I just brought a double surfboard cover for my upcoming trip to Indonesia. I'm so excited although I'm surfing so badly. I'm heading to the Mentawais just off the Sumatran coast and then on to Kuta and Ekas on the island of Lombok.I live to travel. I squirrel away my spare pesos with images of places unknown in my dreams. The unknown, unfamilar and just plain different get me so excited. Surfing has added a new element to my travels. Now I don't even want to consider travelling to somewhere without a surf break nearby, I spend my days reading tales of the search for the perfect wave and constantly dream of finding my perfect break.
My friend Ivan and I spent 6 weeks in 2009 moving from Bali to East Timor in search of perfect, nufty waves. We found it on the island of Sumbawa and we had it for a small window, almost all to ourselves. In between days exploring interesting late night food markets, eating bowls of tripe we lounged at surf camps, checking out surf reports and scootering around local villages. We also managed a daily dose of surfing as well!
Its the smell that stays with me the most. It keeps me going through long, arduous winters, morning surfs in thick wetties and the winter darkness. I'm currently planning on hooking up somewhere in Central America next year where I can get fluency in Spanish as well as work on my surfing. Any suggestions?
But closer at hand is my trip to the Mentawais and Lombok at the end of this week! I'm surfing really badly at the moment so I'm a little nervous that I'm way out of my depth. The Mentawais is where the pros go, yeah? Every surf mag currently produced has a picture of Macaroni's, HJs, playgrounds in every edition but I'll be fine! I'll just surf with the kids!
