Thread: Looking for replacement for Mentawai trip (July 17-28 '12)

My buddy and usual surf trip wingman had to cancel due to injury / cervical neck fusion surgery so 1 spot is available at Kandui Resort this July 17-28. This will be my 4th time back there. The place is fucking insane.

Hit me up if you're down and I'll put you in touch with the owner who does the bookings. Cost will be $2,900 +/- plus airfare.

I'll try to answer as many questions upfront as I rarely log on here

1) What kind of waves will I score?
- You can surf anything from half-foot foot mellow waves to triple overhead freight train pedal-to-da-metal lefts (Kandui) or rights (Rifles).

2) I'm not advanced/expert/pro. Will I get my ass kicked?
- No. There will be waves for you in user-friendly spots if you don't wanna play with the big boys.

3) What/how many boards do I bring?
- 2-3 is good. Your normal shortboard and a step up should be fine. I bring a 6'2 and 2x 6'6" glassed extra heavy because I break boards like for fun.

4) What's the place like?
fucking awesome. a/c huts, wifi, buffet meals. all you have to pay for is your beer
check this out http://www.mentawaiislands.com/kandui/

5) How do I get there?
Easiest way is to fly to either Kuala Lumpur or Jakarta, then hop on a connecting flight to Padang. For this trip you'll need to be in Padang on the morning of Tues July 17. I will be leaving SFO on 7/15, arriving Jakarta 7/17. then connecting flight to Padang


[obligatory surf shots from previous trips]



















okbye

Just got back from my first trip to the Mentawais...

AWESOME!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! If you can swing it, DO IT!!!!!!

Definitely going back again. SP, you stay at Kandui every time? Stayed at Botik and it has its pros/cons, don't think I would stay there again though.

Originally Posted by robnow

Just got back from my first trip to the Mentawais...

AWESOME!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! If you can swing it, DO IT!!!!!!

Definitely going back again. SP, you stay at Kandui every time? Stayed at Botik and it has its pros/cons, don't think I would stay there again though.

Nice! How long were you in paradise? Now you're gonna want to keep going back every year.

Yeah, I stay at Kandui all the time ('07, '09, '11, '12, + every year for the rest of my life). Run by really good people and an awesome crew there, so it feels like you're going back to visit old friends year after year. I did one boat trip and didn't like the cramped conditions. Prefer being based on an island and having speedboats and jetskis at my disposal.

How was Botik? I heard that place is infested with Brazzos

SP, ALL of the Mentawais was infested with Brasilians...seriously, I'm pretty sure they outnumbered the Aussies every session we were out. There was an afternoon at Nipussi, nowhere else to go due to wind and swell, with 20+ out and almost all Brassos. I've heard that Wavepark and Pitstops are the main Brasilian hangouts. We had 4/8 guests being Brasilian but the best ones I've ever met, all professional occupations (judge, state, dentist) which I think made all the difference.

Was going to do Kandui but didn't due to timing.

Botik Pros:
- Only 8 guests made for an awesome group size, I was travelling solo but the whole group really got along, couldn't have asked for better random company actually. Brasilians were there for two trip(21 days) and I did one trip(11 days).
- Absolutely gorgeous island, just us and a coconut farmer, takes about an hour to walk around, awesome beach with no break in front.
- Accommodations were comfortable, AC.
- Got it for a good price but Kandui was going to give me a killer deal which wouldn't have been that much more.

Botik Cons
- Food wasn't the greatest, big meals but not great quality. Ran out of fruit by day 5, treats by day 7.
- No break off the island. Would have been nice to have a break that we could paddle out to anytime. We didn't surf three afternoons due to the guide not wanting to take the boat out in windy conditions, Nipussi was the closest break and would have been good due to its sheltered layout.
- IMO, and another of the guests that I became buddies with felt exactly the same, our guide was a bit of a dictator when it came to deciding where to go and what to do. A few times we had to be quite insistent on checking out other spots and actually my best/favorite sessions were when we demanded to try elsewhere. The resort had two boats but it always seemed like he didn't want to use the other. There was a father and daughter who weren't very good surfers and I always felt sketched out not leaving them with a boat. On the plus side though he would try to take us where it would just be our group out.
- We surfed Nipussi WAY too much.

Overall it was such an amazing trip, coolest tropical/surf destination I've ever been. The Brasilian group had done a lot of travelling all around the world to all the main surf locales and they were unanimous in calling the Mentawais the best place they've been to in every way. We got skunked a little with swell direction and wind so we never got to see the Kandui side go off although my last session was just the two of us for three hours at the corner of shoulder high A-Frames and that'll be a session I'll never forget, especially after a TERRIBLE Pistols we had that morning. Our best waves were at Hide-Aways/Bank Vaults and Beng-Beng/E-Bay/Nipussi/A-Frames were SO FUN!!!!!!!!!! Except for that one session at Nipussi crowds were never really a factor, most people played nice.

I'll definitely be back there.

Why, oh why, did I just buy a house? That wave looks like just a wee bit of fun for sure.

Holy Fucking Shit! Check out the Stormsurf forecast for 2 weeks out and that motherfucking blob that just formed under Africa.

Damn, you might need to bring the rhino chaser

looks like that trip should be awesome

take some pics and post up a tr.

I'm a tad jealous, hope you score.

Originally Posted by Ottime

take some pics and post up a tr.

Teaser pics.





This was an "average" Ments session. I hated how there was a slight onshore and no one else in the lineup so I didn't know exactly where to sit when the sets came. And being a solo session I got to pick any wave I wanted, which sucked because you don't know if the 1st, 2nd, 3rd or 4th wave in the set was gonna be the best. What sucked even more was when you finished your ride, you had all of a few minutes to paddle back out to catch the next sets. Very tiring! Imagine 4 hours of this? Then when the tide dropped to dead low you'd grind your fins on the coral heads.

Yeah this session really pissed me the fuck off! GRRRRR!!!!

More teaser pics needed to tell how pissed you were, looks fun

Originally Posted by Superstar Punani

Teaser pics.






This was an "average" Ments session. I hated how there was a slight onshore and no one else in the lineup so I didn't know exactly where to sit when the sets came. And being a solo session I got to pick any wave I wanted, which sucked because you don't know if the 1st, 2nd, 3rd or 4th wave in the set was gonna be the best. What sucked even more was when you finished your ride, you had all of a few minutes to paddle back out to catch the next sets. Very tiring! Imagine 4 hours of this? Then when the tide dropped to dead low you'd grind your fins on the coral heads.

Yeah this session really pissed me the fuck off! GRRRRR!!!!

I feel terrible for you

I'm about to go surf shoulder/head high uppers/b-wires/cottons. I am pumped, but somehow I think I would trade the session I'm about to have for the one you had in those photos.

Glad you had a good trip, can't wait for the rest of the pics. One of my buddies got back from a Mentawi boat trip a few days before you did. His pictures were pretty sick.

Man, that onshore looks horrible. Why did you even stay? You should have followed me to Maine, where it has been super clean in the mornings and averaging 6-8... inches.

Indo is so overrated. you should have surfed AK

More pics!