Longbreak used the Martin Daly method - ‘ask not for permission but be prepared to seek forgiveness’ - to board the Indies Trader IV on a voyage from Thursday Island to Papua New Guinea and beyond.

With self-imposed restrictions of time and cost we expect well-researched, highly formulated pre-packaged surf travel.

Roving the seas on a genuine voyage of discovery of remote uncharted breaks would seem an unlikely possibility bordering the realm of fantasy.

But all this is possible courtesy of Martin Daly, one of the best surfing brains in the world, aboard a high-tech luxury ocean-going vessel under his command - the Indies Trader IV.

coral reef to make you smile; smiles the colour  of coral reef

Charles Darwin, the father of modern day evolutionary theory, was famously quoted saying: “I long to set foot where no man has trod before.”

Luckily the English naturalist lived in the 1800s, when continents were still undiscovered and you only had to set sail to find a lonely stretch of coastline that had never felt the touch of human footprints.

Not so today. Sprawling resorts have replaced virgin rainforest; almost any beach you can think of is within cooee of an international airport; and your local break looks more like a rubber jungle than the secret spot it used to be.

But there is hope yet for surfers tempted to trade in their longboard at the local pawnbroker.

The biggest name in the surf exploration business, salvage diver turned Quiksilver Crossing skipper Martin Daly, is back on the hunt for virgin waves.

He’s armed with the floating palace called the Indies Trader IV, and he’s plotted a course through hundreds of unmapped islands and reefs in the Coral Sea and the Pacific Ocean.

And he wants you along for the ride!

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Someone suggested Pigmy Point. We considered No Fish Bay.

But, ultimately, it was Rod who caught the first azure-blue wave – probably the first time any human being had ridden the little left hander that wrapped and spun down the side of the island that time seemed to have forgotten.

So naming rights were his.

“Happy Island, I reckon,’’ said Rod, gripped by the warm glow of a cold ale at sunset and the thrill of surfing and naming a virgin wave on a remote island chain off Papua New Guinea’s mainland.

It was a good name. Happy Island was built on volcanic rock, crowned with steamy rainforest and laced with a crescent sand beach.

Down one side, left-handers wrapped in and bowled their way down the reef, meeting up with a right that funnelled down the other side. There was no sign of civilization, not a hut or even a footprint on the beach.

It was one of our first virgin surf break discoveries, and there were more to come as Longbreak stepped aboard the Indies Trader IV and joined Daly for a week of surfing exploration in Papua New Guinea.

Daly skippered the original Quiksilver Crossing voyage which kicked off seven years ago, pioneering dozens of perfect waves in never-before-surfed locations right around the world, with shift changes of visiting pros, photographers and filmmakers aboard his boat, the Indies Trader I.

Daly also trail blazed Indonesia’s fabled Mentawai Islands, setting up a fleet of four charter boats. His operation boasted maritime luxury and local knowledge honed over years plying the island chain in search of idyllic surf.

But soon charter boats were a dime a dozen and a surf at Macaronis became almost as much hassle as a session at the Superbank.

“So I got out,” says Daly.

“This is it – this is all that’s left,’’ he says, gesturing at a passing island as he stands at the helm and the Indies Trader IV ploughs through a heavy swell somewhere in the Coral Sea.

Then his deep frown will turn into an infectious grin: “And there’s no-one around but us.”

Frustrated with the increasingly crowded Mentawais and itching to get back out where the wild things are, Daly looked to the Pacific in his search for solitude.

He now moves with the seasons on an annual journey from the spice islands of Sumatra and Java and the eastern archipelago of Indonesia to Irian Jaya, Papua New Guinea, the Solomon Islands, the Marshall Islands and beyond.

The expedition is timed to coincide with the best, most consistent times of year to score waves. The PNG segment is before the monsoon season so winds are light and the weather is usually fair, while regular southerly swells journey north from low pressure systems off New Zealand.

The waves are all reef breaks (booties come in handy) and the water is a bath-tub 25 degrees.

Daly’s excitement is palpable. It’s the first time he has been back in these waters since his original Quiksilver Crossing voyage.

“It’s a true wilderness experience,” he says.

“There’s simply nowhere like this left in the world. It’s one of the last frontiers in terms of pristine reefs and waves.

