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TR: Mentawai Islands, Indonesia


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About the coconuts.

 

' people were 15 times as likely to get killed by falling coconuts than to receive a fatal bite from a shark and an estimated 150 people a year die from falling coconuts world wide'

 

Now you need to wear a helmet in and out of the surf! Around the resorts in Bali they do a fair bit of coconut control work. Too many at Pit Stop though I guess.

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Originally Posted By: spook
yeah, definitely the flipside to paradise. anyone out here long-term deals with so much stressful stuff. it's the price you pay. makes me laugh when guests are also going on about how'd they'd do anything to trade places. i just look at them and think, if only you knew...


Having spent long stints at remote locations in Indo, I fully understand. Things can get to you and as there is no escape just magnify by 100!

But at the end of the day you are there, and we are not, so no sympathy from me! razz
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cheers for those stats mantas. there's hundreds of trees on our and, the trees and the coconuts are still owned by someone else, even thought we have the rights to the land.

so we can't really go cutting off someone's income by getting rid of all the coconuts. and the other thing is some of the trees are riciulously high - 35-40m straight up. i don't really want to send people up to those sorts of heights. the cre want to start clearing coconuts from trees along pathways, and i said fine, just so long as they are clearing them because they want to, and not for me.

 

just had a really fun surf at e-bay round the corner. and last ate one of the best eggplant/aubergine dishes i've ever had. fried eggplant stirred through green chilli sambal

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Shit Spook

 

What a season we sit here and look at you photo's and druel but I remember from my time in Sumatra the Hep C, the sick kids, surfaid do wonders but incidentals can kill you.

I was nearly taken out by coconuts in Thailand and they are scary.

Had a friend lose 2 fins in Lombok from a floating nut too.

 

The joys of Indo.

From the worst winter in Perth ever (surf)

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Howdy,

 

Can anyone give me a no b/s assessment of the Telos Islands ? I normally just hit Bali these days with the Mrs in tow (not planning to take her to the Telos though), but the crowds are getting insane these days. I don't mind a bit of a challenge, but I don't want to go to the Ments and be stuck with a bunch of guys looking to get the meanest barrels of their lives day in and day out. 3-5 foot reefbreaks would suit me fine. Is the Telos the answer, or is it it a little too small and inconsistent ?

 

Thanks,

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Ments is more consistent. But the Mentas ain't always huge. Just perfect. 3-5ft would be in the usual range.

As Mantas said if you do the Telo's (resort) it is very exy. If you do it yourself then cheap cheap cheap but need time to sort stuff out.

Pitstop seems reasonable though still exy by my Indo standards (Mozzie done & living on caught fish and rice)

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Thanks for the feedback.

 

You are right, it is expensive. One can still stay in a Warung in Bali for less than $10 (I did a couple of weeks back), but as long as I still have a job and the time constraints that come with it, I am willing to pay too much for no crowds and nice waves. Maybe I am dreaming on the "no crowds". Anyway, I will probably try and do a mix of Ments and Telos on this trip.

 

Thanks again.

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from what i've heard of the telos, it's generally smaller and more playful than in the mentawais. but then lots of crew want to surf fun waves and not pull into draining pits, so it's different strokes for different folks. lots of guys like going to the maldives for the same reason.

having said that... the mentawais isn't all heavy waves. if you are in a group who all want to surf mellow waves, most good operators will do their best to accomodate that.

from what i know, there's 3 resorts in the telos. zero latitutde, telo island lodge and a brazilian camp which is more downmarket

prices in the telos seem high, but alot of people like going there so the resorts must be doing something right.

seeing as i work in a resort i see both sides of the coin with regard to price. if you've got time and no money, then the feral option is more attractive. but for someone on an annual trip, having a guide to hold your hand and pretty much take you to waves makes a lot of sense. you also eat good food, have things like air-con, dvd, tv and all sors of comforts. it's cushy.

you also don't waste any time and we are on th ball with regars to conditions. some waves work in obvious conditions, but good luck trying to work out the local winds and swell patterns for yourself. people on feral trips don't get as many waves as our guests because we hunt them all day.

price wise, i can't comment for other resorts, but costs out here are high. running boats, generators adds up, and getting supplies is a logistical nightmare.

