Macaronis Resort - Weekly Reports 2009

Report 14th of May 2009

Hi guys

We’ve had some super fun waves here over the past fortnight, consistently, with a few good waves also scored at Lances Right all by ourselves and at Greenbush.

The boys on our last trip who were here for 2 weeks, Marco, Rodrigo and Flavio, our new friends from Brazil, enjoyed just hanging close by the resort surfing at Macaronis. They opted not to go on Indies Explorer to Lances Right with the other guests, who ended up scoring some perfect waves in the 4-6 ft mark with nobody else around – they had it to themselves for 2 days.

On the last solid swell there were quite a few surfers at Macaronis, but fortunately everybody was good in the water and even though there were a lot of crew about, everybody was still getting plenty of waves.

Apart from surfing at Macaronis, we have also surfed some very hollow Greenbush barrels recently, which saw a few broken boards and a few intense tubes as well. It is so nice to break up surfing at Macas with a few of the other breaks, especially Greenbush which is close by and a favorite.

Below we have added some photos of the surf over the last couple of weeks. Unfortunately Uwah’s camera he bought from Mr Kent has problems with its battery so he has not been in action, so we have had to rely so far on photos from guests for this report.

Anyway for any body interested in a trip to Macaronis Resort, we still have plenty of room especially in June, August and September 2009, so why not come visit and score some waves with us for just US$1350 for an 8 day / 9 night trip or US$2250 for a 15 day / 16 night trip.

Our availability can be checked here.

We’ll be back with another report a bit later.

Cheers

Mark @ Macas

Above: Floater at Macas... view from the tower.

Above: Andrew doing a nice carve on the face, view from the tower.

Above: Rodrigo Cutting back, shot from the longboat.

Above: Deep in the barrel.....

Above: And coming out of the same barrel.

Above: Andrew eating Macaroni for breakfast.

Above: Lucio enjoying some perfect & uncrowded Lances Rights.

Above: Me enjoying a fun arvo sesh at Macaronis.

Above: Daniel cruzing the face....

Above: Fabio looking for the barrel

Above: Renito carving it up on an average day at Greenbush.

Above: Bintangs everybody .... at Macaronis Resort Bar.

Report April 29

Hi guys

Thought it was time to drop you all a new report.

We have just had a nice swell and the conditions are now small again with a new swell arriving tomorrow. Not supposed to get massive this time around, but should at least serve up some fun waves in the 3-5 feet range for our guests. Just 6 of us here at the moment, and another 4 guests coming on Tuesday, so it is pretty laid back here.

The last swell we got some large ‘Macas on steroids’ style tubing waves, but unfortunately our photography was a little average that time around, so only a couple of really good shots shown in the last report.

Also the week before we had a group of lads out from New Jersey, to thaw out a little and in the process score some Mentawai perfection. The boys arrived to some medium sized Macas, but being Easter there were a few other surfers around, so they decided to head north to surf Bintangs and Lances on Indies Explorer, while I stayed at the resort with remaining guests. They got some fun Bintangs with the prevailing north winds and then some Lances the next morning.

But unfortunately they missed some epic Thunders the next day, which my self and Andrew enjoyed with other guests Brent and Nicky. 4-6 feet glass and breaking perfectly, there were some very juicy barrels to be had indeed down there that day - probably as good as Thunders gets..!!

The New Jersy boys then got Thunders the next day almost as good, before hitting some more Macaronis by the end of their 8 day / 9 night trip. Of course they all wanted to stay longer seeing a thumping swell on its way, but of course changing flights, missing school and all the rest of it, prevented them from doing so.

Must say though, the boys were ripping, and perhaps we might see a few of them around in the future on the professional circuit.

Anyway below we have some shots from Rich McMullin who got a few nice shots that trip as well. Thanks for the photos Rich !!

We’ll be back with another report shortly.

Cheers

Mark @ Macas

Above: Nick at Thunders

Above: Jamie Moran, nice wave at Thunders

Above: Zack in da pit.

