Reports 2009                            

Report November 13

Well another season draws to a close here at Macaronis resort, home to the magnificent wave machine that is Macas. Late October to early November has seen the swell drop off a bit after the relentless perfection of mid September to late October. There has still been waves every day here at Macas and a damn sight better than just about everywhere else in the world, just a little smaller. The good news has been the lack of crowds. 

The swell finally came back up at the end of October. It was yo-yoing up and down from one day to the next, 3-4’ one day and 2-3’ the next - lots of fun waves and hardly anyone around. Most of the boats have finished for the season so we are seeing one boat at a time and no boats for up to 3 days at a time. Yes, I am lucky enough to have been surfing Macas all by myself. 

Thursday 12th of Nov saw a predicted swell hit overnight. The next morning saw a building swell with perfectly clean offshore conditions. Barreling 4 - 5’ sets were exploding onto the Macaronis reef with the odd bomb to keep everyone on their toes. A couple of boats turned up for the swell but numbers were thin in the water. Conditions stayed super clean all day and turned out to be one of the best days in the last 3 to 4 weeks. Many barrels were ridden and plenty of happy surfers as numbers were as low as 6 up to a maxing crowd of 10!!! Today the 13th and there is still plenty of action and the forcasts are for continuing waves over the next week. It was a 3 surf day for me yesterday which is usually the norm, and I can expect plenty more coming up over the next week.

We have also been keeping pretty busy outside of the surf too. Our boat man Uwah is a gun fisherman and he will be ready to take you to his favorite spots around Macas either trolling for the wide variety of surface fish or some bottom bashing on bait for all sorts of reef fish, GT’s, Mangrove Jack and the list goes on. The last week has seen Uwah pulling in multiple, chunky GT’s right next to Macas while I have been surfing every single day. 

Early and late season at Macas provide the most uncrowded conditions of the year. Sure, your chances of getting thumping swells from the Indian Ocean lows are decreased as opposed to May – Sep, but there are always plenty of quality days with pristine conditions and a complete lack of people in the lineup.

If your sick of getting skunked by 1’ onshore slop in the Southern hemisphere summer or freezing your bum off in the Northern hemisphere winter, consider some early season relief at Macas. Come February and March, there will be minimal to no crew in the water and especially considering that March 09 was one of the best months in the whole season. So don’t let the boss get barreled all by himself in early season, we can’t stand the heckling we get. I won’t be here that early, so I will be weeping on my keyboard at home when the boss sends through the latest batch of early season perfection photos with the usual read and weep captions.

Ha ha, hope you can make it up for a vitis in 2010, bye for now….

Damien.

Report November 01

Hey there guys, well for the final week our Italian friends; Marco, Alessio and Peitro enjoyed a few fun waves by themselves but unfortunately Huey decided to go on holidays for most of that time, so nothing big really, but at least they were surfing by them selves.

In addition, being close to end of season, we had a bolt of lightning hit the cafe which damaged some of our electonics equipment including the internet modem and possibly the antenna, then Indies Explorer hit a log of wood breaking a propeller blade, so it seemed somebody was trying to tell us that we should also be going on holidays!!??!!.

Anyway after contacting guests booked in November 2009 letting them know the situation, our November guests happily decided to instead transfer their bookings to March 2010, meaning this is now the end of the season for us and will be re-opening Feb 23, 2010.

Right now Damien is out at Macas enjoying a few fun waves on his own, with the swell due to pick up tomorrow to 1.8m @ 15 seconds.... lucky bugger!! I'll be headed out Tuesday and hopefully there will still be a bit of it left before headed back to Aussie.

We are currently preparing a season Overview with some great footage taken by Bootsy over the season, until we post this, check out the short clip below made by Dan McGregor of his 2 weeks trip March 06 - March 20; this trip we were blessed with great waves and nobody around every day, in fact 3 solid swells over that period. Shame we missed filming the best days though !!

Anyway enjoy the clip below and we'll be back with our Season Overview shortly and a short video clip of some of the epic waves we have scored this year.

Cheers

Mark

Report October 14 – October 21

Hey guys, well we’re on a roll with reports, so thought I might as well keep it going…

Last week we had Alessio, Pedro, Marco, Elisa and Simona arrive from Italy and James from Northern Beaches of Sydney, just 6 guests at the resort plus me Bootsy Cynthya and Damo. James was actually doing some relief work in Padang to help out with the earthquake victims, and then decided to jump on board for this trip at the last minute.

For the first couple of days, following a nice swell the week earlier, we had pretty small waves with the boys from the Mediterranean getting just enough size to enjoy a few fun ones by themselves at Macas. Then fortunately on Saturday we started seeing the new swell that had been forecasted, unfortunately down graded from what it was looking like the week earlier, but still looking Ok for the week ahead.

The first day of swell James and I stayed at Macas, while the rest of the crew headed up to Bat Cave with Bootsy and Cynthya. James headed out for a morning surf which ended up being a 6 hour session, I joined him in the early afternoon and we were only sharing with only 3-4 others off a charter boat so there were plenty of waves to go around.

