Published Adventure Writer

So apparently I can add Published Writer to my list of accomplishments! I just received a few copies of a book called LegacyofStoke, I wrote an epic story from one of my many surf adventure stories and he decided to published it in Volume 2. If you would like to purchase the book and read the story of how Jeremy Jennings and I ended up on an island in Indonesia with perfect waves but couldn't surf them!
Here it the link to buy the book on Amazon:
http://amzn.to/2pMjg4V

Here it the link to buy the book on Amazon!
http://amzn.to/2pMjg4V

A Weekend in Baja

     Myself and my mates Chris and Jeremy wanted to get into some adventure a few weeks back so we decided to head across the border and get some waves in Baja! The whole trip began on Thursday night as we headed south to my mates in San Diego to crash for the night before crossing the border in the am! Friday morning we got across the border and down to a beach break by 8:30am, the waves looked pretty fun from shore. Jeremy and I paddled out and once we were out there realized it was bigger than expected, about 6-8 foot on the face! Chris swam out with his water housing camera setup and got worked so may times I don't know how he stayed out that long I was really surprised!

     After getting a few we headed little farther south to grab tacos, check a few more spots, and cruise through downtown Ensenada. Of course we ended up at Papas and Beer like most people do, what a great place to people watch. The cruise from Long Beach to Ensenada and back drops all the people

off in town for a few hours on Saturday, so it is quite the scene seeing them run around drunk. Once we got some more tacos for dinner we headed back North a bit to a camp spot on a cobblestone right point.As we pulled up our next door camping neighbors were two Australians that were cruising a van around the west coast for a few months. As we had few beers, sat by the fire, and exchanged stories from all of our travels it was pure bliss, exactly what we all came down to Baja for!

The next morning the swell we came down for did not quite end up being all we thought it would. Never the less I got in the water with the Aussies and a local for a few waves early in the am. Cant not get out in the water when its only a few guys out at a chest high cobblestone right, especially with Jeremy on the rocks coaching haha. After the morning surf we cruised north back to the La Fonda area and had the infamous endless brunch on the cliff there while checking the waves out front. As  Chris was going through the endless bloody mary's Jeremy and I decided to work our brunch off with a surf out front before heading back to the border line that Sunday evening. Getting 3 surf sessions in, lots of tacos, few beers, and meeting a few new friends made the 300 mile in two days trip all worth it!

100 Days Central America Ep3_ Guatemala, El Salvador, Honduras, and Nicaragua

In Episode 3 we cross into Guatemala a country not really known for waves, beautiful none the less. Entering into El Salvador in the night was a fun experience but we woke up to a fun right point break. David has to fly home for a family wedding for a few days while I make some new friends and find a waterfall in the jungle! When David returns we venture south to the Las Flores area where we hit a swell dead on and get some of the best waves of our lives. On our way through Honduras we run into some trouble at the boarder which results in David getting injured and not able to surf in Nicaragua. Which ends up being the smallest waves we had seen in over a month!
Surf Shop in Guatemala!
http://www.surfinguatemala.com/?page_...
Epic Surf Resort in El Salvador!
www.K59SurfResort.com
Need somerwhere to stay in Nicaragua?
www.CafeConLecheNica.com

Follow along on 100DaysTravel.com

Special Thanks to:
SovrnRepublic.com
JlabAudio.com
IndoSole.com
PolarProFilters.com
Use the code "travelsurflive" for %20 off anything from the sponsors above.

Music by:
Pacific Dub- Sundown
Midnight Oils- Beds are burning
Naxxos- New Orleans

Five foot South Swell and a Saturday morning at the Wedge

First few to sneak through. Photo Mike Paskin

When we arrived at 7:40am

Photos from Saturday Oct. 1, 2016

The Wedge is Southern California's calling to that crazy, short ride, pounding, quick rush, kind of wave. The proper wedge wave near the jetty is a pronounced left that breaks with just about any sort of south swell over 4 foot. It was until recently was it ever really to popular to attempt to surf it, but now a days more and more people are lurching for that rush of attempting to get as shacked as possible before ending up on the beach with a mouthful of sand and/or a sore ass.This weekend was no different and I thought I would have a go at it. I called up my Mike Paskin who has been shooting barrel and shore break shots for the last few years and he was all about it! We attempted to get to the Wedge early but still didn't get out int he water till about 8:30am. The proper peak at the jetty was packed and not to many surfers. So we opted for the next peak down which is known as Cylinders and is predominately a right, which I like better since I'm regular footed. The next two hours were epic trading off barre with a few other crazy's and one of my favorite pro surfers!
 