Above: Nice Wahoo Jamie !!

Above: Indies Explorer at Macaronis (looking from 3rd floor of Cafe.

Hey there guys... update April 22

Well amazing really, just 1 guest staying at Macaronis Resort this week and only 2 boats in the bay. And on one of those boats is just 1 captain, and no guests. And on 1 boat are six stoked Aussies. Macas has been pumping all week and we have been having a ball. Seems this financial crisis has hit home, quitest season in years since I've been here in the Mentawais and this is my 9th season...!!

Well I think Helen from France is happy she came to visit this week. 'Sick pits' have been on the menu. We'll try get Uwah to get some shots of us all tomorrow. He managed to get only a couple with his new camera today before the batteries died, oooops forgot to charge !!

So it was just Andrew, Helen and myself surfing tonight with Phil from Tenggiri and two of his guests.... 6 in the water... 6ft on the face. Unreal. And next trip just 3 guests visiting aswell, then from then on we'll have 6-12 guests at the resort booked through til August.

Here's a couple of shots Uwah managed to get this afternoon before his battery died........ one of me and one of Phil.

Hopefully will have more shots tomorrow to send to the crew at www.baliwaves.com , where we also post a report on a regular basis.

Enjoy the Photos.

Mark @ Macas

Above: Mark measuring swell size... lip to board 2m.

Above: Phil in da pit.

Trip Report April 11

Hi Guys

Thought it was time we give an update on the happenings here at Macaronis Resort.

To tell the truth we have been a little spoiled by epic surf at the beginning of March, and the past 2 weeks have delivered only average surf in comparison, generally head high plus waves but still some fun sessions at Macaronis, Lances Right and down at Thunders, but really nothing compared to what we have had at the beginning of March with double to triple over head surf and nobody around.

One exception was some double overhead waves at Greenbush last week, to begin with it was slightly on-shore, then it turned off-shore with a storm passing by and there were a few barrels coming through; then one of the boys scored an 8 second tube and things were looking very good indeed. But after 4 hours already in the water, we decided to leave the remainder of the Greenbush session to the Barrenjoey crew and head back to Macas to get a feed and to get the evening session at Macas that evening, which paid off with just a few of us out.

Just arrived at Macas Resort is a crew from New Jersey, the boys have been ripping it up at Macas the past couple of days and sure we’ll be able to share some shots with you of the waves they score this week. Tonight we are up again at 3:30am to head to Thunders on Indies Explorer, while the other half of the group is staying at Macaronis just to get a few waves locally and chill.

Well we have all had a great time here as usual, and after many a game of “asshole” (the card game), a couple of days ago we said goodbye to guests Larry and Jordan who stayed with us for 3 weeks, and our friends Claus and Mandakini who stayed with us for 4 weeks, their 3rd stay with us in 3 years.

Ok guys, we’ll be back with some more shots for you a bit later in the week, as we have Rich and Trevor here who are pro photographers from New Jersey. I think even with the medium swell conditions we have forecasted, they should pump out some great shots as the boys are really ripping it up out in the water so looking forward to seeing them myself.

Ok guys, until the next time, hope your all scoring some waves, and don’t forget that we still have 8 day / 9 night trips going for US$1350 and 15 days / 16 nights trips for US$2250 (includes 1 night FREE for the longer stay) …. Just email me if your interested (mark@macaronisresort.com).

Cheers

Mark @ Macas

Above: Jordan in the Bowl at Macas

Above: Unknown - Nice little pig dog tube.

Above: Brent Pulling in...

Above: Andrew snaveled a couple aswell.

Above: Crew on Trip to Bat Cave

Above: On the trip to Bat Cave got some nice fish and did some cliff jumping...

Above: Nikki's killer sunset shot.

Surf update - Saturday 21st of March

Well really it is now Tuesday morning and a lot has happened since our last surf report.

