Hi All,

January is nearly over, I’m not sure where it went but it went very quickly. Now we find ourselves staring at the dawn of February a meager one month from the beginning of the Indian Ocean Season. The big puddle to the West is about to wake up and send line after line north to the scattered tropical archipelago’s. In short Indo and the Maldives are about to light up .

If you haven’t thought about it  and are now thinking WTF February already? I gotta get onto this well then Togat Nusa Retreat’s latest special  might just be your saving grace..

The fantastic host duo (John and Ainsley Ocean) are throwing a percentage off their regular cost’s to get you into some March swell.

There are two trips up for grabs;

1. 10 nights 18-28 Mar For Only $2,408pp

2. 7 nights 29 Mar – 05 Apr Only $1,800pp

Includes:

Bungalow Accomodation, all meals, snacks, some drinks, speed boat transfers to/from Padang, surf tranfers,  fishing tours, snorkeling and loads more.

Why Bother – Togat Nusa is a paradise found nestled on its own Island adjacent to the left hander Scarecrows. The surf is good, the sun is shinning, the food amazing and your hosts are wonderful.  Have a look at the web page and make up your own mind – Click here

This post comes from World Surfaris, the leading adventure surfing holidays company. Want to Surf Maldives or Surf Indonesia then talk to us.

Packages that won't break the bank

We’ve summarised our range of surf trips that won’t break the bank.  If you combine approx. 1 week with a low cost airfare you should be able to get all these trips below for under $2000.  Some trips for well under and some trips might JUST go over.  Check out the range and if a trip appeals to you then contact the friendly sales team at World Surfaris to book your ticket to ride !. 

For more information and bookings just call us or email today!

• Freecall: (AUS)1800 611 163
• phone: (07) 5444 4011
• Email: info@worldsurfaris.com

This post comes from World Surfaris, the leading adventure surfing holidays company. Want to Surf Maldives or Surf Indonesia then talk to us.

Hi All,

Just got this awesome e-mail from the beautiful people at Togat Nusa Retreat Ainsley and John Ocean. Its the kind of email that turns your day around plus it came with a whole heap of cool pics. Hope it helps to keep your chin up….

Enjoy

WS

Here’s some eye candy,

This post comes from World Surfaris, the leading adventure surfing holidays company. Want to Surf Maldives or Surf Indonesia then talk to us.

Hi All,

Kandui has sent through their latest swell report, to us surfed starved office workers the pics have turned us into a pack of drooling idiots.  November by everyone’s definition falls firmly and safely into the “Off Season” category- I’d laugh at that if the surf wasn’t so depressingly fun looking, after reams of crappy surf at the local its enough to make me want to cry…

Admittedly its not the raging bomb sets that we were getting pictures off throughout Winter, but it looks like so much fun – the equivalent of Go Karting with your mates as opposed to racing supercars. The consequences aren’t the same and afterwards you can all laugh at the tricks you tried…

Enjoy WS

From Ray at Kandui Himself …

Nov 4th surf report.

The off season seems to have come a little early and waves have been small so far with this latest group, but we have been having fun.  We’ve been surfing Burgerworld a lot.  Beng Beng was also fun one day, Bankvaults and Nipusi were alright a couple of days, and there is always 4 Bobs and the waves around the resort.  We didn’t surf one day because the weather was pretty ugly, but other than that we have been getting waves.  And it’s just been a fun trip with Taylor Steele dropping by with his posse to shoot a Corona commercial and then they dressed up as pirates on Halloween night and pillaged our bar!  Good times.  We have also had a lot of groms on the island and that is always cool.  Nothing stoked me more than seeing groms froth!  We were all there at one time, eh?  Dylan and Brandon are from Cali and they were ripping.  We also had Jarad from Bali who Rizal has taken under his wing.  He recently won a contest in Bali and he’s ripping.  He has obviously been watching Rizal and taking notes!  I’ve attached photos of the three ripping groms.

Nov 4th surf report, part II

Nothing stokes me more than seeing groms froth except for seeing extra little groms froth!  Rizal brought his oldest son, eight year old Varun, to the island.  The kid is pumped to surf all the time and especially can’t wait to get out to 4 Bobs when the tide is high enough.  He even surfed, and made waves, at tiny Rifles one day when the tide was high enough to be safe for him.  He got a good one at Burgerworld as well, but caught a set on the head immediately afterwards (anyone that surfs Burgerworld knows what that’s about all too well), and that left little Varum longing for 4 Bobs!  Look for this grom to be ruling Bali as soon as Rizal decides to pass the torch.   Rizal is one of my favorite people that come to Kandui and it is super cool to see him pushing Varum into waves and getting more happiness from seeing his son get waves than himself.  But when Rizal decides to get a wave, look out because he is still ripping!!!  Attached are a couple pictures of Rizal and a few of Varum.  How is the sequence of the little guy laying down a rail grab cutty!  The kid’s already better than most of us!