“Where we’re going, it’s a genuine voyage of discovery, taking in the known and the unknown. A lot of it is totally unmapped, and the surf potential is incredible.”

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The travel and transit for this trip starts with a flight from Cairns, the tourism capital of northern Queensland, to Horn Island, a speck off the tip of Cape York Peninsula. From there, it’s a 10-minute ferry ride across wind-chopped pastel blue waters to Thursday Island.

Despite it’s name, every day feels like a Sunday on Thursday Island where the locals kick back in the shade under palm trees and even the breeze moves at a languid pace across the balcony of the old Grand Hotel.

At this point, the Indies Trader IV is still steaming to the rendezvous but a few cold beers and a stunning sunset help to pass the afternoon, along with crocodile spotting from our vantage point at the Grand.

The impressive 34-metre vessel slips into port under the cover of darkness as our crew of seven surfers polish off a reef and beef and a glass of red.

But a broken promise from Customs officials means they won’t allow the Trader to dock till morning. So it’s a night at the Grand for most of us and, for this scribe, a night sleeping in the trusty board bag in the abandoned shipping container where we’ve stashed our boards and gear at the docks. The work of a guards is never done.

In the pale dawn light the Indies Trader IV dwarfs the other pleasure boats and couldn’t be more different from the rusty barges that sway at anchor nearby. Even its name is like a surfing aphrodisiac, arousing images of liquid perfection and air-brushed barrels that belong in a magazine pull-out poster.

Daly loves the freedom of the ocean and a vessel that can go anywhere, anytime.

“Normally you travel and you’re caged, penned and corralled. You have to come into a country, all controlled, through a little airport and get your entry stamp. A boat is the only true freedom these days,” he says.

It’s the attention to detail and the things that go on behind the scenes that make the Trader so incredible to travel on.

There’s a crew of nine to keep everything running smoothly. Mickey, the New Zealand-born engineer, spends one whole night in rough weather servicing a desalination plan. Otherwise you’ll spot him changing an oil filter in the cavernous engine room or servicing an air conditioner.

Eric, the American captain, is always keen to throw the lures out and troll for tuna or Spanish mackeral.

Feeling peckish? The next feast is never far away as Lee, the Asian-Australian chef, puts his culinary creativity to the test with dishes like coconut crab and Japanese mayonnaise; brie, pine nuts and spinach-filled chick Kiev; eye fillet steaks in béarnaise sauce; or Thai chicken with ginger and lemon grass cous cous and green papaya salad.

It’s all washed down with choice Australian and American wines. Then for desert take your choice of filo-wrapped lemon custard tarts or coconut jelly and ice cream or a half-dozen other dishes straight out of a five-star restaurant, despite the limitations of being sea-bound.

In a word, the dining experience aboard the Trader is superb.

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For three days we see no sign of human habitation as we cross the Coral Sea from Thursday Island and even the nautical charts are inaccurate, with reefs emerging where they’re not supposed to be.

There are no islands but we stop and dive the ledge of a long coral reef that drops off from one metre to a depth of 30m. The visibility is so good it’s like floating in a sky filled with fan, brain and staghorn corals and reef fish of every colour and hue.

Later, the game fishing rod whines in a high pitch, line ripping off the reel as we hook two Spanish mackeral and a 15kg trevally while trolling along the reef. More fresh slabs of prize seafood for dinner.

The first queasy feelings of seasickness from plunging through the stormy seas are forgotten as we drop anchor up out of the swell and salute the sunset with cold Bintangs and martinis, depending on your poison.

A day later, another idyllic surf under our belt, and an island with an ancient grave set in a palm tree grove is the setting for a sunset beach barbecue, cooked on a bed of driftwood and coconut husk embers.

Cold beers and 12-bar blues set the atmosphere while the light south-east trade wind fans the fire – our bush TV.

A longboard balanced over two driftwood logs makes the perfect impromptu camp table, and it’s barely big enough to hold the platters of grilled prawns, lamb sausages, fat steaks and salads.

This was no cook up on a shoe-string budget. This was a barbecue – Martin Daly style – on our own private island in the paradise of the Pacific.