On Thursday 18th we shared surfing at Macaronis with the Barrenjoey crew who were all a good bunch of mellow guys, and the waves were in the 2-3 ft range but really fun, I have added a photo of this day in the photos below. We expected that there would be a pulse for Friday morning before Dan and Matt were heading home, but no way did we expect to be surfing 4-6 ft glass the following morning on our own!!

The Barrenjoey guys decided to leave that night heading to South Pagai to surf some of the southern breaks, and we woke Friday morning only to find that a solid swell had hit as there was a lot of sea mist hanging around the point so it was hard to see from the tower the size of the surf. So we got the boat out there and what do you know, 4-6 ft glass barrels, what a nice way to end the trip with just the 4 of us surfing.

We surfed from 6am through to 10:30am, we all scored barrel after perfect barrel, and then Matt snapped his leash on a dredging set wave and he ended up loosing his board which was washed onto the reef nearby the tower. This gave Matt the opportunity to grab a few morning shots from the tower, which came out really nice, such good light in the morning shooting from that angle, check out the shots below...

Anyway after having such a great session that morning it was time to head in for breakfast and pack our bags. We then got out and noticed that Larry and Jordan, our new guests, were just arriving in from Sikakap at the same time. As Claus had his internet work to do selling Yoga equipment, and Dan and Matt were busy packing to go to Padang, I volunteered to go surfing with Jordan while his dad took some shots. Otherwise Jordan would have had nobody to surf with, now that's an unusual thing to happen in such perfect conditions at Macaronis !!

So myself and Jordan paddled out, and there were still some meaty sets coming through, but now with a very light sea breeze on it, but still heaps of fun. I stayed out with Jordan for 1.5 hours, before the boat swang by to pick me up and Matt, Dan, Mama and myself headed off to Sikakap to catch the ferry in to Padang. I had to leave Jordan alone surfing solid Macas to himself so told him to make the most it, as there would probably be company arriving in the next few days.

I'm now in Padang for a couple of days then back out to Macas Resort with new guests where we plan to spend a few days up at Lances and then down to Thunders on the Indies Explorer with a smaller swell expected for next week. Indies Explorer has now been fully docked and we will probably spend a bit more time surfing some of the other breaks now the season is heating up and we expect that there will be more charter boats around.

Anyway guys enjoy the photos, and we'll be back with another report a bit later in the week.

Cheers

Mark @ Macas

Above: Thursday March 18th fun Macas..... Dan with his Straw hat.

Above: This shows the first section at Macas, the wave is about 3 times longer than this with a smackable wall to hit all the way down the line.... absolute magic.

Above: A shot of Dan getting shacked out of his brain..... and me paddling back out!!

Above: Coming out of another nice morning tube....

Above: Claus the German 'Dry-lander' bottom turning on a bomb..!!

Above: Matt before snapping his leash and heading for the tower...

Surf Update - Thursday 19th March

After four days of overhead and powerful waves, for the past few days, Macaronis still came through with some fun and playful head high surf. The weather conditions have been great, sunny with light winds and glassy conditions the whole day. We have still been surfing from sunrise through to mid-day and into the dark.

The full moon has made the tides extreme highs and lows and the waves have been consistent with over-head sets. We have all been taking shifts with the guys visiting on firstly Midas and then Barrenjoey, with only 4 - 5 guys in the water at a time, so plenty of waves to go around.

Know of any place that you surfed lately, when the waves were on, and where there were only five or less guys in the water for hours at a time ??? Macas is not always grinding and spitting barrels, it can actually get pretty mellow at times offering something for the less experienced surfer. Talk about no worries, the past couple of days have been user friendly and great fun.

We have also been catching some good size Giant Trevally which were great on the BBQ, check out the photos below...

The upcoming weather reports show a pulse on the horizon, so check back for the update in a few days.

Matt from Maccas

Above: Glassy midday session....

Above: Dan in the middle of a 360

Above: Matt enjoying an arvo session

Above: One of the Great Trevally we managed to snag this week.