The other guys scored some much bigger surf in the 5 ft range up at Bat Cave, and were all stoked with their trip up there. At the end of the day Pedro cooked an incredible spaghetti Marinara, teaching Sony a trick or two in the kitchen. Also later Elisa and Simona cooked some awesome crispy pizza and gnocchi, geeps felt like we should have been paying the guests for the Italian food we were eating…!! It was truly awesome...

The following day we were treated to some bigger waves at Macas, all the crew getting some nice waves. James had a long surf in the morning, I surfed early arvo, and then Marco and Pedro surfed late arvo. The waves were fun in the 3-4 ft mark, still with just one boat visiting so plenty to go around.

That arvo we had some gnarly looking clouds hanging around meaning a storm was on the way, then we suddenly had a massive clap of lightning which hit the main building and scared the day lights out every body. We actually saw blue light around us and the sound was deafening, as it happened I saw the internet signal drop out immediately on my laptop. Yep, the lightning wiped out our modem, our stereo, our big screen projector and possibly the outdoor wireless antenna. Indonesia… whether it be earthquakes, tsunami, volcanos or lightning, it seems there is always something….!!

So next day I had to return to Padang on the Beriloga Ferry with the electronic gear to be repaired or replaced, as the swell was forecasted to rise a little for the next couple of days. On Monday and Tuesday the crew enjoyed some larger waves at Macas with good conditions, but obviously a bummer the internet was down which is usually such a bonus staying on land at Macas, as it is so easy to keep in touch with family and friends.

Arriving in Padang I sent some emails off for guests, and fortunately as my house was still standing with the internet connection working, but the rest of Padang is such a mess after the recent earthquake, so many buildings now reduced to rubble, so many livelihoods lost, so many people probably still buried.  There are still around 200 NGO’s in town assisting communities worst effected by the disaster. Fella’s Bar and Restaurant has been packed out every night with Westerners, never seen so many people around town before!!

For the week ahead we still have our 5 Italian guests at Macas, but unfortunately forecasted to be our smallest week of surf for the year, it looks almost flat out there at the moment. Before I left I had offered for the guys to keep a week in credit and instead head down to Bali as they had originally booked for 2 weeks then some where headed to Bali, but despite the internet being down and not such a great surf forecast, the crew chose that they would like to stay on at Macas anyway, as there were few people around and being used to surfing the Mediterranean, only small waves would keep them happy…. I really hope at this point they are at least getting that!!

Our Internet technician will be headed out to Macas this Sunday on the ferry to reconnect the Internet, and the resort will be staying open until November 25 2009. So for anybody keen on a late season trip (keep an eye on the swell forecast!!), then you’re most welcome as we currently only have a few people booked for the last 4 weeks of the season, keeping in mind November can still deliver some clean swells in the 3-4 ft mark with lighter winds usually as well.

Anyway Damo will no doubt be dropping us a line from Macas a bit later, until then hope your getting some waves and look forward to hearing from you if you’d like to book a spot in late season or for 2010!!

Cheers

Mark @ Macas

Above: James about to crack the lip..

Above: Damo enjoying an arvo sesh at Macas... almost time for a Bintang Damo!!

Above: Damo again on a nice one up at Bat Cave

Above: Marco at Bat Cave

Above: Marco again.... at Bat Cave

Above: What's goin on here !! Alessio steeling a wave from Pedro hehe!!

Above: Damo on a Smoker at the Cave...

Above: Girls on the beach at Bat Cave, nice spot for a Picnic!! Nice view hey?

Above: James back at Macas..

Above: Empty one at Macas..

Report October 07 – October 14

This week we have our new guests Eddy and Isaac visiting from the States and guests staying on another week including Carlos, Lombard, Erin, Grant, Joya, Juan and Aritz. On the second day all the crew decided to do a trip up to Bat Cave with Bootsy and Cynthia to see what the other guys were raving about the day before. Again they came back with big smiles and more stories of empty glassy 4-5 ft waves with photos to prove it.

For the next 5 days we have had some pumping waves here at Macas where I even managed to get in a couple of 6-8 hour sessions myself. The crew had a week of solid waves with a 2.1m swell delivering some perfect barrels and smackable lips in the 4-6 foot range. Erin, Grant, Isaac, Carlos, Joya and myself were also stoked to surf Silabu Left a couple of days all on our own with waves of similar size, its so nice to have that other option around the corner with nobody around.

Juan, Erin and Bootsy also went for an excursion around to Greenbush, but as we had promised, the tides were not high enough for the Bush on this occasion, but anyways Juan got his fix of checking out the bush, a wave he had planned to surf sometime during the trip. Next time for anybody targeting to surf Greenbush you need to plan your trip on a new or full moon when there are bigger tides, also preferably early season or later season when winds are more variable.

Macaronis Resort remains open until November 25 2009, with only a few people booked up until then. Crowds are already thinning out here but the waves have still been pumping with lighter winds as is typical of the early and late seasons.

If your keen to come visit during November 2009 or if you are looking to book for 2010, then best get onto it soon as current Special Rates are only available up until November 30 2009. Check out our Specials Page for further details.

I’ll be here at Macas for another week or so before flying back to Aus for a couple of months off, in this time Bootsy, Damo and Sony will be handling surf guiding at Macaronis Resort until November 25 when we will be closing for the season.

Damo and Bootsy have put their hand up to do some surf reports so stay tuned for some late season reports from the boys over this time.