 

 

 

My buddy Ryan Croteau on an early one before we got out. Photo Steve Dillon

Myself Brian Daigneault on the bigger one I got that morning. Photo Mike Paskin

Inside one few feet form the sand, Brian Daigneault. Photo Mike Paskin

Mason Ho is one of those surfers everybody cant watch enough, whether its his interviews, crazy edits, or a wsl wildcards. Here he is on a layover in SoCal between trips and decided to hit the wedge for his second time ever. Photo Mike Paskin

One of the deeper ones I got, Brian Daigneault. Photo Mike Paskin

Mason Ho just gliding into a closeout barrel in 3 feet of sand and  hundreds of gallons of water. Photo Mike Paskin

100 Days Central America Ep2_Mainland Mexico

In Episode 2 David and I have just landed off the ferry and onto Mainland Mexico. Where we will be encountering some of the best waves of the entire trip, places we have dreamed of surfing like Pascuales, Nexpa, and Puerto Escondido while more adventure ensues. Meeting new friends, a few truck problems, and of course lots of surfing!

Follow along on 100DaysTravel.com and @bdagz on instagram/snapchat to see behind the scenes adventure before the next episode comes out!

Special Thanks to:
SovrnRepublic.com
JlabAudio.com
IndoSole.com
PolarProFilters.com
Use the code "travelsurflive" for %20 off anything from the sponsors above.

Music by:
The Gringoz- Let It Go
311- Flowing
The Terras- Threads

A tour of The Expedition Vehicle

100 Days Central America Ep1_Baja

Departing June 8. 2016 from my home in Huntington Beach, California I am attempting to drive my Toyota 4Runner all the way through Central America.... and back home. In this first episode released of my newest adventure/project 100 Days Central America myself and my mate David Elliott make our way down the Baja Peninsula. In the 8 days or so we spent in Baja we had everything from car breakdowns, almost running out of gas in the middle of the desert, and camping on the beach surfing an epic right point. Follow along on 100DaysTravel.com and @bdagz on instagram/snapchat to see behind the scenes adventure before the next episode comes out!

100 Days Central America Official Trailer

#100DaysCentralAmerica is a vision of a n epic road trip I wanted to do from California to Panama. This Summer that dream is a reality since the departure on June 8th. Follow along on www.100DaysTravel.com

100 Days Central America: Baja Part 1

Average 3:30 Minute Read

     I departed Huntington Beach and arrived in San Diego on Tuesday evening we had a couple drinks and passed out to wake up Wednesday morning and get on the road crossing into Mexico. Before crossing the border we stopped and exchanged some money and got our car insurance which was about $140 for 6 months. I bought 6 months because I might be driving the truck back through Mexico and it was just cheaper that way. After crossing the border the next step was to find the immigration office, I needed to get a vehicle permit for my truck to take it on the ferry that goes from Baja to Mainland Mexico. En route to finding the office I took a wrong turn and ended up in the border line at Otay Mesa. We sat there just bummed thinking are we really about to sit here for 2 hours and have to turn back around and recross into Mexico! Well I wasn't going to let that happen, I through it in reverse and drove about half a mile in reverse dodging cars, pinatas, and people to get outta line, illegal yes but saved about 3 hours. When driving on Baja you do not need this but you need a permit when crossing over to Mainland Mex. I plan on spending about a month in Mexico so I also got a tourist visa which is also needed to get on the ferry. All of this cost about $70 for the vehicle permit and the person's Visa.

     As I had explained in my recent blog post I put new rear leaf springs and shocks on my truck to hold extra weight. But it was still saging in the rear and I wanted to get fixed before we kept going down Baja. So we drove around Tijuana to try to find a shop, of course translating what we needed and what need to be fixed was very hard. After about an hour we found a shop called Baja Custom Offroad and they were Legends, not only did they speak English but they knew exactly what to do. Remove the rear leaf spring bracket and move it back about 3 inches which gives the leaf springs more room for travel and a wider base to bump up the back end. After about 5 hours, $160 and a couple Tecate beers later it was finished and no more bottoming out! We were back on the road at about 8:30 p.m. and made it to Robert's k38 Surf hotel just 30 minutes away.

