Behind the rainforest
Galleries
Not all rainy days are lame
Breizh proverb
– Jeffrey’s Bay 2007 – 
Archives: Mentawai
– Mentawai islands 2003 –
The great thing about Indo is you can normally stay and travel all around for not much money.
Years ago, I managed to book a 992$ trip on a boat with five other guys. At that time it was quite manageable to avoid the crowds. But this kind of boat trip ended quickly and the Mentawai business moved up to another scale. It costs something now like three times more to spend two weeks on a factory boat, a price for which you find yourself packed with ten or twenty other guys to reach waves with sometimes until six or seven more crowded boats. Bilboards and shady promoters never had any trouble in pushing the masses to waste shitloads of money for crap. We all knew surfers ain’t nobel prize winners, but to that point…
I’d rather like to avoid the “mass hysteria” for my part, so if you still plan this kind of trip the first thing you need to know is that boats and resorts in the Mentawai are like total bulshit. Apart from being too expensive for what it is, it’s an unfair business of local resources made by foreigners where nothing goes back to the people; we are talking of a place where they don’t even have running water or electricity.
Everyone should know that.
You can actually go there for the same price as anywhere else in Indo.
And keeping away from this kind of colonial exploitation provides great oportunities for more legitimate experience, support to local life, and eventually free surf outside the insane boat circus, without being extorted. You can’t tell me you wouldn’t be a little upset at having yourself sheared like a sheep by a bunch of greedy exploiters?
The surf business sold me his grand mother, and all that I got left is a piece of soap.
Winter games
Kind of blue – Part 2
– South Pacific 2014 –
Archives: Fiji
Fiji is a fairly unique place in the world: great singular nature scenery, spectacular beaches, friendly and helpful people with true open and sharing culture, and of course the dream place of powerful waves right in the middle of the South Pacific.
In July 2010, the Fijian government decided to open access to every wave in the islands. This meant in particular that anyone could surf Cloudbreak and Restaurants, two of the most famous waves in the world, until then exclusively restricted to the guests of Tavarua island resort for as little as 500USD per person per night. Shortly after what has been called the “Surfing Decree”, I ended up booking all flight tickets to go there while staying in a very cheap place. Followed one month on a trip by myself in august at the peak of the South Pacific swell season.
Anarchy in Sorake
– Nias island 2010 –
From the archives
Leslie & Michael
Despite clean conditions on the pictures above, the swell generated by ex Cat. 1 hurricane Leslie and Cat. 3 hurricane Michael was a bit below expectations. Tide too low over the window of offshore winds, made worse by high tidal coefficients, all this resulted in fast and shifty waves on the exposed beachbeaks. Landes sandbars are fairly fickle especially as the swell gets bigger in size. But as everyone knows they can also get pretty much perfect, so better luck next time!
Now the question is what post tropical cyclone Nadine will do. Until now, it takes a rather unusual southward trajectory. Not so promising for the west area but chances to impact the Mediterranean are growing and maps start to predict a bit of activity. At least things should be interesting the next few days.