Nov 4th surf report, part III

Another cool thing we have been doing on this trip is giving away water filters in the local villages.  John Rose was here during the Padang earthquake a few years ago and he witnessed all the devastation.  That was the spark that ignited his passion to help people in third world countrys like Indonesia.  With help from Bob Hurley and others, he has been traveling the world giving away water filters that strain dangerous, and potentially fatal, germs from the impure water that people use in places such as the Mentawais.  I’m sure you will be hearing more about this as we plan on Kandui being the hub for distribution in this area.  It has been fun going to the villages and having our local crew demonstrate the filters to the inevetable crowd that gathers whenever a bunch of lilly white folks wander into town.  The hordes of kids are always the highlight in those villages, smiling, laughing, cheering.  It was a very satisfying experience and we want to keep that ball rolling.  The program is called “Waves for Water” and I’m sure you can check out the Hurley website for pictures of our adventures and for more information.  Besides being a humanatarian, John Rose was a professional surfer and he still rips!  Attached are some pictures of him and some of the other Hurley crew.  There is also a great picture of John getting some air on his shoulder high wave at Nipusi as Varun Tanjung is sizing up his double overhead bomb!  It was our ever changing desktop picture for a while.  Nice!

This post comes from World Surfaris, the leading adventure surfing holidays company. Want to Surf Maldives or Surf Indonesia then talk to us.

Hi All,

Sorry we’ve been a bit quiet on the Blog front lately,  we’ve been a bit swamped working on a couple of things (good things, big things, surf things with gratuitous amounts of awesomeness) - all will be revealed soon.

In the meantime to keep you up to date,  Kandui Resort sent this out Oct 29th and its another slap in the face to any surfer stuck trying to get a wave on the east coast of Australia at the moment.  If the local isn’t performing this is probably the next best thing. This or book a trip and mark down the days on the calendar. Enjoy a mind surf guys…. hope the swell picks up soon. How’s the awesome wood carving by AtMan?

Cheers WS

PS- Big shout out to Keith…

From the Kandui Crew

Oct 29th surf report.

Our latest group left today.  Thanks to Brad for writing the surf reports for us.  This crew started the trip catching the tail end of that epic, mid October run of good surf.  The second half of the trip was spent doing a lot of Bugerworld runs with a few solo sessions at lesser know spots mixed in.  All in all, the boys were stoked.  We had a rare day yesterday in that we didn’t look for surf.  That only happens about 5 days a season!!!  We could have gotten some waves, but everyone was Bugerworld’ed out.  Game 6 of the World Series was on (it went 11 innings!) so it was just too easy to hang out and enjoy a relaxing day on the island.  Plus everyone was up kind of late the night before with the medicine men dropping by to dance for us.  We also had a bonfire yesterday on, formerly know as, Snake Island, then One Palm Island, now Sand Island.  We brought beers and the dogs and had a great time.  Rokok, the dog, gave us a scare though!  He didn’t like the fire (or the company, we’re not quite sure!), so he decided to sneak off and go home.  The only problem with that is that Sand Island is over a kilometer from the resort and the ocean was choppy with a ripping current and the sun had gone down!  The boys had some long faces when they came back, fearing the worst, but that was quickly replaced with jubilation when they were met by Rokok on the beach.  He made the swim like a champion! You’ve never seen a dog get so much attention.  We’re thinking that might have been Rokok’s ploy all along since Huero has been getting so much attention lately after what looked like a near death experience.  These dogs are giving us ulcers!  Stay away from the light boys!  Huero is doing great, by the way, and is almost back to his normal self.

Our next group is looking at some Burgerworld to start, then a couple of swells are forecast for the later part of their trip.  We’re hoping for some late season magic!

Oct 27th surf report by Brad Maker.

It’s funny how after those first few frothing days everyone slips into an easy routine.  This place is so good for that, and I’m sure everyone who’s been here knows what I’m talking about: couple of cups of joe, huge breakfast (new this year is a menu ticket where you check off all the things that you want), internet check, early surf boat, second surf boat, maybe a late sesh out front, and inevitably it’s Bintang time.

The past few days have been pretty small.  We’ve hit a few places here and there to score uncrowded occasional sets, but most of the action has been Burgerworld.  There have always been a few other boats, with a range of talent from long boarders to pros, but generally the crowds have been pretty mellow.  The place has several takeoff spots so everyone has been getting a few.