We’ll have Damien and Bootsy drop you another report in a week or so, for now enjoy the photos below taken over the past couple of weeks.

Cheers

Mark @ Macas  

Above: Erin at the Bat Cave, some nice carvable faces...

Above: Eddy pulling in to another tube, man he did a lot of hours in the water and did not want to go home, see ya back next time Eddy, great to have you over!!

Above: Grant on a nice bomb up at the Bat Cave, glassy pumping waves had this day...

Above: Joya surfing at the Bat Cave... stylin Babe!! Nice one....

Above: Nice Arvo Tube bootsy.... howz the light.. its almost Bintang time!!

Above: Lombard's turn for a Tube at Macas, he was not afraid to charge the larger chunkier ones either!!

Above: Mark in the pocket at Macas

Above: The take off at Macaronis...Bootsy

Above: Air time at Macaronis...

Above: Carlos on a nice Glassy one at the Bat Cave...

Above: Lombard carvin it up at the Bat Cave

Above: Aritz grabbing a little barrel at Macas...

Above: Juan in one of many barrels at Macaronis...

Above: Grant on s smoker at Silabu Left

Above: Mark at Greenbush earlier in the year - this ones for you Juan!!

Report September 30 – October 07

The September 30 Earthquake in Padang:

On September 29th myself and 15 guests that had just arrived in Padang were enjoying a few cold Bintangs at the Bumiminang Hotel, and then the next day a few hours after arrival at Macaronis Resort, we felt the earth tremor which went on for about 30 seconds, then the shaking subsided. Fortunately no damage to buildings and everybody was Ok here at Macaronis Resort.

After the earthquake occurred on September 30, emails then started poring in; worried family of guests, travel agents, families searching for news of loved ones in Padang. With help of Christie at Wave Park we assisted in locating the son of a worried Spanish mother who had previously lost her other son in a car accident the year before. Fortunately her son was safely camped out at E-bay in the north.

For a couple of days we didn’t realize the extent of damage as all phones and internet were cut off to Padang and media had yet to enter the area. But when it did, then we saw on TV, the Bumiminang that we were all in the day before had partially collapsed, probably irreparable, and the Ambacang Hotel around the corner was a far worse story to comprehend.

Staff kept up to date on the big screen in the bar with news updates so they could find news of their families and friends, also using face book on the internet. Fortunately within a couple of days all family and close friends of staff had been located and confirmed unharmed, except the obvious damage to most houses and belongings in Padang.

The Surf:

Over the week of September 30 – October 07, unfortunately we didn’t see any large swells but none the less there were still a few fun waves to be enjoyed at Macaronis and Bat Cave. Unfortunately a big storm hit during a trip to Thunders causing a few problems with one of our longboats, which ended up being a bit of a frustrating trip as the wind also did not cooperate and stormy weather made things difficult.

A trip to Bat Cave the following day though was the complete opposite, and the crew came back raving about clean 4-5 foot faces they scored completely on their own that day. Damo now taking over from Andrew as surf guide, accompanied guests who were all stoked with the final day of their trip, enjoying 4-5 feet perfection on their own then returning to a BBQ under the stars at Macaronis over a few quite Bintangs.

Those on that trip included Ingo and Dietlind from South Africa (father and daughter) who had a blast and hopefully we will see them back again, Francois and Natalia from Mauritius who unfortunately didn’t score the best trip to Thunders, but being capable surfers did manage to get a few fun waves at Macas throughout the week despite the lack of solid swell. Also on the trip we had Justin who came up for a week from G-land, who got a few fun waves and contributed to the evening festivities on occasions, also sharing his villa with Richard from South Africa.

Almost forgot to mention poor old Richard somehow managed to head but the reef which put him out of action for a couple of days, thanks to Juan and Aritz for stitching him up, always seems to happen when the swell is small !!

Anyway cant have been too much of a put off as Richard has already contacted me about booking another trip this time for 3 weeks in 2010 and hopefully Justin as well.

Above: Grant on a fun one at Macas

Above: Juan in the barrel at Macas...

Above: Shmokin tube at Macaronis....

Report September 23 – September 30

This week we had Richard visiting from South Africa, Daniel from Bali and Ivan, Bruno, Rodrigo, Tatiana and Carol from Brazil.

Richard had a bad start loosing his boards (flying Emirates!!), regardless he left for Macas with the rest of the group boardless and I agreed to stay behind in Padang to get his boards back and thanks to George off Irish Mist, we had them delivered to Richard within a couple of days to Lances Left, meeting the Richard on the Indies Explorer.

The first couple of days guests enjoyed some fun waves at Macaronis, then at Lances Left scored some clean 3-6 ft surf before a westerly storm came in meaning it was time to head around the corner to Lances Right. At Lances Right the surf was also in the 6 ft range, with some nice arvo barrels to be had.

That evening dinner was had on the Indies Explorer as the crew headed back down to Macaronis arriving at 10pm that evening. We then enjoyed pumping waves at Macaronis for the next 3 days. During the trip we also surfed Silabu Left and Bat Cave where we enjoyed some nice 4-5 foot surf being the only ones visiting at the time (usually the case with these waves).  

