Macaronis Resort - Reports 2010

2009 Season Overview:

Year 2009 was one of the best seasons I can remember in my 9 years living in the Mentawais. Swells were very consistent and winds were not overly influential; in fact the whole season basically pumped, with early season perhaps offering the best conditions with some large swells also hitting early.

This year we opened for trading in mid January with a few guests visiting from New Zealand and Australia. Myself, Christian, Dylan and Margy enjoyed fun waves every day on our own, and as always the early season produced some excellent fishing. On the way to Macas the first day of the trip from Sikakap we managed to hook up 6 Tenggiri about 15kg each. This first trip we saw no boats and enjoyed Macas entirely to ourselves with waves every day in the 2-4 ft range; although not that big we still enjoyed fun conditions and some very long sessions in the water.

Later during February whilst we completed some maintenance for the season ahead, we had Matt Graziano visit from Estonia, a fellow partner in Macas Resort. Matt stayed for 6 weeks whilst spending some time teaching an English course in Silabu Village. During February Matt and I also scored some really good waves totally alone at Macas. Mid Feb the swells began getting more solid; I even somehow managed to snap my old faithful 6’2 on a solid 4-5 foot day in February.

March soon arrived and this was an amazing month to say the least. In March we had a few small groups visit including Claus who was on his 4th trip to Macaronis Resort in 4 years. With very few boats around probably due to the effect of the global financial crisis, Huey sent in 100% perfection with some of the most solid double up swells of the season hitting in flawless conditions. Some of these swells were perfect SW direction and the double ups produced some incredible waves reeling down the reef; and the morning and evening sessions were some of the best sessions I can remember in the Mentawais (sorry no photos of these sessions, but definitely in the memory bank!!).

During March the 1 – 2 boats that dropped by every now and again were all laid back, and the guests on board were mainly older guys just looking for some mellow Mentawai perfection which they got and a bit more. One day late in March, we surfed fun waves at Macas with some crew from Barrenjoey, who had planned to head to the Hole that evening, and we awoke the following morning to find the bay completely empty with 6 foot solid perfection on our doorstep, one of the best sessions of the year with just 4 of us surfing for 6 hours straight, sooooo many big glassy barrels that day and perfect conditions for Claus, Dan, Matt and myself.

April produced similar conditions. In early April we had a group of pro's visit from New Jersey who had a good trip but unfortunately the swell and wind conditions were not exactly what we’d hoped for but still they managed to get some fun waves, including a few solid sessions at Thunders in the last couple of days. We tried to convince the group to stay on the following week as a bomb swell was on the way, but as some of the guys had to head home for other commitments it could not be arranged. Low and behold the swell that second week was double to triple over head flawless with solid pipe style barrels, with only the odd boat dropping by for a visit now and again throughout the week.

The month of May began to get busier, with some pro's visiting Macaronis including Ross Williams, Rob Machado, Brad Gerlach and the Red Bull team including Mick Fanning, Adriano De Souza, Jordy Smith and several other young guns. Apparently there was a gap in the pro circuit at this time and suddenly Macas and Greenbush had turned into a entertainment park for the pros ………. with some amazing big glassy barrels scored at Greenbush (click here to view on you tube) and some incredible surfing at Macaronis (click here to view on you tube).

June and July were prime time Macas. With a fairly mild season for winds, these two months had consistent solid swells hitting regularly and there were that many opportunities to surf Macas and surrounding breaks that there were heaps of waves to go around (May in fact was a little busier). Most of our guests being competent surfers over this period enjoyed the excellent quality of the waves, also visiting Greenbush and Lances regularly.

August and September produced some of the more solid swells of the year but true to form, there was a bit more wind about during these months but still plenty of opportunity to score good waves at Macas and surrounding breaks. During this time we surfed Silabu Left regularly and always on our own, and also Bat Cave was a popular choice, either heading up doing a day trip on Indies Explorer or doing a trip in the long boat with a picnic lunch on the deserted Bat Cave Island beach.