Latest Report - 13th March 2009, More Great Waves!

Yesterday afternoon the swell kicked but some ugly west winds made the faces lumpy and a few people in the water meant that it was going to be far from an all time session. I left the boys and went in to catch up on some work, and we checked the weather forecasts that night, with looks of horror in that Friday had been forecasted for strong west winds meaning average conditions at Macaronis for the new swell.

We woke this morning at 6:00am and to our surprise the conditions were glassy and the swell had picked up further. I decided to let the guys go out and tackle it as I was feeling a little unmotivated from a late night the night before. By 10:30am the guys had still not returned and it looked like the waves were completely going off, looking from the tower. Surely enough they returned with big smiles, the biggest waves of the trip so far.

Dan had been hesitant at first, and said he was not so keen to take off on the warped looking dredging tubes that were coming through. I then decided to go out at luch time with Matt and we had it to ourselves for 3 hours, a bit of a north wind chopping up the face and dead low tide, but even so, if you picked them there were still some beuties, and others you wanted nothing to do with.

The evening session was the one though, when the wind dropped. The guests on Freedom 3, the only boat, were all out and we decided to join them. I lasted 3 waves before I snapped my board clean in two, and before even getting a decent wave. I watched on from the boat as everybody scored tube after mesmerizing tube. Then the Freedom guys had to get out as they had an appointment to pick up a spare part for their boat, which just left Dan, Matt and Claus surfing in the line up.

I think in 30 minutes, Dan had scored about 8 filthy pits, and he was now taking off deep on the biggest ones as well and making it. Mean while I was spewing I had no board !!!

Check out the picks below, one nice water shot of Dan in the morning and one of myself in the arvo sesh. Sorry, the late arvo sesh was incredible but no photos of this as yet. Incredible waves.

We'll drop you another report a bit later. Waves are supposed to drop a bit over night, Freedom 3 has left, so think we'll be up again at 5:30am again to make the most of it.

Cheers

Mark @ Macas

Latest Report - 10th March 2009, Huey decided to turn it on !!

Well last couple of days the 3 of us have had some incredible waves and heaps of barrels. Conditions have been no wind or off-shore and the pulse that we expected hit, perhaps a little late, as Mangalui was sailing off into the distance toward Thunders. This left just us and Southern Cross which had just arrived, and we had a great arvo sesh that day, followed by a trip to Greenbush, then another late arvo sesh which was pretty special.

On Monday arvo, we sat in the line up with just 5 guys out (same all day), an incredible sunset covering the sky with perfect 4 ft waves peeling down the point with cylindrical perfection. The boys were stoked scoring fun barrels, with conditions absolutely perfect. Even a couple of dolphins decided to pay a visit to the line up, as the boys from Southern cross and Macas Resort traded waves til dark, in fact myself and Dan got out of the water with a full moon not quite bright enough to allow us to continue surfing into the evening.

The following morning on Tuesday the 10th, we were up again at 5:30am, thanks to Dan who has been an early riser since the beginning of the trip. Again we were first in the line up and the boys from Southern Cross gave us a solid 2 hours in the water before they paddled out. We scored some great waves again, clean as, infact so clean that the lip was hard to wack and the only real option was to pull in and get shacked.

Right now it's 12:45pm and Southern Cross has just left, no boats left in the bay, and we are expecting smaller waves until Thursday when a new larger swell is expected to be hitting. Until then I think we all deserve a break and perhaps time to check out the village and do a bit of fishing until Huey turns it on again.

Here are a few shots below of the past 2 days, a sample of what we have been getting, taken by us when somebody has been in the boat.

We'll have another report for you maybe by Sunday after the action with this new swell.

Cheers

Mark @ Macas

Above - Dan riding the lip..

Above - Dan in the Green Room Monday 10th

Above - Myself on a nice morning tube, Tuesday 10th.

Thanks Huey, this one was most enjoyable !! Dredgy lil tube Monday 9th.

