Once you’re through that madness, our crew will drive you to our offices in downtown Padang, about 40 minutes from the airport. We are located near the Maura River Harbor, just a short distance to our boats. Scuzz and/or other members of our staff will be there to meet you along with the surf guide and photog who will be on your boat. This will be your first chance after a long journey to really relax, kick back with an icy cold Bintang, and enjoy the fact that you’re about to embark on THE best surf trip in existence. At our offices, you can use the internet, change money, or peruse our gift shop. You can also any leave any unnecessary items at our offices, and messages can be received here as well. Our guides contact home base almost every day to get the latest swell report, which we then radio between the boats. If you desire to arrive a day early or stay a day late, we can arrange a hotel stay foryou at the best possible rates.

Once everyone arrives, we’ll have little chat about the swell forecast and the desires of the guests so we can come up with the best possible game plan for the upcoming trip. We’ll have snacks, small meals, and drinks to make sure you’re ready for your overnight crossing to the warm waves of the Mentawais or North Sumatra the next morning. Meals are not served on the boat that first night, so you should make sure you’ve got some food in your belly before beginning your crossing. If all goes to plan, you’ll depart between 7 – 10pm (depending on tide and when everyone arrives), sleep through the night, and awaken around daybreak to an exotic and perfect Indonesian lineup.

On the last day of your trip, we’ll plan your last surf so that we can begin the crossing early enough to arrive back in Padang with plenty of time to catch your flights the following day. If you want to surf until dark on your last day, it’s best that you get a late morning or early arvo departure the following day. You may have a few hours to kill, and many enjoy a massage, a walk around town, or a visit to the silver and gift shops. Each international flight requires a departure tax, or a smaller domestic tax if you’re flying to another port within Indonesia. These taxes can ONLY be paid in Rupiah, so it’s advisable to get the money changed at our offices before you depart. Our drivers will run you around town and out to the airport on this day. All transfers with our drivers are included in the charter cost.

After spending months floating on a fishing boat on grass-roots wave searches through 1998 - 2000, and after running nine full seasons of charters since early 2001, we have found many epic waves in northern Sumatra. Our northern trips continue on with our desire for surf exploration and crowd avoidance. These charters have taken Sumatran Surfariis to the next level of surfing.

On this charter we cover over 1,000 miles of ocean, cross the equator twice, and surf a huge variety of waves throughout 5 different island chains. We STILL continually find new empty barrels in the endless tropical bays, points, and reefs of Sumatra's outer islands. Your journey also takes in the more well known waves of Lagundri Bay, Bawa, and Asu. The waves are very spread out so we travel at night whenever weather permits to maximize your surfing hours. And due to the several large quakes in the past decade, we have recently discovered several new waves, and there are many NEW discoveries yet to be found!

The prevailing winds have led us to surf a majority of righthanders, which have challenged even the most experienced surfers. But there is a large variety of surf that allows for all types of surfing. As a whole, the trip tends to be a bit heavier than the Mentawais, yet often every bit as perfect. Unless you are in a group of similar standard, these waves are not for beginners. This trip can warrant bringing a 7+ foot board, especially in the peak season.

We have now done 13 full seasons in the Mentawais, and we have seen and surfed some absolutely amazing waves... many of which have never appeared in the hundreds of magazine articles and videos about the world's most wave rich island chain.

We have seen many different swells, wind, tide variations, islands slowly sinking (and then rising again), waves slightly changing, reefs being damaged by anchors, more and more boats, new land camps, new crews, storms, empty perfect lineups, delicious sashimi dinners, electric sunsets, pros busting airs, palm fringed points, Hawaiians calling “best ever”, the odd shipwreck, meteor showers, sea snakes, a booming wood carving trade, sunburns, stitches, stoke, hoots, and more stoke.

A boat trip to the Mentawais changes lives. It opens minds, and feeds the soul. The amount of quality waves packed into this part of the Indian Ocean is unbelievable. This is why Sumatran Surfariis has always chosen to do longer trips and concentrate on more than just the two or three most popular waves. Our charters are typically 2- 3 full surf days longer than the others. This allows you to surf more waves than anyone, get the next swell, see the next point, the next island, reel in the wahoo, and get the backside pigdog wired.

If you are looking to camp out at HTs or Maccas, you're better off on another charter. We will visit these waves, but if the conditions mean there is a better wave somewhere else, or it is crowded, we're off to one of the many other epic waves.

We also offer trips which focus on the waves of SOUTHERN Sumatra. If you are booking a group charter we can customize your trip to go wherever you choose in the island chai