      Robert who was away at the time has owned this hotel for over 25 years, his son Russ now runs it when he's not around. Russ is a legend as well we chatted about my trip, his world travels, some photos he has taken and the new boat he purchased he was working on in the driveway when we arrived. All of this happened before noon and then Dave finally woke up and we hit the road again trying to get as far south as we could while the waves are flat. We made it all the way to Santa Rosalita an epic fishing Village set up with whole beach to camp on. When we awoke there was perfect waves peeling down the point, only problem was they were only 1 foot tall so not surfable haha.

       The Baja Peninsula is much longer and bigger than I could have ever imagined, I've been down here once before about six years ago but I still can't believe how vast and open it is. Now technically day three of the adventure we made it to the Sea of Cortez side of the Baja Peninsula where we found an epic little bay we stopped to have a dip in the water after 6 hours of driving that morning. Hitting the road again hopefully trying to make it to La Paz that evening we stopped to grab dinner. David had mentioned he wouldn't mind driving since I had driven the last 2-3 days so I said sure why not the road is pretty straight what could go wrong. Well a lot went wrong haha about 5 minutes after getting behind the Wheel, David was shifting into 4th when....

100 Days of Indo // Part 6

In the start of the episode I head off to the airport on my way home to surprise my family for Thanksgiving! But after that the boys get a few more fun waves all over Bali, and the ending footage makes you want to boo your ticket to the disneyland island of surfing right now!

If you haven't yet, get caught up by watching Episode 1 / Episode 2 / Episode 3 / Episode 4 / Episode 5 !



We get back to Bali for the final leg of the trip, hit Kuta for a party night, and enjoy the last couple weeks of the trip.

A SOVRN Republic Web Series
SovrnRepublic.com (Use promo code "travelsurflive for %15 off!)
In Association With Funkhouse Media
facebook.com/funkhousemedia

Music:
Hit The Road by Gyom
Way Out by Kaptain
Fried Eggs by Vitamin Pets
Wounded Butterfly by REW
World of Beauty by Ryan Taubert

100 Days of Indo // Part 5

Episode 5 takes us from Nias, Sumatra back down to Bali for a few days of planning before heading on our next adventure! After 22 hours of riding on scooters and ferries across a few islands we made it to West Sumbawa...

If you haven't yet, get caught up by watching Episode 1 / Episode 2 / Episode 3 / Episode 4 !

Getting back on the motorbikes, we gear up for a 200 mile roadtrip. Five SOVRN road warriors take on three islands as we hop from Bali over to West Sumbawa on an epic wave mission. The wild landscape of Sumbawa kept us mesmerized as we used down days as an opportunity to explore parts of the island that very few have ventured.

A SOVRN Republic Web Series
SovrnRepublic.com (Use promo code "travelsurflive for %15 off!)
In Association With Funkhouse Media
facebook.com/funkhousemedia

Music:
Hit The Road by Gyom
We Are Free by Zep Hurme
The Hornet by DoKashiteru
Enthusiast by Tours
No Other Name by Ryan Taubert
Isma Roktar by Thiaz Itch
Only Human by Parade of Lights

100 Days of Indo // Part 4

Nias.... One of Indonesia's and the world's most iconic waves. The adventure there from Mentawi's was crazy in it's self. I actually nipped back to Bali from Sumatra while the boys went straight to Nias. I met up after spending a week with my lady and we all camped out for another 2 epic weeks!

If you haven't yet, get caught up by watching Episode 1 / Episode 2 / Episode 3 !

After a couple boat rides, 12 hour overnight ferry, 30 hour airport sleepover, and 2 hour car ride, we arrive in Nias. This renown point has the potential to be a behemoth of a wave, but even when its small, there's virtually always something to ride. We let the good times roll as we post up for 3-4 weeks on this remote island.

A SOVRN Republic Web Series
SovrnRepublic.com (Use promo code "travelsurflive for %15 off!)
In Association With Funkhouse Media
facebook.com/funkhousemedia

Music:
Hit The Road by Gyom
Siesta by Jahzzar
Spinning Round by The Originalites

100 Days of Indo // Part 3

It just keeps getting better and better, in this episode we score in the Mentawi Islands while living in a losemen with a local family. Jam packed full of stunning footage and perfect barrels watch episode 3 now!

If you haven't yet get caught up by watching Episode 1 & Episode 2!




The crew splits up into two groups as we head from Bali up and over to West Sumatra, otherwise known as the Mentawai islands, in hopes to find vacancy at a homestay. As we well know, the remoteness of this destination does not make it easy to get there, but if our hopes that Lance's is doing what it is capable of, that should be motivation enough.