I’ve got to let you in on a little known opportunity here.  Most of the cool woodwork that you see around Kandui is done by AtMan, the Kandui resident Mentawai woodcarver.  If you just ask, AtMan will make you a custom carving.  Ray told us about the monkey carved in the old uma door that hangs in the restaurant and how the Mentawai believe they bring good luck, so I asked AtMan to make me something with a monkey on it.  He started with a two hour search around the island to find the perfect hardwood log, lugged it back to Kandui and chain sawed off a plank, and a couple of days later check out what he made.  How’s that for a centerpiece on a wall of Kandui surf pics?!  How much does AtMan charge?  “Up to you!”

This post comes from World Surfaris, the leading adventure surfing holidays company. Want to Surf Maldives or Surf Indonesia then talk to us.

Hi All,

Coming back from a week off is usually as safe bet in the middle of October, the Indian Ocean swell is dropping off and the change of the guard to summer destinations hasn’t really happened yet.  It’s a quiet limbo period, usually. But not this year it seems! After getting back I’ve realized that October was obviously a sick month for Swell throughout the Indian Ocean. Surf reports have been coming in thick and fast from our Indian Ocean operators and they are all jaw dropping.

The most annoying thing would be the lack of crowds, everyone seemed to avoid the beginning of the ‘low season’ and those that didn’t SCORED!

Kandui has sent through a whole heap of pics and reports, long story short Kandui Resort has been cooking.  ‘Low Season’ Bah!

See below for full report and pics from Ray of Kandui resort

Enjoy the sequence shots -

Cheers

WS

Oct. 14th surf report.

Sorry for the lapse in surf reports!  I’ve been a little under the weather as my bad luck season continues.  My foot got stuck in a hole at Hideaways and was twisted around pretty good.  That was followed by a week long throbbing, mind numbing toothache.  But on the bright side, I had one good day before I got the cold that is going around.  But hold off your sympathy until after you see some of the photos!

We were expecting a nice swell to start filling in the afternoon of the 14th, but it came in early.  Our crew went to Hideaways with there shortboarts and they got more than they expected.  Well over head waves, perfect conditions, and only a couple of other lucky guys out!  The rest of us that didn’t go had a hard time watching the slide show, but we would be ready to go on the 15th when the swell was forecast to be bigger!

Oct 15th surf report

We see a lot of good surf out here.  A lot of good surf!  So when those of us that have spent years out here are raving about what a good day it was, it was probably a very good day.  That was today.  The waves were well over head to double over head plus, the conditins were great, and the crowd was super light and mellow.  Hideaways is a great wave, but it’s not often when the barrels open up round and stay open the entire length of the wave.  Today it was doing just that and it was a tube fest!  It was like a surf movie with each set.  Barrel, barrel, barrel, come out.  Barrel, barrel, barrel, come out.  Ridiclulous.  Even Christie, long time owner of Wavepark a stones throw away from the break, was raving.  Everyone was taking turns and giving waves away and hooting each other in.  It was like it should be.  Stoked.  Attached are a few photos, but it was one of days were single shots do not tell the story.  I’ll post some sequences soon.

Oct 18th surf report.

It was transfer day today, and this report is for all those that had to go home this morning while the swell was forecast to be peaking.  That’s always a tough pill to swallow, but I’m happy to tell you that you didn’t miss much.  It was big, to be sure, but it was also kind of wild with funky winds.  There were a couple of waves at Rifles, but we didn’t even paddle out after all the perfect surf we got on this trip.  You guys scored!

I just have to attach this picture from our epic sessions at Hideaways again.  This my be my favorite picture of Hideaways ever.  Fitting it’s Christie, Hideaway’s longest local.  Beautiful.

Oct. 19th surf report

Our swell was still pumping today and conditions got better.  Our strong southeast winds pattern has been breaking up for the last couple of weeks (lucky they were blowing for that Hideaways swell though!)  and some other spots have been opening up.  Our first day guests went to Bankvaults and another spot.  Crowds were light at the former and zero at the latter.  Both spots had some nice waves before the winds went west, then some of the guys headed for Rifles and got some some fun ones there as well before the tide got too low.  I’ll attach pictures from all the spots.  I’m sure you can tell which is which by now.  Huero (Weddo, the dog) gave us a scare today after being beat up pretty good by a neighboring dog.  He was looking really bad and I was fearing the worst so no surf for me this day.  I’m happy to say he is improving and I think he will be fine.  Send up a little prayer for him!

Our 4 time returning guest, Brad Maker, will be giving me a break and writing some surf reports this week.  It’s looking like we will be going into more of an off season type pattern when this swell fades this next day or so (after a very good October!) but we will be sure to get some good waves.

