spook

I did a ton of research into Kazakhstan and Uzbekistan a couple of years ago. It looks like it has some mad potential. It's not going to be smooth sailing all the way, but what's life without risk? If you've got mates there, I would do it in a heartbeat.

that was really well shot. pretty interesting little piece. cheers for that

Yep. Maccas is quite far south of the northern Playgrounds area. There's 4 main islands in the Mentawai, and Maccas is kinda two-thirds down the Pagai Utara (the second island from the bottom). How's them directions for you guys? Clear as mud. Have read some pretty horrific first hand reports about villages down there. Greenbush village had 52 houses and a church wiped off the land. Estimates put the wave(s) at 4m. Many many dead, rotting bodies, no clean water and so on. The resort at Maccaronis is gone. The only building that looks to have survived is the main bar building where

Everyone I know up there has been accounted for. Not such good new for a lot of villages at the southern end of the islands which were badly hit. Imagine sitting on the back deck of Midas when another charter boat slammed into you, and then being washed a couple of hundred metres into the jungle. The reef at Maccas is gnarly.

I haven't checked any info, but I think you can only fly Continental there from east coast Oz. Spoke to a guy a few weeks ago and he said something like $100 for your first 2 boards, then $100 for each board after that. The main camp (run by Alois) has a bunch of boards maybe? But there's cheaper places to stay in the the town, and then just organise a boat out there each day. Something like that. It looks like it can get heavy huh?

Yeah, I think you're right on that front Mantas. Still, different strokes for different folks.... I think it's gonna be small. Swell charts aren't showing anything significant. Oh well. See what happens eh? I've seen some cracking pics from the Newcastle area from my east coast mates from this past winter

Cept it costs $$$ to fly ith your boards there huh? I've heard there's a ton of cheap boards for sale at the surf camps - lots of crew leave em there cos it's so exxy to take them home

Hmmmm. Sounding less appealing, but I'm sure I'll work something out. Any of you guys ever been to the Telo islands? We're heading there in a couple of days for a travel article.

What are the beachies straight out at Seminyak like? Surfable for a hungover cleansing session, or just straighthanders?

Actually, going there next year for a mate's 30th. Couple of days at some fancy villa in Seminyak. Was hoping there'd be some fun beachies nearby somewhere. Nothing epic, but close enough to duck off for a quick surf in the morning type of thing. It's gonna be a reunion for a bunch of crew so I'd rather hang with them than chase waves all morning, but it's always good to sneak a wave in. Any tips? But yeah, Bali sounds busy these days. Even the expat crew I know there moan about it constantly. I went there about 10 years ago with some mates. We were young and clueless, but I remember surfi

I'm thinking bout g'land next year too. never been there. hear mixed things, but if there's swell and it's shoulder season, could be on!

Originally Posted By: ger I like to mix it up with longish. The short little lifts at many J-resorts are a bit strange imo. errrsh, the short lifts in Japan can send you bonkers. Especially if you haven't sussed out how to link a new mountain togerther yet, and some of the lifts actually require you to walk uphill to the next one...?!

Hey Fellas We just got back from a trip out to WavePark Resort in the Mentawais. After a couple of months away, I was frothing to get back and surf some proper waves again. It was also great to come back after having had a break, and to come back as a guest, rather than be working. Jeeez, the islands are stunning. Beautiful and isolated. It really is a special place. As a surfer, we are very lucky to visit some of these remote areas. It's something that very few people get to see. Wave wise, we scored bulk swell, but also copped some serious weather. the storms were about as intense a

I was never that interested in Panaitan because it sounds so heavy, but Npalms and Illusions sound spretty good. And apocalypse looks nuts. Jeez, they give the waves friendly sounding names huh? You surfed there Indo?

Nah, we were at Pitstops mate. But we're good mates with the Wavepark crew. I'll send ya a PM. And Mantas - I seem to remembe ryou asking somewhere about a week trip to the Ments for next year? For what it's worth I reckon it's a pretty short time frame. Travel is still a pain so you're not really maximising your time out there for all the hassle you'll go through. But it can be done.

and some more jaw dropping images... i understand most of the images, but i don't get how the whitewater kayaks guys don't die doing stunts like that

I just stumbled across a couple of links to this action sports photography contest. You can check the top 50 images Red Bull Illume here I don't know how the judges sorted through 23,000 entries, but of the finalists, these are some of the shots I'm digging:

if you shit yourself, does that count?

what's liquification?

the view from the top looks awesome. is that you being carried up in the chair?

just got back fom a few days on the coast south of jakart. surf was small small small, so we were pretty lucky to get waves, but scored some fun lefts at sawarna. mantas, indo - you guys surfed much down there? cimaja wasn't breaking, but shiiiit, it's pretty dirty down there. not exactly the most inviting water i've even seen. sawarna, in contrast, was pretty clean. we also drove around a bunch and there's a few other set-ups, but the super small swell wasn't helping matters

Yeah, the crazy thing was we met a bunch of people who were complaining about eating fish all the time. Jeez, if you don't like fresh seafood, maybe you shouldn't go to a remote island....

Marine life was pretty fantastic Tubby. We were only snorkelling (not scuba diving) but what we saw was pretty impressive. Stunning coral and ridiculous amounts of tropical fish. As good as anything I've ever seen. Food was good but basic Thursday. 3 meals a day, fresh fish for lunch and dinner, sambal and veggies. It was tasty, but a bit monotonous. I've had better food holidays, but on the whole it was fine. The islands are starting to get fairly popular with tourists. Apparently they used to be very quiet but now larger numbers of people are heading there. There's one main island

Yeah, they even had pig fat satay. i don't mind a bit of tender grilled fat on my meat, but not a whole skewer of it just uploaded some new shots from the togean islands in central sulawesi. we spent two weeks lounging around on a couple of islands. the first place we stayed was a nice low-key beach resort place. super comfy ,great vibe, but not the nicest beach. good snorkelling nearby, and we could paddle outrigger canoes to the other islands. pretty fun. then we went and stayed somewhere a bit more basic for the second week - just a hut on a beach and grandma grilling fish fo

The piggies were still alive. It was at a funeral and they were sacrificing (and cooking them up) ad a rate of 1 every 10 minutes or so. Lots of pork. It didn't look that tasty though. I respectfully passed on the pig and got stuck into the arak instead