Above: A nice day at Lances Left

Above: Bootsy later that arvo going the other way at Lances Right

Above: and back at Macaronis......

Above: Macas line up early morning...

Above: Bat Cave line up afternoon, can be super long and fun when all falls into place.

Report September 11 – September 22

Over this period we had a group of 14 Aussies visit organized by Paul Crowley, who scored the solidest swell of the season surfing Macaronis, Lances Right and Silabu Left during their 8 day stay. Also during this time we had Alejandro and Braulio visiting from the Canary Islands and Michael Evans and Dare Ahearn visiting later in the trip from Australia.

The crew visiting the first week started out from Bungus Harbor and after a few icy cold Bintangs the night before on Indies Explorer, surfed some solid waves at Lances Right the first morning which showed some nice size in the 4-6 foot range. Then later in the afternoon the Indies Explorer continued on to Macas for an arvo session as the swell was picking up, forecasted to reach 3.2m later that week.

On the way down from Lances the boys got a double hook of a couple of nice size Great Trevally which gave some excitement on board before the crew laid eyes on Macaronis with a slight onshore breeze, but still some very fun waves to be had for their first arvo session.

Throughout the week the boys scored Macas double to triple over-head, and a few of the boys enjoyed surfing the biggest Silabu Lefts of the year, which was holding excellent shape about the same size as Macaronis, double to triple over-head.

During the week we didn’t bother visiting the southern breaks as the swell was too big, so Silabu Left remained the close by alternative for the guys that wanted to surf something different with less people in the water.

A few big nights were also enjoyed during the trip, in particular when a group of Hawaiian musicians visited off Naga Laut, and a jam session was had with the Aussie lads around the bar.

After speaking to Paul on arrival back to Padang, he offered to send us a few of the 3000 or so photos taken during the trip, here are a few of them below…

Above: The crew surfed Big Silabu Left on several days during their stay. This day was one of the bigger days..

Above: A little Bowl at Macas... think this might be one of the Canary boys??

Above: Bootsy this time in the bowl of Macaroni.

Above: Stalling for another nice tube...

Above: Foamy lil barrrel on the inside..

Above: Yep it was pretty big Macas, howz this foam bomb..!!

Above: full cover up gear on a mellower morning at Macas...

Above: Jam session

Report September 03

Well we just had a big couple of weeks here at Macaronis Resort with several Tassie Devils, a few boys from the East Coast of Australia, Marco and Brett from the States and also some Brazilians in the mix for good measure. There was quite a blend of people but made for an enjoyable trip, we had a few wild party nights, but most guests were disiplined hiting the hay early and getting up to do the dawn patrol missions. Others however werent going to bed very early at all, some even did not go to bed and still did a dawn patrol mission!!

Dan from the Gold Coast as usual spent more time in the water than most with his new surf partner Jason, while Joao and Rafeal also spent quite a bit of time out there amongst it.with the other lads visiting from Brazil. I enjoyed a few good sessions earlier in the trip, but then did more entertaining in the bar in the latter part with my mates visiting from Tasmania. Sao was a classic, his first time out of Australia, was the party animal of the trip, even somehow ended up in the lagoon one night trying to hunt down a crocodile??

Surf wise, the first day out on Indies Explorer from Padang, the group scored some nice 4-6 ft glassy Lances Right's, before headed down to Macaronis arriving mid afternoon. The waves at Macas were reasonable size, in fact the first few days surfing at Macas were some of the better days of the trip. Everybody got a few nice waves, then the Brazo crew, Marco and Brett decided to head down to Thunders as the swell had dropped out a bit, but there were still a few fun ones coming in at Macas.

When the group arrived back from Thunders a couple of days later stoked as, then the Aussies decided it was their turn and cruised down for a couple of nights also having a top time and scoring some glassy waves in the 6ft range. During the 14 night trip we had 3 bumps in the swell, nothing really massive but still quality waves keeping everybody happy. We also surfed a bit of Silabu Left for a couple of days which was a nice change to have on our own.

With a couple of days to go, the whole group decided to hit Lances again for the last 2 days of the trip, and it paid off, as Lances Left on the final afternoon turned on and the guys that weren't drinking beer on the boat had an absolute ball. The guys that were drinking icy cold bintangs on the boat were also having a top time, with a nice arvo breeze blowing, a beautiful sunny day in paradise and to cool off we did some Mast jumping off Indies Explorer, Jono was the bravest in that challenge, jumping right off the top Mast, must be about 12m high. Just glad he hadn't had too many Bintangs by that stage...

We left that evening for Padang after dinner, and the boys borrowed 3 cartons of beer off Poto on King Milenium, which to our surprise later turned out to be only 2 cartons, but we were thankful for that the next morning as we all woke up feeling remarkably healthy and ready to go for some breakfast at the Bumiminang before everybody caught their flights out.

Over-all another enjoyable trip, with some fun waves enjoyed by all and a great bunch of guys to have visit.

A special thanks to all the Macaronis Resort staff, also Andrew and Bootsy. As always Andrew was busy as the local ding repair man while Bootsy was doing as much water time as anybody. Also Hendrik and Uwah who always put in long hours every day in getting guests out to the surf from the crack of dawn until dusk.

We'll be back with another report around mid September, for now here are a few photos scored on the recent trip....