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Clearing Customs is a fascinating exercise as you step ashore on the port island of Samarai. It used to be a thriving trading outpost run by South Seas trading company Burns Philp. Now, the warehouses are crumbling and the wharves are in an advanced state of decay used only as a fishing spot for local children.

But the local Papua New Guineans are full of beetlenut-stained smiles and curiosity as we wander the dirt streets. Most are Melanesian with dark skin and trademark afro hair, and most speak English and are welcoming to visitors.

Kids in tattered Western clothing use tiny fish hooks to catch bait fish from the jetty. Women balancing baskets of vegetables, fruit and fish lead us to the market square where our chef stocks up on watercress, delicate cherry tomatoes, pineapple, papaya and incredibly sweet ladyfinger bananas.

Dugout canoes line the beach – the ultimate contrast to the Indies Trader IV gently dipping and rising at anchor in the bay.

In a small cemetery, the gravestone of a colonialist hints at the island’s past: it reads. “His aim was to make New Guinea a good place for the White Men,”.

Mainland PNG has been the scene of unrest in recent years with several tourist kidnappings and muggings, particularly in the capital Port Moresby. The economy is on shaky ground thanks to government instability and Australia’s annual aid contribution of $240 million makes up 20 per cent of the national budget.

Still, these problems are a world away aboard the Indies Trader IV, where the biggest dilemma is whether to go surfing, fishing or diving.
The next day the choice is made for us. The boat weaves its way through an intricate network of reefs and atolls where the water changes a dozen different shades from cobalt blue to turquoise and iridescent sapphire.

Five big manta rays glide and swoop in front of the bow. In the distance, lines of whitewater slowly materialise into a long left-hander as we approach, clean glassy waves peeling down a natural channel in the reef.

It’s another virgin surf spot and this one earns the name Manta Reef.

The wave comes out of deep water and ledges up suddenly, foaming over coral heads as it winds down the reef pass. It’s overhead, the first juice of the trip, and the hooting and yahooing is lost on the offshore trades that feather each wave as it creams onto the reef.

We’re 200 miles from the nearest land. The heady buzz of exploration is almost tangible in the line-up.

The crew savours the privilege of naming and taming another never-before-surfed reef break. It’s a special feeling, one that is becoming harder and harder to find these days, but one that Daly has delivered several times this trip.

After a solid session, the anchor chain rattles up. The beat of the engines increases. The boat moves on and we draw near the end of our time in this Pacific paradise.

There was plenty of fun to be had but epic waves eluded the Indies Trader IV during our voyage through PNG, despite the undeniable potential of the area.

But as we watched another perfect coral cay slip by the starboard bow on our way into port and the flight home, the consensus was clear: making a fresh surf discovery was worth a stand-up barrel any day of the week.

Like Charles Darwin, most surfers long to venture where no man has trod before. It’s comforting to know there remain a few places, somewhere out there, that are still footprint free.



SIDEBAR STORY – BOAT FEATURES

The spirit of exploration of the original Indies Trader I has been refined – luxuriously – in the fourth edition of the vessel. Imagine a decadent floating palace, custom made for five-star surf trips and you’ll be close to the mark.

The first thing you notice about the Trader within moments of stepping aboard is the fact it is stacked to the rafters with toys: two jet skis, three runabouts, tow-in boards, dive tanks, heavy-duty game fishing rods and a helipad -  the works!

Built in 1999 and completely refitted and refurbished at Fremantle in 2005, it weighs in at 107 tonnes and cruises on a smart 21 knots, powered by twin 16-cylinder turbo charged diesel engines.

Step inside to a massive lounge, theatre and dining room with plush carpet and leather couches, plasma TV, air conditioning and large windows with views across the perfect waves peeling by.

The main deck has four deluxe double berth staterooms each with queen size bed, desk, ensuite, TV, DVD player, surround sound, satellite phone and a laptop with email connection.

The staterooms also boast large viewing windows providing a bright, airy feel. You don’t even have to get out of bed for a morning surf check!

Downstairs are another four staterooms decked out in similar opulence – very different from your standard charter boat – along with five bunk-bed cabins.

On the second level there’s the wheelhouse, large front sundeck and rear observation deck, with a full bar that’s always stocked.

All up the Trader sleeps 22 guests but Daly usually takes a maximum of about 12 surfers - enjoy.