A SOVRN Republic Web Series
SovrnRepublic.com (Use promo code "travelsurflive for %15 off!)
In Association With Funkhouse Media
facebook.com/funkhousemedia

Music:
Hit The Road by Gyom
Gamelan Instrumental by Mof Child
Another One by Grapes
Happy Island by The Mantles

100 Days of Indo // Part 2

Here is episode 2 of 6 from our trip last year to Indonesia for 3 months! Another awesome story at an iconic wave with my mates for a whole week! Directed/Edited Funkhouse Media and special thanks to Sovrn Republic!
Go back and watch episode 1 HERE ►



Watch Episode 2 Next!

As we venture off Bali, the sights are set on Desert Point for our first major excursion. The swell forecast is looking promising, but there are other forces at play as the transport struggle gets real. No matter if we get waves or not, there's sure to be some new faces as we get to these new places. And puppies.

A SOVRN Republic Web Series
SovrnRepublic.com (Use promo code "travelsurflive for %15 off!)
In Association With Funkhouse Media
facebook.com/funkhousemedia

Music:
This is DoKashiteru (ft. DoKashiteru) by Carosone
Night Owl by Broke For Free
Alex’s Recital (ft. Alexander Stone) by DoKashiteru
Shiro (Kirkoid Mix) by Kirkoid

The Start of winter in Sweden

Average 4+ Minute Read 

 

     My last day home was nice and relaxing went disc golfing with my pup Bali and the weather was perfect mid 70's and warm! I stopped by Polar Pro to pick up a few of there new accessories, my favorite I have been using for the last few days being The Trippler (pictured to the right). This accessory is a genius idea since its always nice to have a tripod with you when trying to get some nice time lapses' or timer shot of yourself. And beyond that the stick can be used for selfies or close up shots. A nice Mexican food lunch was last on the agenda before heading to the airport, wont be having that for awhile.... Got to LAX and all checked in before giving mom and dad hugs and kisses and headed on to my first flight! The 10.5 hour flight to Paris was actually pretty good, during dinner I watched the movie Wild which is a true story of a lady who hiked Pacific Crest Trail solo! I had the whole 4 seat row to myself, so I sprawled out and took a very much needed 5 hr nap. Landing in Paris at 2pm local time with just enough time to find my way through the security and a 40 minute walk to terminal 2F. Another 2 hour flight and I finally landed in Stockholm where the outside temp was a mere 3º Celsius (38º F).
     These first few days here spent with Elin have been quite cold more like freezing for me at least since it is 3x colder than home where I left. But none the less we have been out and about having some fun! The first full day was spent going into the city which is about 20 minutes away by bus then train/subway into the middle of the city. First stop was a nice lamb and mashed potato lunch at her work Krogkonst (Krooge-con-st) compliments of the owner Anders. My first time having lamb and it was great, most meals here in Sweden are accompanied by a salad bar and bread you can self serve, love it. Hitting the city was also nice to try out my new camera a Sony a6000 Mirrorless, after finally getting to use it in an awesome environment like Stockholm I already love it! It has one of the fastest auto focus' on the market, LCD screen and view finder, built in flash, WiFi capable to transfer images to your computer and phone straight from the camera. So be ready to see some awesome pictures on my trips from now on!

     Of course my lady Elin went on a little grocery shopping spree before I came and got my favorites :). Dr. Pepper, Lagunitas Pale Ale beer, Macaroni and Cheese, pancakes, and chicken nuggets haha, all found in the local store on the American shelf. So last nights meal was chicken nuggets, fries, salad, and some beer haha it was great and very thoughtful of her :). This morning was spent trying to get more information to hopefully book our planned trip to the Austrian Alps during new years. There is a lot to look into because there are many different ways to get there but its the cheapest to book everything with an included booking agency. It is possible to book a bus from Sweden to Austria and back, 7 nights in a nice hotel near the lifts, the hotel includes continental breakfast and dinner, also included in the package is a 6 day ski pass! These packages depending on the quality of the hotel range from 1,000-1,300 USD for all that I had just listed, ya its a great price just have to book the right one.
     We needed to get outta the house since there was less than 3 hours of sun left, Elin suggested a nice walk about 25 minutes to the tallest part of the island here where I have been staying and she grew up, Lidingö. The lil mountain that we walked and hiked up is a small ski slope when it starts getting cold enough to make snow, which will be very soon! The slope is very small about 500 yards long but with beautiful views of the surrounding islands and waterways. On our walk back to get some lunch the sun set just before 4pm and it will start setting even earlier as the winter goes on....
     Only a few more days before the adventure to the Shetland Islands which will be a journey to say the least :) but can't wait to see somewhere that not many people go to and definitely not many people even know about!