Throughout October things started winding down. The second week in October was a magic week of swell which everybody was totally stoked with having 16 guests at the resort surfing perfect 4-6 foot waves every day, but apart from that things started to slow down, still with some quality waves around but not as consistent as the earlier months. Luck of the draw really, considering late October 2008 we were still surfing waves in the 6 foot range whilst Robbie Page was visiting Macas Resort with a group of guests from Portugal.

Also in October we felt the effects of the tragic earthquake that occurred in Padang on September 30th. As a result we had a few cancellations – and had the conditions been epic then it could have been a repeat of March with epic surf and nobody around to surf with, but we weren’t that lucky with the swell in the end.

Anyway a great year of waves all round... hope to see you at Macas in 2010 !!

Cheers

Mark @ Macas

Click Here For Complete 2009 Trip Reports

Click Here For Complete 2008 Trip Reports

2008 Season Overview...

Well the 2008 season started out in a mad rush as usual, after totally refurbing the Indies Explorer inside and out after purchasing the boat in late 2007. Indies Explorer has been an excellent addition to the resort operation owing to its size and ability to carry large groups and supplies, as well as acting as back up transport to Padang if ever required.

Our early trips in March 2008 saw excellent consistency of clean waves in the 3-4 foot range. Conditions in March and most of April were mostly very good as well with light winds and glassy conditions. In late March a solid 6 ft swell hit late one afternoon with only 3-4 guys out, a nice surprise for the crew that were out surfing that arvo.

Above: Macas late March 2008, a big swell hitting with only a couple of guys out!!

The early season of March, April and May produced some very good fishing in the Macas area. We scored some nice Coral and Carnation Trout which are great cooked Sumatran style with coconut curry paste and grilled over coconut ash BBQ. We also scored plenty of Tengirri (Spanish Mackeral) and a few Great Trevally that also went down a treat on the BBQ. See a few of our fish photos below caught over this period...

June and July as always produced some excellent waves with larger swells arriving resulting in some bigger, heavier barreling waves. But as usual during these months there was a bit more wind around meaning conditions varied from day to day. Then arrival of August was pretty much similar conditons, but true to form August gave us a bit more wet weather than usual that soon cleared up toward the end of the month and conditions again settled.

Above: A nice little barrel May 2008

Swells arriving from early September onwards produced some epic waves due to weather conditions stabilizing and there being regular glassy conditions. The SE trades did not influence too much in 2008, meaning although Macas is a great wave to surf in on-shore conditions anyway, we did not need to worry too much as the winds were often off-shore all morning and sometimes all day even.

Above: A nice little September tube, there were plenty of them to go around and many of the larger variety as well.

In early October we had Nigel Wallace and his mate John Kolehmainen from Tassie visiting who had won the trip in the West Coast Classic of which Macaronis Resort is an official sponsor. Conditions continued to please with glassy conditions and solid swells arriving regularly in the early part, then we experienced a 1 week small wave period where guests surfed mostly at Thunders that week, before we scored another nice swell at the end of October.

With just a group of 5 Portuguese lads, Damo from Tassie and Robbie Page - 2 times World Grand Masters Champ and Pipe Master staying at Macas Resort, we all scored some epic waves and had a great time surfing waves that were glassy all day long in the 6-8 feet range. That last swell was a really nice way to end the season, that's for sure.

Above: An empty 6 foot tube going through unridden at Macas, late October 2008

Perhaps our only disapointment on that last swell was the lack of communication between charter boat operators who again had shown up in a group of 8 boats to try and surf Macas even with a nnumber of guests staying at Macas Resort. This re-enforces that the Mooring Buoy system soon to be launched in 2009 is vital for long term sustainability and is the only solution to reduce unnecessary over-crowding of Macaronis by charter boat visitors.

Please stay tuned for 2009 Reports, until then we wish you all a happy and safe festive season and would like to give our many thanks to everybody that has supported Macaronis Resort this year, whether you stayed at Macaronis Resort or just visited off one of the charter boats for a beer at the bar.

We hope to see you all back again at Macaronois Resort in 2009!!

Warmest Regards,

From All Macaronis Resort Staff and Management.

For full 2008 season Reports please Click Here

Until we provide more reports, we'll leave up some surf photos from the 2008 season for you to check out...