Cheers

Mark @ Macas

Photo Above: Jason Marshy in the PIT at Macas.

Photo Above: Andre drawing lines with a skid lid having evil thoughts.

Photo Above: Boonga on a beauty...

Photo Above: Pigsy smackin the lip

Photo Above: Dan's turn to give the lip some more punishment..

Photo Above: Daniel on a clean face..

Photo Above: Joao on nice drop, where did all these boogy boarders come from?

Above: Bowls Right, best on a big high tide, an intense little Right Tube... tide getting a bit low here though...

Report 25 August

Hey there Guys,

Time for another report from our resort in the bowl of Macaroni. This report is from Andrew as I had spent the first 2 weeks in August getting a few last pricks for a dose of rabies vaccine… hope it works!! 

Anyway sounds like the crew had a top trip, here is what Andrew had to say….

Well the last group was a great mix of people from around the globe, all sharing together in the waves & in creating some amusement back at the bar and around the resort. It was also good to see everyone improving daily in the surf, especially Sasha & Mark who don't get much reef time back in Switzerland!!

The waves were pretty consistent at Macas daily with only a few 'side' trips required here and there to break things up. This included Glen sacrificing his 6' 8'' at Thunders & Byron losing a fin (without realizing!) & the seat of his shorts on the reef at the 'Bush'.

 John & Lee managed to fulfill their long term goal of getting tubed in the Mentawais & possibly created a new record for air –conditioning, converting their villa into ' the meat locker! '

 Grant caught himself a nice Spanish Mackerel, which was probably some compensation for getting 'licked' by the 'Savage' at the bar.... Yes Craig, thanks for the Karaoke as well !.

Both the girls, Mackenzie & Alexa proved that it is possible to spend the entire stay at Macaronis in a set of bikinis, & also showed that girls can totally rip it up in the surf !!  The girl’s Chaperone, Coach & Mentor Mr Matty scored some of the best barrels of the trip & like everyone else, seemed to get better with every surf during the trip.

A great trip had by all, and we hope to see everyone back in the not too distant future.

A feature in the shots below...... Greenbush, one of our most favourite waves, epic, ......an insane left hand tube that is now the pipe of the South Mentawais!!!

We’ll be back with another report end of August.

From Andy B – Bowls @ Macas

Above: Well if you want to surf the Mentawais, this is one of the best barrels out there. The Bush is a wave that locks you in the barrel for a very long time.

Above: Another shot of the 'Bush', 30 min from Macas Resort..... eeeewww!!

Above: John at the 'Bush'

Above: Matt coming out of Many a tube at Macas..........!!!!!!

Above: Bootsy on his backhand at Macas knows the wave as well as anybody else. It is always a pleasure to see Bootsy rip it up at Macas.. And at the same time, loves a beer and a very genuine bloke!!! Thanks for all you hard work this year Bootsy, although for you, I know you'll say - it's a pleasure!! hahaha.

Above: I cant even know who this is, as I missed this trip, but looks like he was looked after well. After a nice exit from a sizable barrel he is expressing his total stoke!!! I like this photo, have seen many instances like it at Macas, so good to see people get the best waves of their lives !!!

Above: Well I'm told that these are under-rated images, cause these girls were ripping it apart...!! And as Andrew said, they spent their whole week or so hanging in their bikinis either at the bar or in the waves. But here is a shot we have of Alexa enjoying a bowl of Macaroni. Hope to see you back again Alexa, our staff miss your female company at the bar !!

Above: Mackenzie, her surfing got so much better as the trip went on. Just so lucky we had Sony and Kap to look after the girls on the way in... hahaha.

Anyways, there are the photos and we'll be back some time soon with another report... until then stay safe and find the tube, cheers, Mark... who is supposed to be at Macas Right Now!! and heading out very shortly.

Thanks to Andrew (Bowls) and Bootsy who have provided these imiges....... hope ur getting some tubes, where ever you are...!!

Report Tuesday 4th August

Hi guys

Well it’s been a couple of weeks since we last dropped you a report, and since then we’ve had some more perfect surf as we now move into August and the middle of the surf season.

Last week we had Dustin Hollick and Luke Johansen visit from Tasmania, previous winners of the 2007 and 2008 West Coast Classic surf events held at Marawah on Tasmania’s North West Coast.

Macaronis Resort sponsors the Tasmanian West Coast Classic annually, to give the winner an opportunity each year to come up and thaw out whilst at the same time scoring some Mentawai perfection.

And the boys were ripping it up too whilst they were here…. check out the sequence of Dusty getting a nice backhand tube (below). He actually called this his ‘best ever’ backhand tube that morning, but I think he must have been exaggerating on that one!! Certainly on his forehand he would have had some epic pits down there in Tassie, regularly frequenting Bone yard and Ship Sterns Bluff among other great spots.

Anyway, was good to have both Luke and Dusty over, and also we had some other pretty cool lads visit at the same time including Tim Delves, Natalie and Justin from the States, Luke, Todd, Josh and Dave from Aus, and we also still had Brad and Pete ‘The Penguin’ Hayze at the resort who were long term visitors both going hard in and out of the water.