Friday, Oct 21st surf report

Justice went with the first boat to Bankvaults/Nipussi.  Ray stayed behind, planning to hang out with the second boatload of goofy foots at the mellower breaks.  But when we dropped off a couple of late risers at glassy, slightly overhead, barreling Bankvaults, Ray started to get the shakes.  It was totally classic:  “Would you guys mind so much if I jumped out here?”  Less than a minute later he splashed in with a knotted t-shirt and a big grin, and was probably barreled before we got around the point.

We checked a super mellow little known break called Good Times, but it was sectioning badly, so with the north wind dying we headed to Being Being.  As usual, it looked flat when we pulled up but 15 minutes later the waves started rolling in with the better set waves going about head high by east coast standards.  Glassy water and three or four guys out… we were living large for sure.

This post comes from World Surfaris, the leading adventure surfing holidays company. Want to Surf Maldives or Surf Indonesia then talk to us.

Hi All,

So we’ve had  a cracker of a year in the Indian Ocean in 2011. From start to finish…… and well.. that’s the thing isn’t it? It isn’t finishing! September is the official cut off for the ‘Peak Season’.  Now as we are sitting comfortably at the end of October we are still being inundated with happy pics of pumping swell from the Indian Ocean.

These latest little beauties have come in from Telo Island Lodge. Taken mid-late October this season is obviously still cranking – Don’t worry there’s always next year but only if you Get In Early.

This post comes from World Surfaris, the leading adventure surfing holidays company. Want to Surf Maldives or Surf Indonesia then talk to us.

Hi All

Ainsley Ocean from Togat Nusa Retreat in the Mentawais has sent through their latest images. The Indian Ocean has been cooking this season if you haven’t heard a;ready we are offering Get In Early for 2012 prices on operators in the Indian Ocean – Togat Nusa is among the operators offering discounts to entice you to book early and score in 2012 with prime spaces.

From the lovely lady herself (Ainsley Ocean, your Togat Nusa Retreat host)

Here it is October, Already.

The season seems a blur of surf and eating!  What an amazing surf season the Indian Ocean has served up for us in 2011. We have been truly blessed , It’s starting to get quiet out here , the guests trickling in, and the boats calling it the end of the season , but the Mother Ocean just keeps on sending swell after swell . This coming weekend , there is another big pulse 6.5 feet 20 seconds and southeasterly winds, which is perfect for our neighborhood. We would like to say a big thank you to World Surfaris and all the guests the discovered our little paradise this opening season , for making this a great first season for us.  For those of you that made it out, we hope to see you sooner than later, and those still dreaming of Indo barrells, we hope to see you smiling in the surf soon.

Kind Regards
Ainsley
Ocean

This post comes from World Surfaris, the leading adventure surfing holidays company. Want to Surf Maldives or Surf Indonesia then talk to us.

Hi All,

Peely from Telo Island Lodge sent out some amazing pics from the 3rd of October.  There was only a single line accompanying the images ” Low- Season is a myth mate.”

Looking at the images I couldn’t agree more!

A heads up – Telo Island Lodge is participating in Get In Early 2012. Want to save at and surf at one of the worlds most sought after surf destinations? – Click Here

This post comes from World Surfaris, the leading adventure surfing holidays company. Want to Surf Maldives or Surf Indonesia then talk to us.

Hi All,

So reports are still coming in from the Indian Ocean and it looks good – Damn Good! The whole 2011 season has been a corker as far as consistency and size has been concerned.  2012 is looking like another La-Nina year  (at least that’s what the Weather Bureau is saying). A lot of people have chalked up the surf and consistency throughout both Pacific and Indian Ocean to this atmospheric phenomenon so by all accounts its looking like 2012 is going to be another cracker.

But lets just get one thing down and clear! It’s the Indian Ocean, there is going to be surf no matter what, that massive wet gap between Australia and Africa tends produce swell regardless even on its worst day its still better than a good day at the local (definitely our local ).

So what now? Well its time to Get In Early of course.  World Surfaris have proudly launched their Get In Early Deals for 2012. Operator shave jumped onboard and now is the time to book Early and save on your next Surf Adventure.

To see all the deals – Click Here

PS- We’ve also created a really fun Facebook page full of Surf Stoke from the people that ‘Got In Early’ last year – Click Here (its fun)  Make sure you Get In Early this year sale ends Dec16th – If you need the inspiration check out the below from our participating operators.

This post comes from World Surfaris, the leading adventure surfing holidays company. Want to Surf Maldives or Surf Indonesia then talk to us.