Top the small ski slope on Lidingö, Stockholm, Sweden!

100 Days of Indo // Part 1

Last year I was able to do a trip with some good mates to Indonesia for 3 months. With the help of Sovrn Republic and Funkhouse Media were able to get together all the footage into an epic 6 part series, enjoy!



Watch Episode 2 Next ►

So it begins. As we land on Bali and get acclimated to Southeast Asia, we explore the southern part of the island, known as the Bukit, and explore the options for surf. As we cruise around the island for the first week, we make stops at Bingin, Balangan and Uluwatu. Testing our language skills, we get indigenous with some elderly locals near Nyang Nyang.

A SOVRN Republic Web Series
SovrnRepublic.com (Use promo code "travelsurflive for %15 off!)
In Association With Funkhouse Media
Facebook.com/Funkhousemedia

Music:
Hit The Road by Gyom
Kingston Shuffle by Good New Tunes
Parametaphoriquement by gmz
Brake Dub by belaf
Feet in the Sand by Morgantj

From L-R: Brian Daigneault, Travis Lindsey, David Elliot, Jeremy Jennings, Jay Neyer, Alex Arkeilpane

Weeks away from a new adventure!

     So after already being home from Bali for two weeks I am two weeks away from heading on my next adventure! A few days after I got home from Bali I had my second Surfer's Ear Surgery on my left ear. I have started a blog with a bit of everything information and illustration's on what Surfer's Ear is! During recovering from the surgery I'm getting as much done as possible but mostly saving money doing what I do like carpentry work, drive for Lyft, side jobs building anything for previous customers, recycling, and selling things from my shop online. Saving everything I can to save for this trip in the small amount of time I have will be hard but I think I can make it work, and ill let you know where I am at in two weeks time!
     First stop is in Stockholm, Sweden to hang out with my girlfriend after being apart for 2 months, I will be hanging there for about a week before the next stop, Scotland! Not just any part of Scotland, but 200 miles off the coast of Aberdeen to a small group of islands called Shetland. Getting there will

be a quite interesting 24 hrs! Starting getting to Arlanda airport just outside Stockholm by train, two flights, transport from airport in Aberdeen to the ferry. Same day 7pm is when the ferry heads out for an overnighter to the island arriving 7am, 24 hours after I left for the airport in Stockholm.
     A few things I will be doing in Shetland, first off hanging with my good mates Joe n Ellie, we met in Australia when Bryce and I were cruising around in the van at a car park. Since that time a year and half ago they have made there way to California twice to stay and visit us so I say it's time to go check out there neck of the woods. I want to experience all I can in he three weeks I will be there, biggest on the list is seeing the northern lights, apparently can be seen often during this time of year! I will also be exploring the shore for some surf possibilities when I come back next year, when I can actually surf. Other than that I might work a bit doing carpentry if it's possible and also try some new activities.

     Following the three weeks in Shetland it's back to Stockholm for a few days before Christmas, maybe do some mountain biking in those spare days. I think it will be really fun and different being in a completely different country to see how they celebrate the holiday! First off it is mostly celebrate on the 24th of December, and the next say Elin and I will be heading on our planned trip since she only has a few weeks of work. A quick train to Malmö where the bus that takes us to Austria will depart, in 24 hours of driving we will arrive in Bad Gastein in the Austrian Alps. Skiing some of the best mountains in the world for 6 days is definitely the highlight of this trip for me.  
     I am especially excited because I will have a brand new board and bindings from my good mate Josh from GNU Snowboards for a great deal! This new board will be a few cm longer than mine now which I have realized is to small for proper mountains, plus my boards is some old technology to what they have today Mervin which is the umbrella company for both GNU and Lib Tech who call themselves "Bitchin board builders" which they are for these reasons. They are the longest running and last major board building factory in the USA, plus they are extremely environmentally friendly, check out how here. 
     After the week in Austria skiing and enjoy the mountains our 24 hour bus back begins, I'm sure this will be one of the hardest parts of the trip after being all sore form the long days of getting on the mountain. But after the 24 hour bus were stopping in Copenhagen, Denmark for a few days to explore woooo wooo! After all of that it will be near the end of my trip, and after a few days of resting and spending time with Elin I will have to head home to save and plan the next adventure :)

Pictured sourced from google.com

Travel Snow Live, yes somewhere cold in the next few weeks!