All the boys were ripping it up, we had some great sessions the first few days of the week with 4-5 ft waves and some clean morning sessions. The arvo sessions were a little crumbly and onshore, but hey…. it’s Macas anyway, one of the best waves to surf in the world with an onshore wind, so those arvo sessions were still very memorable. Morning sessions were also going off with more tubular perfection, but not so great for the guys who were having late nights in the bar!?!

I had to bail for Padang mid-week to get a Rabies shot after being bitten by a mad dog in Padang, so left the boys to business for the rest of the week and they continued to score good waves. Later in the week the crew jumped on the Indies Explorer to Lances and surfed there for a day or so before heading back to Padang.

Now at the resort we have a new crew who will be staying two weeks. We will soon send you another report in mid August after they have completed their trip, probably written by Andrew who is looking after guests this trip. Following that we have more Tassie boys coming over and unfortunately due to full occupancy, we have had to turn down Adriano De Souza who planned to visit last minute with 3 friends, hopefully these guys will be able to visit a bit later in the year.

Don’t forget to check our Specials page, we have now released 2010 dates (Tuesday departures / Thursdays returning to Padang) and the great news is that Ambu Ambu Ferry is planning on delaying its docking in year 2010 to mid November, meaning that the Ambu Ambu Ferry will be available for the whole of the 2010 season.

The other good news is that we are extending our 2009 special prices to allow future guests to book at the same Special rates in 2010, conditional that bookings are paid in advance by November 30 2009 (*only applicable to first 150 bookings). This is a great special, with prices from US$1350 for 8 days / 9 nights and with the Aussie dollar getting stronger by the day, it is a great chance for Aussies to come visit at excellent value, so best to get organized now to book your trip in advance and getting a cheap flight at the same time. As of today, Air Asia is offering flights for around AU$300 from Melbourne to Padang taxes included, and cheaper from most other Australian capital cities.

Another Special we have running at the moment is a group special, where by if you get 8 friends together then you (as group leader) travel at an 80% discount OR visit FREE if you bring 10 of your mates along.  This special and others can be checked on www.macaronisresort.com/specials.html

Ok guys hope you enjoy, and special thanks to Bootsy and Cynthia for providing us the photos this week.

Cheers

Mark @ Padang - for this week only - look forward to getting back out there...

Above: This is where you want to be, right?

Above: G-land or Macaronis.....?

Above: Pete the Penguin needed extra buoyancy this day....

Above: A Sequence of Dustin's tube, this years West Coast Classic winner.. Shot 1

Above: Well we have left out half the sequence shots, but gives you an idea, Shot 2

Above: Shot 3 about to get real deep...

Above Shot 4 .....pitted ....way back there in the green room....

Above: Shot 5.... still pitted but about to be projected into morning sunlight..

Above: Shot 6.... righto wheres me corn flakes....

Above: nice Snap by.... Luke maybe...?

Above: Bootsy looking for the green machine again...

Above: Lining up a nice cover up, morning glass.

Above: Very nicely negotiated snap off the top

Above: Cynthia claiming on a nice little fish fingers wave, on ol' favourite 'Big Red'

Above: Hosts Andrew and Karine, lovely sunset shot at Fish Fingers.

Report Monday 14th July

Well we were given some more good shots today from the boys on Planet Surf who ventured in for a party last night, so thought we better upload them for another surf report.

This was the smallest day we have had in a while, but still some clean fun waves. Today, I'm looking out my bedroom window at 4-5 feet perfaction again at Macaronis, and the swell is still on the rise. Snakey just came in and said he had a sick session, I better get this report up and do a couple of jobs so I can get out there my self.

Also this week we have two couples at Macaronis Resort, Tom and Maurine from Florida and Connor and Hannah from England / Australia. Today they have headed up to surf some Bat Cave with Brett on the Indies Explorer, hopefully they will get a few fun ones and will be able to give us some good shots to upload for you later.

Ok guys enjoy the photos... drop you another report bit later.

Cheers

Mark @ Macas

Above: Snakey enjoying the view at Macaronis

Above: Snakey, another nice water shot...

Above: Mark - a little gauge at Macas

Above: Snakey Rippin it up....

Above: Snakey again, not bad for 49 years of age !!!

Below: Arvo Barrel sequence Mark @ Macas....

Report Wednesday 8th – Monday 13th July

Hi guys

Well we only just posted a surf report, but hey, we were gone for 6 weeks so thought I’d get straight back to you and do another report of the past 3-4 days. It has been quite typical out here, 2m+ swell and smoking conditions.

Amazingly it looks like next week we may see the swell drop down to 1.5m, so we expect still a few fun waves at Macas but perhaps we’ll have to do a trip to Thunders too during that time, a first in a long time.

Check out the photos below…. Some of the crew getting some nice PITS.  A special thanks to Hendrik, Bootsy and Christian for these photos (below) taken over the past 3-4 days … cheers boys!

Hopefully more regular reports will get you phsyched to come visit us, as we still have plenty of room for most weeks of  July, August and September, so why not get over here and join us at tube central ?

Will drop you another report in a week or so….

Cheers

Mark @ Macas.

Above: Christian from Cali on a smoker....

Above: Brad's turn to get pitted, and he made it, a really nice deep tube.

Above: Bootsy doing what he does best.... deep as in da barrel.