 

as far as value for money goes, surf resorts are exxy at about $200-400 a day (the telos charge at the upper end of that price scale). if you're a surfer and scoring waves it is good value, as that is just what it costs. but for your non-surfing partner, sheeeet, you can have an amazing trip anywhere in the world for that sort of dosh, and unless the surf resort is super flash they are going to feel a bit overcharged i reckon

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Originally Posted By: spook

but for someone on an annual trip, having a guide to hold your hand and pretty much take you to waves makes a lot of sense.


I see where you are coming from spook and I agree to a certain extent that now, with more $$$ & less time a more stylish gig may suit me better.. But I have a problem with the word guide.
People going to Bali and getting guides shiats me, such a lazy way these days. In ma day (& I am not that old!) ya did everything ya self, which was part of the adventure.
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Thanks Spook. That sums it all up very well.

 

If you have limited time, it sounds like it is worth every cent.

 

I will be leaving the non-surfers at home which is not a problem. I took mr Mrs along to the Maldives back in 93'. I was lucky that she became My Mrs after that trip. She could not believe how much it cost for what she was doing, which was basically hanging around in a very run down resort while I went surfing. Like you say, the costs were all about running boats, etc.

 

Anyway, thanks for the information. Might see you out there next year.

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Horses for courses

 

I have just signed up for a 2 week trip to south Sumatra. Included in the 'package' was a guide. I doubt we will need one as there are about 4 or 5 breaks that all work pretty much on the same conditions, some bigger, some smaller.

If I rocked up at Spooks show then it would be a different story. I'd wake up every morning and say " Spook, take me surfin young fella"

groovy

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the other part of having s guide is that i work with the other resorts and boats in the area to try and keep things smooth in the water.

if there's people surfing we will try and go somewhere else. if there is nowhere else we wait 20 minutes then go out in 2s or 3s.

generally this works pretty well and everyone gets along.

now and then blokes doing it rough rock up at a break and all 8 of them paddle out at once. to me it's obviously poor form, but they just don't get it and the surf turns into a circus

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8 guys!!! fark, that's not cricket.

When I am doing it rough its with max of 3 (usually including a non surfer!).

I've actually never seen blokes doing the "Feral" in groups that big unless they were brazo's!

 

spook I see what you are saying, but If I pay the coin to surf E-bay & it's pumping, I am out there.. There's gonna have to some place pretty effing good to get me away from there!

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indo... i know you've been around but the "i've paid and i'm out there attitude" doesn't really work cos everyone in the mentawais has paid to be here. ya gotta share mate... plus i hate surfing with other people so we'll go find somewhere by ourselves

 

gurgle - off season has fun waves but options are imited. nipussi and burgerworld are the staple waves. think fun 2-3 foot right handers with very very few people around. for many of our guests, off season is a good time to come.

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Would love to win Lotto and send my bro over to you guys - he would be in heaven. He's a chippie and swings past the beach on his way home from work for a surf (if the conditions are right) most days.

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Originally Posted By: spook
indo... i know you've been around but the "i've paid and i'm out there attitude" doesn't really work cos everyone in the mentawais has paid to be here. ya gotta share mate...


I am just saying that it would be hard to walk away from a wave that you specifically came to surf when it is cranking, and usually in a group not everyone would be up to surfing the high level waves when it is big anyway, so it probably becomes less of an issue when it is big.
you may have guessed it already, I am not a group surf trip fella. I like to do my own thing. I think it's wrong rocking up to a place with 8 - 10 guys. The only exception being a place where is totally isolated and exclusive to you group.

Originally Posted By: spook
plus i hate surfing with other people so we'll go find somewhere by ourselves

hang on a sec, isn't it about what the guests want? razz

too much internet not enough surfing, Northerlies have kicked in here for the last few weeks and it is killing us. Mantas, any love down your way?
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Originally Posted By: Indo


you may have guessed it already, I am not a group surf trip fella. I like to do my own thing. I think it's wrong rocking up to a place with 8 - 10 guys. The only exception being a place where is totally isolated and exclusive to you group.

Originally Posted By: spook
plus i hate surfing with other people so we'll go find somewhere by ourselves

hang on a sec, isn't it about what the guests want? razz


yeah i hear ya indo. i guess it's a bit tricky out here because pretty much everyone is off a boat or from a land resort... so it's inevitable that people are surfing together in groups. it's possible to surf the nearby breaks in twos and threes but generally we gotta load up a boat and head off
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