The Ultimate Indonesian Surf Trip – Pit Stop Hill, Mentawai Islands.

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It was almost over before it began..

The journey to the Mentawai Islands involves a 4-6 hour boat trip from Pedang to the islands. Unfortunately for us, the usually calm crossing was borderline dangerous. 3-4 meter choppy wind swells had 6 out of the 10 lads on board holding on for dear life whilst taking it in turns of being sea sick directly off the back of the boat. One freak wave even had the navigator air born before slamming hard back on deck. I would be lying if I didn’t mention the thought of capsizing didn’t cross my mind. For context, one of the lads on board had done the same trip 7 times (14 if you count both ways) and mentioned it was freakishly bad. So I hope that hasn’t deterred anyone from making the journey, because even for us, it was well worth it!

Mentawais journey

Mentawai Surf 

Now to be honest, I was the amateur of the group. I literally bought my first short board about 2 weeks before the trip. I was well outside of my comfort zone at times. But luckily for us, our surf camp included two fast boats. One headed to the absolute best spot for anyone wanting to charge and the other to a more forgiving break each day. We also lucked out (in my opinion) by not having any pulsing swell above 5 foot. However I did hear stories of the famous spot “Bank Vaults” getting pretty heavy. 

Metawais surf break

 

Looking over towards E-Bay Surf Spot

PitStop Hill

As it was our groups first trip, we might be biased. But it does seem Pit Stop Hill is the crème de la crème of surf camps in the Mentawai Islands. A beautiful villa style resort for a maximum of 10 guests, with around 15 staff helping make the experience worth remembering. The Villa has an epic look out over the originally named Pit Stop Surf Spot and a big open living area for all the day of surfing debriefs. Special mention to our surf guide FAUZIIIII, full of energy and absolutely ripped when he felt like showing us kooks off in the nicest possible way. 

Pit Stop Hill Accom

Mentawai Islands, We will be back

But incase life gets in the way, I made a video to look back on for years to come. Special mention to Tommy Williams Photography for the epic shots (He was half Surf guide, half photographer on our trip) These last few shots were his, and his photos feature throughout my video. Hope you enjoy!   

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