Above - Matt ridin high and about to cut back...

Above - Matt cruizin on the face...

Latest Report - 8th March 2009, heaps of waves to go around....

Hi there guys,

Thought we had better up date our reports page to fill you in a little bit on whats been happening here at Macaronis Resort. This week there is just 3 of us staying at the resort, we did have 5 other guys booked but unfortunately they had to pull out at the last minute, but then I guess we are fortunate in a way as it's just us that's been surfing Macas sharing with a friendly crew of Aussies visiting on the Budhidari.

Last few days there have been fun waves in the 3 ft+ rage but we had a pulse this evening which we expect will continue into the evening and bring on a few nice sets in the morning. Matt and Dan have really made the most of it with Dan spending up to 9 hours in the water each day, while I have been a bit crook the past coupla days suffering from what is expected as a gall stone, please no!! Managed to get a few waves this evening, only hoping it will go away in time for the pulse expected tomorrow and a good looking swell due to hit on Thursday this week.

We'll put up another report a bit later in the week once the new swell hits. Until then here are a few photos we managed to get of the past coupla days.

Cheers

Mark @ Macas

Latest Report - Mid Feb 2009, 4 days of fun waves, and just 2 of us Surfing...

Hi guys

Here we are back with our second report for 2009. Indies Explorer is currently being done up in Padang and as a friend, Matt Graziano, had just arrived in Padang and was headed out for some waves at Macas, I decided to come along too for the trip, especially as a swell was forecasted to hit on Saturday, a day after our arrival at Macaronis. Tried to talk the Stickman into coming along, but being busy with his work in Padang, it ended up being just the two of us.

After Matt arrived, we headed down to the Ambu Ambu Ferry and up to our AC cabins. Unusually, we spoke for only an hour if that, then I began to fall asleep. After getting in from an international flight, it should have been Matt falling asleep, and me downstairs having a cold Bintang, but on this occasion that wasn’t the case. We had a comfortable trip over that night, and arrived in Sikakap at around 7am the next morning.

As the Indies Explorer was in Padang docking, we instead caught a long boat around to Macaronis. It turned out to be a rocky old ride, and especially as it was one of the smaller long boats available in Sikakap, hired from our mate Ucok, this re-enforced why it’s such a luxury to have Indies Explorer dedicated to doing return trips between Macas and Sikakap on Fridays throughout the season.

After riding out some largish swells, not ground swells, but produced by some localized Westerly storms, we arrived at Macas and chilled out for a while before going for an arvo surf. Afterwards I realized I had forgotten my short board that had been left in Padang on the Indies Explorer. Anyway, the waves were pretty average at that stage, but as there was just the two of us, we were stoked anyway and was just good to get in the water after a couple of weeks in Padang. That evening we enjoyed an awesome Sumatran chicken curry that Sonny cooked, and went back to our villas to do some emails…

Spewing, the internet connection was not working… um I think there must be a cable unplugged (?), what possibly could be wrong with it? Anyway after trying this and that, we decided I needed to go to Sikakap the next day to sort out the problem, as no communications is never much chop when you are so remotely located from anywhere.

Next day the swell had jacked a bit, we hit the surf early and surfed a few fun waves on our own with a small ground swell that was beginning to show, mixed in with a west wind swell from a storm that had hit the night before. Waves were fun; we spent about 3 hours in the water before I decided it was time to hit Sikakap to try getting a few emails out and also ask our IT guy in Padang, what the problem was with our internet connection at the island …

I left Matt to it, and then hiked overland to Silabu, got on a motor bike and travelled the 1.5 hours to Sikakap through the jungle. It’s funny at a time like this when we are not officially open, the hardships you go through to do anything in this remote place I thought, little would guests realize when they visit and everything is properly setup for them. I stayed the afternoon in Sikakap, got a few emails off, and then headed back to Macaronis that evening, after grabbing instructions from our IT employee about fixing the internet connection at Macas.

