just one example of the scores of pristine swells tracking east to west out of the Indian Ocean.
I will never forget my first sight of the Mentawais. It looks impossible. There is no wave zone on the planet like it. We were riding uncrowded, overhead and hollow reef waves every day. It seemed unreal: Stunning sunsets, transparent water, fresh fish pulled in from the Indian Ocean. It was every surfing dream rolled up into one trip. I knew I would be back.Children walk along a reef fronting a reef on the island of Nias, Indonesia on Sept. 29, 2005. Over a decade later, the Mentawai chain to the south eclipsed Nias as the go-to spot off of Sumatra.
The 12-hour overnight boat trip across the channel from Padang had been replaced with the “Mentawai Fast” ferry, crossing in a leisurely three hours. “Captain Phillips,” a film where Tom Hanks’s ship gets taken over by modern-day pirates, played on televisions in the air-conditioned main cabin.