Your trip begins in Padang, West Sumatra (Indonesia). Most guests fly from their home destination to Singapore, then from Singapore to Padang. There are a variety of options that can get you from Singapore (or other nearby destinations, such as Kuala Lampur) to Padang. Some of the airlines that do these flights include Garuda Air, Tiger Air, Lion Air, Air Asia, and Adam Air. For U.S. guests, we have set up a business relationship with Quiksilver Travel where you check your bags once, and they're cleared all the way through, and for a VERY reasonable rate. Please contact Danny for more details on that. There are typically similar packages from other locations such as Australia as well. If you can get yourself to Singapore or a similar nearby location, our Intra Indonesian travel agent Johan can get you very good rates on those shorter flights. Please feel free to contact Johan for details.

When you arrive at the Padang Airport, you will be required to pay a temporary 30-day visa. The cost is $25us, and it’s best if you have clean, unmarked bills. Once you pay for your visa and clear customs, you will be met at the airport by Hengky and/or his crew. Hengky speaks pretty good English, and will be holding a Sumatran Surfariis sign. He knows how worn out you can get after the long journey and he will help you thru the madness of the Padang airport and out to his air conditioned van. The boards and big bags are loaded in a separate flatbed pickup.

If you use the airport porters, the onus is on you to pay. A tip of $1 - $2 is quite sufficient for what they do. This is the only time you will ever need or be able to use small change here. It is worth it, but don't cave in when they look completely disgusted at how little you are paying. The will give you the most amazingly sad looks, but this is big money for what they do. Bear in mind that the whole voyage from the luggage rack to the front door of the airport is about 50 feet, so it is not a gargantuan task they are undertaking. Often, a whole group of porters will try to grab one bag and then all ask for payment. If you decide to let the porters help you, be prepared to designate ONE porter that you will pay. Look him in the eyes and make it clear HE’S the guy, and the others can fight him for their cut later.

Once you’re through that madness, Hengky's crew will bring you down to our little oasis in Padang, the Hotel Batang Arau (pronounced like “bat and arrow”). Christina and/or Scuzz will be there to meet you along with the guide who will be on your boat. This is your first chance to really relax, kick back and have an icy cold Bintang and check out the scenery. We can change money, have phone cards, post cards, a great range of silver and two gift shops. You can get a day room for about $35US (which is cheap divided by 8), all of which are roomy and air conditioned with a big shower, towels and soap. Once relaxed we’ll have a little chat about the trip and look to head off on the short walk to the boat around 8pm. Dinner is not included on the boat that night, so it’s a good idea to grab a meal at the hotel. We then leave that night and you should be surfing next morning.

You can leave any items unnecessary to the trips at the hotel and messages can be received thru here. Our guys contact home base on the satellite phones every couple days and get the latest swell report, which we then radio between the boats.

On return to Padang, we arrive back early in the morning and walk up to the hotel for breakfast. 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 flight requires a departure tax of 75,000rp (which can only be paid in rupiah), about $9US, which you can get at the hotel. Hengky or another one of 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. The hotel is a separate business and hence everything purchased there is an additional separate cost.

After spending months floating on a fishing boat on grass-roots wave searches in both 1998 & 2000, and after running four full seasons of charters since early 2001, we have found many epic waves in northern Sumatra. Each charter seems to 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. With the recent changes to the geography after the quakes in December of 2004 and March of 2005, 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. Both the lefts and rights up here are extremely varied and allow 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 warrants bringing a 7-footer or bigger, especially in the peak season.

We have now done 9 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 worlds' most wave rich island chain.

We have seen many different swells, wind, tide variations, islands slowly sinking, waves slightly changing, anchorages 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 at least 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 chain.