Arriving back at Silabu late, I then hiked to Macas in the dark with a small torch on the back of a lighter. Bit of a mission, lost my way once, but fortunately the track was defined enough to arrive safely to Macas beach. No snakes or crocodiles sighted, but heaps of glow worms flying around all over the place in the jungle which looked unreal, a bit like the lights you see in the water when driving a speedboat at night.

After arriving to Macas Beach, I then waded across the lagoon (the boys couldn’t hear me yelling out to them from the other side !!), and then went to fix the internet, but still no luck …… frustrating …. So I decided after having a solid meal of chicken rendang, considering it was Sunday the next day and the swell was picking up, the best bet was to surf all day Sunday then head to Sikakap Sunday evening to catch up on email staying the night in Sikakap, then head back to Macas Monday morning..

Sunday delivered near perfect small fun waves, we had a morning and arvo surf, probably 6 hours in the water in total that day. Matt and I were swapping wave after wave and considering there is usually not a lot of paddling to be done when surfing at Macaronis, that afternoon we were both pretty warn out and sun burnt, then it was time to head back to Sikakap…. So again I hiked up to Silabu Village, got on the motor bike and headed off on the dirt track again through the jungle…

That night Sikakap greeted me with a few well earned cold Bintang beers, and I managed to catch up on my emails and finally find out what was up with the internet connection…. Pretty simple really, it had been cut off because the agent in Padang had not paid the bill !!! So after expressing my dis-satisfaction with all the motor bike hours I’d been doing, they fixed the problem and said the internet would be back on in 24 hours….. great, wish they had of told me that last time..!!

That morning I rose in Sikakap for some Nasi Goreng, and then decided to get going back to Macas early, as I had a feeling that Monday was going to be a good day of waves, and certainly could not let Matt have it all to himself!! So I got going, also feeling a little bit dry on the tongue after a few Bintangs polished off the night before.

Arriving back at Silabu, I hiked down to Macas to find that the swell had jacked again, and on Monday we had some really fun waves that arvo, again just the two of us out with the odd 4-5 footer coming through. One such set rolled through and I took the opportunity to pull into a nice green cavern, only to find I was a little deep and after some travel time, and doing a superman dive forwards, I swam to the surface to find my board ‘old favorite’, had been snapped clean in half. I’d had that board for about 4 years and although a little old and cigarette stained looking, she was a fun little 6’2, now going to the doctor to be joined together as a spare in the shed.

I raced back to shore after seeing that last set, and fortunately Uwah (our long boat driver), had a nice 6’3 on hand that Bootsy had given him as a tip the year before (good on ya Bootsy!!). So then Uwah offered for me to borrow it, and I was back out there. Matt was getting some really nice waves, and we both surfed almost til dark that arvo, with some solid sets rolling through finally offering a bit more juice…

That night, starving, we had a basic meal of vegetable omelets, noodles and rice. As there were no guests staying at the resort, basically Matt and I with Sony, Uwah and Hendrik, were happy to kick back and do it camping style. As such the bar and restaurant was closed, and it wasn’t long before we hit the sack and passed out after a long day of waves that arvo.

Tuesday morning, well what do you know. A higher tide in the morning and light north winds again, which meant Macas Right also had some nice waves coming through which looked very tempting. We first went out to Macas Left, checked it out, looked average (we thought the swell had dropped), but decided to go for a quick paddle before heading over to Macas Right, which looked really clean with off-shore winds.

But it wasn’t long before Huey started sending through some bigger sets again at Macas, and suddenly we were going wave for wave for a good hour, with sets at 4 feet plus, and the odd bomb that was opening up and offering a nice hollow take off, with fun walls to whack down the line. Although Macas Right looked really tempting, again it was just the two of us, so we decided to make the most of it at Macas and got a couple of hours of Solid waves before it was time for breaky, and me to make tracks back to Sikakap to catch the ferry back to Padang.