Above: Pete's been rippin it up...

Above: And another tube for the Penguin...

Above: Mark - a hack off the top..

Above: Morning tube before breakfast...

Above: Unidentified but voted favourite member of the line up this day (from a coupla weeks back - good art work fernando!)

Above Keithy pulling in ....again, photo from the tower by Cynthia

Above: Snakey on a nice insider, how fun is this - " I feel like a grom again !"

Above: Bootsy coming out of another Shack...

Above: Howz this Bomb !? yeeeew...

Above: Nice snap by Benny.

Above: Mark, Brad and Christian Croc hunting... actually we found the biggest March flies we'd ever seen but did not see the 8m albino Croc this time round. Maybe next time, wild Croc feeding... sounds like fun to me...

Above: Croc Country, wild crocodiles still live just 1 hours walk from Macaronis Resort. They are endangered and timid, so don't worry, they keep their distance from humans and very rarely enter the sea water or visit the break, but a word of warning, dont go swimming in the bay at night! To date nobody in Silabu has been taken by a Croc, but you never know!! Awesome to still see them in the wild.

Surf Report Mid June 2009

The past 6 weeks we have been busy, so instead of dropping you a fortnightly surf report this is a once off six weekly report during which time surf conditions here have been absolutely incredible.

For much of this time Macaronis Resort has been fully occupied, meaning regular trips on Indies Explorer to surf surrounding breaks aswell. But still the most popular choice (of course) has been Macaronis, as it is just so consistent with quality waves every day. Many guests have commented on the friendliness of the crew on Indies Explorer and the unique experience of blending in a boat trip with staying at Macaronis Resort, the best of both worlds so to speak.

In addition we have added several new facilities to the operation. See the bottom of this report for the details and a limited opportunity to become a part owner in Macaronis Resort offering lifestyle benefits with the option of living and working at Macaronis Resort and on the Indies Explorer, or perhaps just visit for a short period annually to get your surf fix and check up on your investment.

Surf wise over this period, Greenbush, Silabu Left, Bat Caves, Lances Left, Lances Right, Macaronis Right and Macaronis in particular have had some epic waves and at this point it is hard to remember one flat day at Macaronis in the past six weeks. I honestly don’t think there has been one, in fact it is hard to remember a day under 3 feet, and as such during this period we have spent no time surfing at Thunders (our local swell magnet) for that very reason.

Macas has had epic waves most days pretty much, in the past month being over 4 feet and up to 6 feet plus with some boards and bones being broken along the way. But mainly the surf has been perfect with amazing waves enjoyed by all who have taken it on. The wind conditions have been light and swinging around from north east to south east regularly, no wind has dominated, mostly with light breezes of 5 - 10 knots most of the time.

Mid May we had Ryan and Rick visit from SW Aussie, who got some fun clean waves at Macaronis before a solid swell hit in the later part of May over 2m. Some of the pros in the top 40 also visited the Mentawais in late May; the Red Bull Team – including Mick Fanning,  Julian Wilson and Jordy Smith who pulled an insane Rodio Air at Macaronis (viewable here: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=laAtIyZX6aQ )  and the rest of the team scored some epic tubes at Greenbush 35 min from Macaronis resort (viewable here:  http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=C1P8Go1zERo ). We also had Rob Machado, Ross Williams, Brad Gerlach and a few other ex pro crew surfing at Macas and Greenbush who ventured in regularly to use the wireless internet and to get a daily massage from Mama Eli.

We also had a few older crew visiting at this time including Paul, Shayne, Mike, Phil and Jeff who surfed mostly at Macas Right, Silabu Left and Bat Cave as this group arrived when the swell was peaking and it stayed that way for most of their 2 weeks stay. Some of the boys headed up to Lances Left on Indies Explorer, but with the swell over the 2m mark the waves up there were quite large, but Bat Cave provided a few fun waves, and Silabu was a saving grace also given the size of the surf at Macas and the competitive standard of surfers in the vicinity over that period.

Despite the large number of pros in the area at the end of May (traditionally the case as this is when there is usually a gap in the pro circuit), Nick Vanerpole and the boys visiting from the East Coast of Aussie had a blast of a time, spending a few days at Macas, then up the coast to Lances and back down to do the last couple of days at Macas, they were a great crew to have visit and all I can really say about that one is a. Clint thanks for the board and b. Clint please don’t get behind the bar again (haha!).

We then had Maca, Dan, Coaly and Dave visit also with my dad Ken, Uncle Alan and Fido from Tasmania. Dan and Maca used to be our surf guides here at Macas Resort in 2006, and knowing the place well, they did not want to go anywhere but surfed Macas the whole 2 weeks straight, staying in the comfort of the resort. They had some great waves, and kept the bar busy as well, after which I was well and truly ready for a holiday in Singapore with my dad and uncle at the end of their trip!! 

Whilst I was away Andrew hosted a couple of smaller groups, who also scored some solid surf. Billy pulled a hamstring and had to leave early, then later in June we had a trip of 17 guests including Gary Dawe, Ross & Sean Archibald, Steve & Bradey Paul, Chris, Tom and Theo from Aus, Joel, Jackson and Chad from the US, Fernando from Brazil and a couple of other Brazilians that booked from Bali.