Hello family, friends, and followers,
     Sorry my last blog post from 100 days of Indo left off a little over halfway through the trip. After my last blog post friend's and I had traveled across a few different islands and surfed some more amazing waves I have dreamed of! Due to lack of internet and just always moving around to new locations the last bit of the trip never made it on here. I will for sure have a right up about it hopefully sometime next month, but I want to tell you about my next little adventure first!

The Road Trip vehicular herself!

     This time it's a flat out road trip with my two best friends, Justin and Bryce (who I had gone to Australia with). Justin I have known for over 7 years and is always down for an adventure whether it be diving spearfishing or a road trip for 17 days haha. He's a great friend that is definitely knowledgeable with mechanics, camping, and just shear common sense which makes up a lot of decisions on the road. Bryce which I have already explained in my blog about our adventures of Australia is my best friend I have known for literally 95% of my life. We get along great in any situation and can always agree/compromise with any decision or topic.

One of the few maps we have been adding our stops to!

     So for the next adventure as I have explained we will be hitting the road for a loop around the Northwest United States and Canada. Since either of us have yet to see 80% of the places were going it sounds like a perfect route. Yes it is winter so were packing Snowboards, sleds, camping gear, fishing, and some other fun stuff to keep us entertained. The time span should be around 17 days making our way around a near 5000 mile loop through around 8 states and 1/3 of Canada! We are taking Justin's suburban with a rack with boxes mounted to keep more gear like camping gear and snowboards.
     Since I have never done a trip like this being in snow/cold weather for 17 days straight I packed a decent amount of warm weather clothes and long johns to keep warm in any condition. It's going to be quite an adventure in new scenery than my last few few in the warm weather and beaches but I am just as excited to explore a lot more of my own country!

Packed and ready to board!

Our route will take us up interstate 5 all the way to Canada basically. Our first few stops will be with friend's along the way in San Francisco, Chico, and Portland. We are also trying to camp somewhere in Oregon probably at Crater Lake which we have both seen some pretty sweet pictures of before and sparked the interest to go there. Outside of Portland, Oregon is our first mountain we will snowboard called Mt. Hood, very well known. After that the plan is to cruise through Washington maybe camp again before Seattle, then cross the border into Vancouver. Now in Canada we will cruise around Vancouver and board Whistler a few hours away before heading east towards the next mountains near Revelstoke! Hanging around there for a day or two then on our way to Banff which is the biggest stop in our trip where we will stay for 3 or 4 days to board a few mountains nearby and pick up our good mate from Australia Dillon. He will cruise with us for a week as we make our way back South into Wyoming, Montana, and then chilling in Colorado for a day or two.
     Colorado will probably be our last place were going to snowboard before we take the 2-3 day drive back home to Orange County where normal life will go on again. So that is a quick idea of our plan and thought of the trip but I will update a few times on the journey so stay tuned!

Week 6 // Part 2 // Indo Coffee, Coconuts, and Instant Noodles

The palm tree window.....

     There is nothing like falling asleep to rain pounding on the roof and a cool breeze wafting in
through the window making it’s way into your mosquito net. Then knowing your waking up the next day to a picturesque beach on an island in the middle of the Indian Ocean. As my mind starts to slowly awaken from my 5th REM cycle and my hearing goes from peace fading into the sound of crashing waves in the distance. Once my eyes fade from black to the vision of our wall full of palm fawn’s swaying with the light morning wind. If only this could be the way I woke up from a night’s sleep every morning, then everyday would be bliss. But for now this is life in Indonesia and has been for the last 42 days.

     The following days were filled with lots of surfing just out front, where we could view the wave right through the arch of palm trees out front. Waking up around 7:00am each morning, wandering onto the patio for a quick 5-minute surf check usually followed by a trip down stairs to get the thermos of hot water for our packet IndoCafe Cappuccino coffee we had all got addicted to. Once I had prepared my packet of coffee the guessing begins, since this spot impeticular was frequented by boat charter surf trips. We would all guess how many boats were moored in the channel hiding behind the palms trees to our left. Chest high waves, a lil bump on the ocean’s surface, 15 guys out, must be at least two boats on there first day of the trip and maybe a few guys from the land camp down the beach.

