Amendments

Ok so here we are officially withdrawing our last degrading comments about the mentawais. We have finally seen what the fuss is about! Man the swell is here and it is everywhere! Yesterday we had A frames break totally for ourselves. Russ dropping on double head high waves and I in the water filming and taking photos with my new waterproof camera. I was a bit scared of getting in the water but I totally needed to register the moment. Hopefully we will be able to post some photos and videos soon. Russ had 4Bobs real good head and a half clean waves with only other 4 guys. Rifles is pumping and I had never seen anything like it. Big, long (300 meters plus) waves with unreal barrels. It was water poetry, to make the toughest cry from having survived. A time to remember. Thank goodness Russell didnt have any kamikazi aspirations and stayed put on the dingy with me. It can be a high price to pay for glory and we simply cant afford right now. So we stared, drooled and cheered those demented surfers. We thought of Mike B-S heaps! Man you would have killed those waves we are sure! So needless to say we have postponed our departure by another 2 weeks to make the most of it and to wait for the SE trades to come little bit further north. Keep tuned.

Mentawais

We finally made it to the famous Mentawais group. And to our surprise we pretty much sailed all the way down here from Telo! Unfortunately the nice winds that brought us down kept us holed up in this mangrove anchorage for 3 days under lots of wind and rain. We were growing mold on our skins! But Russell got a nice session at bangbang and we are hoping to stay at playgrounds for a few days weather permitting. We cant really see us heading to Chagos soon. The trades are still far south so we need to be patient. Officials and the local "kepala desas" are very onto boats here and rarely miss a chance to hassle us for some money. Plus we had some very curious teenagers coming to our boat at 2 am, both times i woke up and got Russ on the case. But what can we do? Apart from touching the boat they have not come onboard although i believe they would given the chance. They are not violent and they are small time thieves looking to get something of the life lines like board shorts etc. Needless to say this isnt our favourite place. If you came this way unless you are very keen on the surfit, have an easy nature and a big wallet, it aint worth it. Stay from Telo north. But we are here and trying to make the most of it. The place is pretty and have a huge amount of waves with a huge amount of people too. Weather is better so things should be on the up.

Heading south

After 10 great days with Terry and Glenn onboard, we are back in gunung sitoli for a quick stock up before heading south for the telo group. The plan is to reach the Mentawai group within the next 2 weeks. We are looking forward to that as we missed this group of islands on our last visit. Russell is still waiting on the big swell and good quality waves. Although he has been surfing most days since we arrived in the Banyaks, he says the waves are still pretty average. I finally got the hang on how to reload the big gun and must say I am impressed with its power and accuracy. Gone are the days of my blue friend! I have speared 5 fishes with the new gun so far. Nothing massive but good to feed everyone. Glenn and Terry had a go with the gun too and didnt disappoint. All in all things are going well and we hope to be leaving Sumatra for Chagos fairly soon. Got butterflies on my stomach just to think of it!