I left Matt at Macas, perhaps wishing at that stage the resort was open so he had some company, but then at least he still had some really nice waves coming through on the door-step, and it isn’t very often anybody can surf Macaronis entirely to themselves, so I said farewells and told him to make the most of it..!!

We managed to get a few photos of the waves over the past 4 days, but nothing spectacular as when the waves where pumping, of course we were both in the water. Certainly shows that it was fun enough though with just the 2 of us out, although not quite tubular spectacular – such conditions we look forward to seeing from March onwards when the roaring forties start to kick in.

Our first scheduled trip for the 2009 season (after a soft opening trip just with 3 guests at the end of January), is on Thursday March 06, and just with a couple of guys booked at this stage. We then have some couples visiting over the rest of March (some staying for the full month), but mainly up until the end of April just half a dozen guests booked on each trip so far, so a great time to come visit in early season with 8 day / 9 night trips up for grabs from just US$1350 per person.

Drop us a line if you’re interested, and we would be happy to fill you in more on the details.

We will be back with another report shortly, hopefully a few more empty barrels before the season really heats up..!!

Cheers and best everything…

Mark @ Macas

Macaronis Resort Trip Report No.1… Jan 22nd – 31st 2009

Well it was a great first trip back to Macaronis Resort to start the 2009 season. Prior to this week a couple of crew had shown up and as Mikey had stayed with us prior, and being a mate of the Stickman, we allowed him and his 3 mates camp out with the Indo security staff that were hanging out on the island, and from the grapevine it was apparently worth it, as they scored a nice solid swell that hit Macas at the end of their stay in mid January.

For the crew on this last trip, being our first official trip back in 2009, it was just myself, Christian from Gelong (a regular Winki surfer), Dylan from New Zealand (a skipper in the Med and local to the north Island of NZ) and Margy his lovely companion, who got heaps of good shots of the trip and got into a bit of diving also.

For the first day it was just us, only just surfable at Macas but still plenty of fun with 2-3 ft sets peeling down the reef and just the 3 of us out. I think that first day we spent a good 3-4 hours surfing and from there it just got gradually better and better by the day.

The next 3-4 days we continued to surf with still not another soul in sight except the villagers fishing on the edge of the reef; Christian and Dylan actually clocked in well over 8 hours in the water a couple of days, and although the surf was lacking in power to deliver hollow barrels, it was still consistent enough and fun for just 3 guys out, and both Dylan and Christian agreed they had had more waves in some of those sessions in one day, than in 2-3 months back home.

Mid trip, an increase in period caused the swell to neaten up and jack a little with a bit more of a ground swell quality to it, and then we were starting to see a few nice ones come through. Not long after this a charter boat showed up, so I decided to let the boys tackle it with the 8 or so other guys taking turns while I caught up on a bit of work on the laptop, still looking to hunt down a few extra bookings for the 2009 season. The visiting charter boat guys only stuck around for a couple of days and during that time the boys said they were still getting heaps of fun waves.

During the trip we all enjoyed some great diving and scored some nice reef fish we speared for BBQ dinners. And now I mention it, I also forgot to mention the 4 x 10 - 15kg Tenggiri we caught on the way round to Macas on the first day, that kept the fridge stocked full of fish for most of the trip – we all caught one each in only 3 hours of having the lines out !!

Anyway to finish the trip off, we were due to head north on Indies Explorer and spend the final day up at Lances Right on the Friday when the swell report had predicted a pulse in the swell with another increased period meaning more groundswell qualities.

The night prior we decided to polish the remainder of beer off, and we found a stray bottle of Sambuka floating around outback that got in the way of a relatively early evening, which left us all a little rough the following morning…. good thing the wind had blown the waves out the next morning with a big storm coming in from the West, definitely no good for Macas, but good winds for HT’s which is where we had planned to head that evening after dinner.

However, the wind kept blowing and blowing and began to howl from the west so 3 big screen movies later in the bar, we realized we weren’t going any where that evening and we all settled to sleep in the comfort of our own villas and instead rise and shine at 7am to get on Indies Explorer and head north.

