Good or Bad experiances with Boat Tours to the Mentawii's

[mFox]

Hopefully heading for a trip to the Mentawii's this Aug or Nov, but, after looking at some of the terms and conditions with some of the tour operators re: boat break downs or other probs that can leave you belly up before going and, losing alot of hard earn'd cash. It seems that some of the operators will not go too far in re-imbursing hefty deposits or organising replacement/alterative solutions. I would really like to hear from any one has come up against this and how things worked out. Any good recomendations from satisfied kneelos would be good to hear.

[ross]

ask wierdo he was there last year.

[mFox]

Thanks Ross
Dearly love to get to the islands with no hastles.

[weirdo]

hey mFox...
I went to the mentawis in october last year...had a ball (11 days on boat). The Boat I was on was the Katika, run by an aussie dude called steve Pascoe (dirty old man....talked about thai girls 24/7...good bloke though). It wasn't the biggest boat out there (60ft) but was clean and great crew and food was awesome.
Its a 13hr trip out from padang out to the Islands...and if you get sea sick make sure you take some pills (few mates were feeding the fish) as gets rough.
we started off in playgrounds which has a heap of breaks (4 bobs, a frames, rifles etc...) but there are breaks everywhere...and the advantage of a boat is that if its onshore where you at, you can travel to somewhere thats cranking.
Makes sure you take booties, a few boards and heaps of betadine etc (reef cuts)...
and be prepared for HEAPs of barrels (got more makeable barrels in one session at Macca's than I did all year at home..).

The only downside is you go a bit stir crazy not touching land for days on end and stuck on a boat with all males is interesting after a while... (you can guess what main topic of conversation is)...

But I recommend it...thoroughly...

[mFox]

Thanks Weirdo
Good move not to drop the soap How did it go with the booking, organising and satisfaction of the company you went with? any probs or hiccups (btw who did ou book with??)

[weirdo]

Mate I dont think I used soap the whole time (too scared to pick it up)..ha ha

we booked through http://www.worldsurfaris.com/

good service (no hassles)....and quite a few boats to choose from...
If you can get a group of 6 or more you can get a boat to yourselves..

Cheers

W

[skansand]

you must be talking about all the great waves you got earlier in the day right?

[flaps]

1st post--couldn't resist on this one--made the trip to the Ments last Aug.--WOW! Loved every minute(once we got there--never get seasick but succumbed on the trip across so spent the night in misery...will be better prepared next time). Arrived in the Playgrounds area to Rifles going off but didn't really score--still kinda shaky after 'round the world flight, no sleep, seasick ya know...tide changed and it was over for that but got first of many barrels later that day at Nipussi...anyway, we went with these guys:http://www.mentawaiislands.com/ on the Aieloita...great boat plus not one but two tenders, one for surfing, one for fishing! Really great trip, surfed every day, they had to drag me from the water kicking and screaming when it was time to leave! Did NOT wanna go! Yeah Maccas! Love that place, can't wait to go back there, will definitely go again..oh yeah, check out that website, lotsa great info, photos, videos, etc. Cheers

[Sparrow]

Hey Flaps,
Can you tell me more about the Aieloita.
Good boat?
Crew?
Surf guide?
food?
Living space?
I would appreciate it mate.
Thanks

Simon

[flaps]

Hey Sparrow, thought of a couple of other things to mention as well after I posted especially as relates to kneeboarding there...for one, good tethers for your fins (if ya wear 'em) are a must...I wear fin socks with attached velcro fin tethers and those don't work very well in those powerful waves...lost a fin and bootie while surfing Burgerworld so did get a chance to get on land while looking for lost fin...luckily had brought extra fins but after that I used some small nylon rope I had to tether 'em on with bowlines on each end--had 'em come off after that but the bowlines held...by the way, it was cool getting on some land there...also fin socks worked fine to protect feet on reefs. As to the Aieloita, great boat! I went with a crew of 8 of us, some of which had been on that boat before and highly recommended it...they were right on...it was built for trips there and has a higher cruising speed than some of the other boats out there--only took 8 hours to cross the channel--think it cruises at 12-13kts...anyway, it's fully air-conditioned, has 8 bunks, very comfortable, all air-conditioned, slept like a baby every night, nothing like getting rocked to sleep by the gentle rolling of the ocean in some protected bay! There was a crew of 5 Indonesians, all great guys, we all had good experiences interacting with them. The food was excellent...everything from Mexican to sushi (when we caught fish, which we did a few times)...we brought extra beer beyond what was included so there seemed to be and endless supply! Also the freezer had an endless supply of boxed juices...food and drink were well covered...our guide Jordan is one of the best I'm told and I would not disagree with that...definitely knew where to go when...we had one incident at HTs when we surfed 'til dark and Jordan had sent the Aieloita in through the "keyhole" earlier while they could still see the narrow opening to the lagoon we were gonna stay in that night...we got in our skiff to head down there at just about dark, went about 100 meters and ran out of gas(probaby the only oversight by our crew that I can remember)...luckily we were still close enough to some other boats anchored there so we were able to get some gas, but by then it was DARK...but with Jordan driving the skiff with all his experience, he was able to get us through the keyhole with no problem...great guy, excellent guide..had his wife and 1-year old daughter on board as well so there was a nice family atmosphere going on...anyway, as you can tell, I'm stoked! Could go on and on about this trip and haven't even mentioned all the surf spots! So to anyone that's iinclined I say GO! You won't be disappointed..I'm 54 and wish I woulda went when I was 34...

[ScottMac]

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[Willy Kelly]

Flapps

What part of Humboldt do you live in, I too live in Humboldt and Iam heading to Indo on a boat trip with a kneelo from Shelter Cove and a few Kneelos from down south


Peace and good waves to all

Willy

[flaps]

Hi Scott and Willy, I went on trip with group from Cove and they've known Jordan for awhile as they've been on a few trips, it's an annual trip for them...I wanna get on that roundtable as well! Willy, I live in Sohum in Salmon Creek, know Wesley and have surfed with him plenty of times at that little spot north of the Cove--so when're you guys going to the Ments? It was pretty crowded when we went in August so I think April or Sep/Oct would be good...

[weirdo]

I went in October...not to crowded (just into off season) and still good waves. Its also a bit cheaper to go in october. There can still be good waves in November too...but good chance that winds maybe up...

The resort/surf camp at Macca's will be functioning this season....maybe damn crowded there.

[ScottMac]

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