     By the time 8:00am comes around I’m getting restless after finishing my coffee, and sweeping the table and floor. Yes I am on a 3-month surf trip to surf and relax, but as most of my friend’s and family know, I don’t really lounge around. I am always tinkering with something or on the move to somewhere to do something active. So nothing has change even on the other side of the world, so I grab my board; scrap a lil wax on it, apply some sunscreen, and head out in the board shorts I had already woken up in. Walking down the stairs into the ground level of the losmen (local term for homestay) were staying in I make eye contact with one of the elders this morning being the grandma and exchange a sincere smile before walking out the door.

     Between the 200 feet of sand leaving the losmen ending at the beach, my ears are full of sounds; palms brushing against each other, every insect and birds chirp, and of course the waves breaking and rumbling across the reef. Upon reaching the sand and getting the full view of the bay, the peeling wave, and channel where I can confirm there are actually 3 boats. Submerging myself into the water for the first time today you can hardly feel any change since the water here is a warm 81-83°F. The
next few minute paddle to the lineup starts to loosen up the muscles, while I observe how the ocean is moving, and scope out a position to get some of the better waves. The lineup here is like most others with the beginner/intermediate surfers sitting inside and the more experienced surfers looking for better, longer, and bigger waves farther out! But luckily at this break since there are always new boats coming everyday anchoring up for only a 3 or 4-hour session, the people staying on land get priority and position on the better waves.

     The first few days of surf were epic, being head high to overhead and quite a few make able barrels coming through. Between dodging some people sitting or paddling in the wrong places we all had a few great waves. Travis on the other hand took the first 4 days off and shot some photos and video since he was still recovering from some pretty bad cuts that got infected again. It worked out for all of us since there were some good waves, since our two friends Alex and Jay had got caught up in Bali figuring out there Visa extension. Most evenings started at 6pm everyone usually out the water from the evening surf and watching the last few guys get some waves before you could only hear the ocean but not see it through the palm tree window. We all usually grab a beer and wait for dinner which is promptly served at 7pm, dinner consists of a bowl of rice big enough for a football team, a few bowls of veggies with a delicious broth, and hopefully a piece of chicken or fish! Everyone gathers around the table like a family and chows down hardly saying a word, after dinner the cards come out and we play games for hours. With the card games comes great laughs about the day, talks with Ben from Australia and advice on spots he has been and surfed in the area, which is always good knowledge to know from a first person perspective.

     Lunch was a mystery everyday, if Ibu (mom in Indonesian) was home then we had the choice of fried rice or fried noodle. If Ibu was not home then we were basically shit out of luck, so we had to resort to our bag of snacks and instant noodles. All of us had spent $20 or so on a huge bag full of our favorite goodies, I picked up 10 instant noodles, 3 lbs of peanuts, chips, Oreos, bread, peanut butter, and jelly. The other land camps on the beach were not much better except one 100 meters down or so that our friend Todd was staying at. They had a pretty decent menu he had told us multiple times out in the water, after drooling over him talking about the burger and fries he had I couldn’t stop thinking about it. Only eating rice and noodles for 5 days at this point I had to go check it out, but upon arriving and trying to order food they said no, guests only here. We were all disappointed but what can you do but go back and have another PBJ and instant noodle soup before heading out for the second surf of the day.

     At this point we had been on the island for 5 days with no internet, so we were wondering where or if our friend’s Alex and Jay would even show up? They were supposed to arrive Wednesday evening if all had gone to plan with flights, ferries, etc. The waves were a bit smaller today so Jeremy,

Wrangling some coconuts!

Travis, and I decided to go for a walk down the beach we told David and other new Aussie friend Ben that we’ll be back in an hour or so. After getting around the first point and seeing a few other in sight we just wanted to keep going and explore around the next bay and the next bay! All we had were our two GoPros, a hat, and sunglasses, no water haha. Obviously after 30 minutes or so in the sun, walking on the hot sand paralleling the thousands of scenic coconut trees lining the beach, we were thirsty. We tried our hand at wrangling ourselves a coconut from the treetops, our first goal, get up the tree trunk!

     Most of the tree trunks had these little steps cut into them at a 45° angle every 2 ft or so, we could now get pretty far up the tree. But once at the top of the steps the inch or so groove that our feet were in would get uncomfortable and the coconuts were just at our finger tips, with nothing to cut them off with other than hitting them with a stick of bamboo found nearby. After getting nowhere the 3 of us resorted to throwing rocks and pieces of coral at the low hanging coconuts to our surprise we got a pretty decent sized one down. Now step two opening the damn coconut with anything we could find, I initiated the attempt with a solid coral head that I pounded into the soft part of the coconut head. After a few minutes I was getting somewhere but was also exhausting, took myself about 20 minutes to finally crack it open. The first sip was actually delicious even though there was a good amount of sand mixed in, we didn’t care much, after finishing the coconut the wandering continued down the beach. Finally returning back to the losmen with a few coconuts to properly chop open with a machete 3 hours later…..

