated opposite an overhanging cliff that shelters birds, rather than bats.

Despite being within range of the longboats, we commandeered the Laut India as everyone was keen to set foot on the old girl again. If you find yourself aboard this timeless vessel, take a moment to sit quietly out on the bow, relax and look around. It’s always a good holiday when you forget the day of the week. It’s truly special when you forget the year too.

Batcave breaks off a postcard perfect little island, occupied by the requisite number of palm trees, with turtle tracks leading up to them. The island is a sort of minimalist art form, a microcosm that takes only three minutes of crunching white sand between your toes to walk around and makes you realise that the world is still a beautiful place.

This little island is also home to large numbers of hermit crabs, industriously going about their business. I found myself wondering aloud what the collective noun for hermit crabs is – monastery? – retreat? – before settling on ‘sanctuary’ – a sanctuary of hermit crabs.

Obviously it was time for a surf.

The wave breaks over reef, about a hundred metres off the island and on it’s day produces workable walls suited to both long and short boards. Not too challenging and high on the fun factor.

However, we must have chosen the wrong day, as sections kept shutting down in front of us, beating us to the punch each time, but it was hard to be disappointed, sitting in the open warm water, we few, and taking in the scenery, with the resort’s elegant flagship rocking lazily in the channel. This is what we spend the rest of the year dreaming about.

One of the benefits of a land-based resort, is the unique opportunity for guests to engage with Mentawaian people.

Taking a motorised dugout canoe inland through a dense maze of mangroves and up a remote tropical river system is an adventure usually reserved for nature documentaries, but this one leads to the village of Silabu and the smiling faces that helped establish Macaronis Resort.

About one hundred people live here in roughly hewn wooden houses with tin or thatch roofing, mixing the outside world with a traditional Mentawaian lifestyle. It’s fascinating to see satellite dishes standing next to large mortars where rice is still pounded and husked by hand.

We were followed everywhere by an excited group of children, shouting the ubiquitous "Hello Mister". They loved having their photos taken and stuck exaggerated poses, before rushing over to see their images on the back of the camera. Hysterical laughter always followed.

The reaction to Mark Loughran is notably different. He is greeted warmly, more like a cousin, and continually stops to shake hands with the adults, smile and discuss the issues of the day.

About one third of Macaronis staff are local and their number is set to increase. US$1.50 per guest per day is donated to developmental projects – over US$4000 annually, which goes a long way at ground level. Other funds were donated to build their church and regular work days are organised to help keep the village clean.

Employment is perhaps the most fundamental contribution, allowing people to educate their children and raise their health standards.

Eastern medicine has also found its way from the resort into Silabu village, through an arrangement with the humanitarian organisation Revive Indonesia, which conducts medical clinics in the region and is based at Macaronis Resort with an Indonesian doctor and nurse travelling to local villages. An added benefit is that they are usually available to treat resort guests.

Longbreak found another window into Mentawaian life through the Laut India crew leader, Sonny Muchnizon, whose father was the first school teacher in the islands, and who commands an encyclopedic knowledge of local history and details of daily life. Sonny still hunts using the traditional bow and arrow and when walking the resort’s beautiful gardens with him we received a crash course in traditional medicine; papaya leaves for easing malarial symptoms, hibiscus for fevers, certain roots and flowers for energy, and others for diarrhoea, eye infections and bruising, and repelling mosquitoes. There is even a natural aphrodisiac – though, if you ate that much duck egg and garlic no one would come near you anyway.

As a surf destination, the Mentawai Islands have an international reputation, but due to it’s remoteness only attracts around 12,000 surfers annually. Perhaps in peak season the crowds become a bit competitive, but longbreak experienced plenty of space and a laid back, good natured mood in the water. There were surfers of all ages and abilities, from as far away as South Africa, the UK, Germany and Switzerland. There seems to be waves everywhere.

A mini point break has formed where Silabu lagoon flows into the bay. It would be ideal for pushing small children into their first tiny tropical waves. The bay at Macaronis apparently has some fun little breaks, but we never quite managed to get there. Perhaps next time.

On top of all of these possibilities, sits a resort that has not compromised on comfort and offers guests all the options necessary to broaden their surfing horizons.

Equatorially warm, with southern swells wrapping into almost endless points, bays and headlands, in the Mentawai Islands, nature brings all the right ingredients to the party.