The above was a memorable trip, awesome waves and a top bunch of guys. First day 3 boards were broken, poor Chad damaged his shoulder and could not surf for the rest of the trip, then a guy off a visiting boat broke his leg and had to be emergency evacuated by speedboat to Padang. This is why we recommend everybody that travels to Macaronis Resort organizes travel insurance first.

Then later in the week when the swell had pulsed to 6 ft + I took off on a gnarly one walling up across the bay just when there was a dash of NW wind on it making the take off difficult, same circumstances as when I had broken my last DHD. This time I almost made the take off but lost it on the air-drop and was compressed onto the reef like a crushed can and had my toe nail ripped completely off and snapped my board with a few other minor scratches here and there - which kept me out of the water for around a week. It happens, can’t expect to come out of it unscathed always ….!!

For this trip we just had the Pratt family arrive from South Africa and also the ‘Purple Hayze’, Steve Blakely and Brad Kidd from Western Australia plus Christian Thomson from the USA and Fernando is still here visiting from Brazil. Also Andrew is taking some time away with Karine in Bali and now Bootsy is back with his fiancée Cinthia from Peru, a hottie too, congrats and good on you Bootsy.

This week we have had some epic waves already. The first day, Barry and son PK preferred to avoid dredging 5ft Macas on the first day and instead wanted to try Macas Right which was also off-shore. But what do you know ? Macas Right was also 4-6 feet and breaking better than ever, with Tubes (although a little tight but still perfect) breaking from the top all the way down to the bottom of the reef.

PK was having a great session hooting on the take off and pulling into little cover-ups on his forehand, while Barry was not quite ready to be thrown into the deep end, and for me, well with no toe nail (a bit sensitive), only riding a 6’0, I then decided to leave them to it, and they had a great session on the right then went over to Macas Left and PK was into it over there as well having the time of his life.

Then a couple of days later the swell dropped to the 1.5m range whilst most of the group ventured up to Lances surfing Bintangs, then Lances Right and Bat Cave, arriving back to Macas just in time for a new swell which produced 2 days of more memorable surf in the 4-6ft range.

Today more waves in the 4-5 feet mark, a bit of a sea breeze on it right now but still totally rippable. Expecting a glass off this evening so I better finish this up and get out there !!

Other Developments …

Since mid May 2009 we have now purchased a new 20 KVA generator allowing us to operate power all day long in villas now we are regularly having an occupancy level of around 16 guests. This is especially important now the northerly sea breezes are not blowing as often in the afternoons.

In addition we have recently purchased 1 DVD player for each villa, with flash disk drive so no more need worry about scratched DVD’s as we are now providing 6-8 films on each 8 gig flash drive available from Bootsy or Andrew in Villa 1.

Also we have just ordered 2 new double Sea Kayaks, 2 Single Sea Kayaks and 1 Stand Up Paddle Board (SUP) which will be great for paddling around the lagoon. We expect these items will be arriving at the resort next Thursday and we are looking forward to giving these new toys a try.

Later this year we will be building a Water Sports Shed near our small jetty where water sports equipment will be stored including surf boards, and where the boat drivers and security will sleep so at 6am it will then just be a matter of sounding the horn and the boat driver will climb down his ladder to take you to the surf.

We have also recently added a new sound system for the bar which takes CD’s, DVD’s (direct to the big Screen) and Ipod docking station. So bring along your Ipod to listen to your own selection of music when chilling out in Macas Bar.

Boat wise, we have recently ordered a new longboat which is being constructed in Siberut (ready July 15), which will allow us to keep our longboats better maintained, with one boat out of the water at all times whilst two boats are in use. In addition we still have our 6.8m Aluminum boat in Jakarta which will soon be repaired and sent to Padang, to be used mainly for trips to Bat Cave and Greenbush.

Recently we have also just designed a lagoon style swimming pool for beside the café which we are looking to start construction of hopefully in the later part of this year as well. This along with other facilities will provide more to do for our non-surfing guests, making the resort more attractive for surfers to bring along their non-surfing companions / families, meaning more guests but perhaps less surfers.

Thatching of villas continues, and we are proud to employ our original land owner Pak Ambo and friends to re-thatch all the villas in readiness for the 2010 season. So far villa 4 has been completed with excellent results and we have just recently started on villa 5. We expect by October 2009 all villa thatching will be completed.

For any body interested in booking in 2009, we still have spots available through July, August, September, October and November, or for those who would like to inquire about becoming a shareholder in Macaronis Resort then please contact us.

To view Macaronis Resort Specials here is the link: www.macaronisresort.com/specials.html

We look forward to hearing from you.

Cheers

Mark @ Macas.

A few shots of Macas in June....

Above: Joel on a bomb

Above: Christian on a nice one

Above: Macaronis Perfection

Above: Late take off, tube coming up...

Above: Fernando on a big one...

Above: The Macas Barrel

Above : Me on a foamy one... just before snapping my board.

Above: Andrew snaping off the top

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: A 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.

Contact us if your keen for a trip, to help us make up the numbers !! My email is mark@macaronisresort.com

Here's a couple of shots Uwah managed to get this afternoon before his battery died........ a couple 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: Stalling.......

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.html, 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...

 

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