Surfing Info

Indo is quite possibly the best place on the planet for a surf trip. It has an endless number of perfect waves breaking over perfectly shaped reefs, amazingly consistent swell, lovely warm water, great food, cheap living costs, friendly locals (as long as you respect their breaks, of course), a huge potential for exploration, and bucket loads of sun and paradise beaches.

Who could possibly ask for anything more?

Swell

Swells hitting the islands of Indonesia originate in the southern Indian Ocean – usually near the bottom of Africa - then travel north-east to Western Australia before hitting Indo.

It’s very consistent all year round but is usually bigger during the winter (dry) season, between May and October.

Winds

Particularly in the more southern parts of Indonesia (such as Bali) the dry season trade winds can have a big effect on the surf. These are easterly or south-easterly, so breaks on the west tend to be best. The trade winds can be very strong on these southern islands, especially from June - September, making it harder to paddle into waves at the more exposed reefs. In the northern parts of Indo, the trade winds have less effect.

During the wet season (November – April), the winds are much lighter and tend to blow in a more westerly direction, making east cost breaks work better.

Tides

Tides in Indonesia (like most other places) can have a huge effect on any given break. They can fluctuate a lot during a full or new moon (and create some mind bogglingly strange and varied conditions). Generally, between these moons, they don’t fluctuate too much, but watch out for them getting low if you’re surfing a reef you haven’t surfed before.

Seasons

There are two seasons in Indonesia. The dry season runs from May to October (winter in the southern hemisphere). It has bigger swells and often strong easterly trade winds. Plan to surf the west coast breaks during this time of year, or hit the south coast breaks early in the morning.

The wet season runs from November to April (southern hemisphere summer) and swell, although a bit smaller, can be just as consistent as during the winter. The prevailing winds at this time of year are westerly, so plan to surf the east and some of the south coast breaks.

Water Temperatures

Water temperatures in Indo don’t change much and tend to be around 22 - 24 degrees centigrade (very pleasant!). It can sometimes get a bit chilly if you’re out on a windy day during the dry season, so can be worth having a rash vest or even a thin neoprene vest to wear.

General Info

Language

Although Indonesia has many traditional languages spread across its thousands of islands (that’s right – thousands!), Bahasa Indonesia - the nation’s official language – is increasingly widely spoken. Unless you’re really out of the way, you’ll be able to communicate with some rudimentary Bahasa Indonesia.

English is widely spoken in tourist areas but if you’re in Indo for a surf trip, it’s well worth learning some of the lingo and exploring a bit.

Bahasa Indonesia is one of the easiest languages in the world to learn. It doesn’t really use past and future tense, and sentence structures are really simple. A great book to learn both general and surf specific Indonesian is Indo Surf and Lingo by Peter Neely, which can be picked up on the net or bought in many shops on Bali.

Currency

The currency used in Indonesia is the rupiah, and you’ll generally be dealing in thousands. Always try to have plenty of smaller denominations with you, as breaking a big note is pretty much impossible in more remote areas.

Getting There

Visa

All visitors need a visa that costs US$25. Visitors from many countries pay this on entry but please check with your Indonesian embassy or have a look here, as visitors from some countries – Ireland, for example - need to get one in advance.

You can stay for up to 30 days on the tourist visa. Anything after that and up to 60 days will incur fines and anything over 60 days could mean a 5 year prison sentence, so make sure you get you flight dates right!

It is possible, however, to apply in advance for an extended stay, through your Indonesian Embassy.

Airports

The vast majority of visitors fly into either Bali or Jakarta (on Java), but there is a list of official gateway airports and seaports here (scroll down to near the bottom of the page).

Food

Throughout most of Indonesia you’ll find a fairly standard menu in the cheap restaurants, stalls (warungs), and cafes. Usually something like this:

Nasi goring (fried rice with an egg), mie goring (fried noodles with an egg), gado gado (vegetables in a peanut sauce) sate (satay!), and soto (soup).

There is always some variation from island to island (and even place to place) but all are cheap and make great food for travelling surfers - you’ll probably find yourself eating quite a lot of it.