We rose that next morning to absolute haggard weather, and we got wet bums and everything else, after a good feed of hot vegemite on toast and coffee, on the way over to Silabu Island where Indies Explorer was anchored. We were then on our way to Lances Right, where we arrived at about 1pm that arvo. I got stuck into some strange classic book called the “Alchemist” while the boys got 3 hours in the water and surfed 3-4 ft HT’s off-shore and clean with only 6 guys out, and both being natural footers were stoked to finally get a bit more juice and forehand barrels. Dylan came in and said that his last wave that day had totally made his trip.

That evening we headed back in to Padang, and the boys and Margy departed to the airport. I went home and had a well earned sleep and caught up with the family. Both boys said they’ll be back in November…. I hope they are, with Margy as well, as they were a top crew to have visit and look forward to their return. Otherwise I’ll be dropping in to see you on the way home Christian to try some of that Winki pop ; )

So for this year, we still have plenty of room left, in fact we are still only 35% booked for the season (as of Jan 31 2009) with some trips still not having any guests booked at all. Also the beaut thing about Macaronis Resort is we do not operate on a minimum numbers policy like most charter boats, we operate no matter what, meaning you can book on your own or with a couple of mates, no worries.

Prices have just been slashed to encourage a few more crew to come on board for the 2009 season, despite the global economic woes that have had everybody stressing. What better way to relieve the stress of the grind than to come out to the Mentawais on a trip to Macas Resort, from just US$1350 (or approx AU$2,000) for a resort and surf charter boat combo trip of 8 days / 9 nights…??

Do yourself a favor and check out our Specials page at www.macaronisresort.com/specials.php, and hopefully we’ll see you out here later in the year !!

Cheers all, and hope Huey is treating you well where ever you are !!

Check out our trip photos below, thanks Margy ; )

Mark @ Macaronis Resort.

Dyl with a nice fish, good shot

Dyl n Margy with another fish

Food merchants in canoes…. coconuts anybody??

Christian with a another nice fish...

My daughter Chelsea and mother in law (The ‘mumma’ – best massage in Mentawai !!) – where’d this monkey come from?

Shit I love this Uwah, I am keen to learn to surf !! Please take me out again next time…

A regular lagoon sunset off the villa, where’s my G n T ?

So where have the sets gone ???

But we did have a few waves…!!

Go Amat, slice him up…!

Another one bites the dust….

Yeah, I got one too....

Starting to shape up, not bad for just the 3 of us out !!

Winki’s in reverse??? Naaah.

Fun and mellow…

Please don’t bog… hehe.

Start the engines… I need some bananas!!

Uwah, the legendary boat driver...

Uwah, now that’s a more stylish shot…!!

Christian getting what he can out of a 3 ft wave, but still lots of fun driving it down the line…

Dylan off the bottom…

Dylan, a nice shot with the dead trees in the background…

The famed Macaronis Sea Eagal.. Where will he go when the last tree falls down?

Dylan off the bottom again…

Poor old Indies – she’s about to go on dry dock for a new paint job this week, ready for the 09 season...!!

Christian going almost horizontal…

Margi, the legendary photographer… after a hard days work.. "sorry Dylan, I want a full long neck to myself tonight, no sharing !! "

Christian cruising…

Any chance of a floater ??

Shit, get me a Bintang, its arvo beer time …!

Margy, and Chelsea, after she had her first surf at Macas, not bad for a 3 yr old on dad’s back…

Dylan… so where is that barrel, come on Huey !!

Chelsea’s new found best friend…

Shit Dyl, yeah grab a photo of me… why not... !!

Here comes a set….

"Well… Silabu Village has been here for hundreds of years… and they have been drinking warm beer all this time……"

Welcome to our town….

Mentawai village life…

Christian – "me new Bro’s"…

Yeah nice to meet you boys n girls… be back in November, maybe...

Click Here For 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...