Week 5 // Part 1 // The journey to the perfect right....

     First off sorry everybody for not keeping this blog as up to date as promised, sometimes it is very hard to sit down and concentrate for hours on typing up an interesting post. I do post as regular as possible on my instagram ( @travelsurflive ) and on facebook ( www.facebook.com/travelsurflive ). I like to keep all my blog post full of story and adventure, I have a few backed up half written posts still saved to be published later on. But this part of my trip was way to cool to wait and post so I want to tell you now!

Airport, Bali, Indonesia prior to departure.

     The journey to the Mentawi islands and this specific island in general is quite a bit of planning involved, my mate David has done it twice so he had a good idea on what we need to do. None the less last time he traveled there was 2 years ago and everything in this country changes everyday without notice or updates to websites! The whole journey would take an estimated 30 hours of traveling going something like this taxi, plane, plane, taxi, ferry, taxi, boat...... After we all sat down and went over prices for a few hours couple days in a row, the decision was made and we headed to the airport to book flights leaving on Thursday morning in two days. After getting all our gear packed and inside and on top a van heading to the airport for the 7 am flight to Jakarta (Java), which was of course delayed an hour. Arriving from Jakarta to the city of Padang (Sumatra) at 2 in the afternoon we waited for our bags to come out the baggage claim door. Once realizing we were the last ones standing there and no more bags on there way out we instantly had all sorts of thoughts and emotions. A friendly local Indonesian in the same situation told us to come with him to the counter and told us this happened to him before, after some translating we found out the bags will be on the next flight arriving from Jakarta in 4 hours.

Approaching the beach after a 2 hour boat ride.

     We had heard form some other traveling surfers that the ferry we were trying to get onto is being fixed and is not working anyways so we wrote off that were not getting onto that later in the evening. So wait we did for 4 hours and sure as shit our bags had finally arrived we got outta that airport as fast as possible right as the rain had started.... Getting to a hostel near the port the ticket office for the boat was closing in 10 minutes, we threw the bags off the car while David and myself hurried to the ticket office 1 minute away. Upon arriving they told us the boat the next morning (Friday) was now full, just like most third world countries pulling out a stack of cash will change there minds pretty quick. Walking out of there with 4 tickets for the 7am boat the next morning, finishing off the night with a few beers, and some locals lounging out front the hostel talking about the season and the people they have come to meet.

Heading to the village to find some necessities.

     Walking through the humid morning down the street with 70lbs of board bags and backpacks sweating in places you didn't know you had is a wonderful start the 2nd day of travel. Getting onto the ferry finding out the last minute tickets we got were basically standing room only, but screw it we were almost there, or so we thought. We didn't mind much until 30 minutes into a 3 hour boat ride were surrounded by 30 people chain smoking/ throwing up from being sea sick. I think we all agreed that was one of the worst parts of our trip by far! Finally landed on the island of Sipora, all the bags off the boat and put off to the side we had another surfer join us trying to get tot he same place we were, a guy from California named Todd. After trying to haggle with a few people trying to get a ride to our destination on the other side of the island we decided to find a spot for the night to get a shower, some food, and relax after two full days of travel.
     Having a walk around the small town of Tuapajet there is not much going on other than what is the necessities in life. You won't find WiFi, a nice restaurant, warm shower, maybe just a little TV if you really search for it. After a bit to eat the hammock I had purchased the day before we left sounded awfully nice to sprawl out in, play some cards and wait for dinner. Dinner was a fish curry, everyone knows I'm not the biggest fan of fish but when you know that meat is a rarity on this island you eat all of it you can. a good nights sleep and we were off on a boat to the south tip of the island where our destination was. I would more so call the boat a canoe hollowed out from a large tree, with a make shift roof, and two 25hp engines on the back. Surprisingly we fit all 5 board bags and gear in the boat without it tipping over, and to our surprise it actually made it's way through the water decently fast. After two hours of mild choppy conditions, water squirting through multiple holes whenever the boat smashed a good size wave, we cruised right up onto a perfect white sand beach in paradise.

     Now the two weeks on an island in the middle of the Indian ocean begins. The place we are staying is located right in front of the wave, it is a families house that they have added some extra rooms to. The family is much older now but still very nice, helpful, and still cooking and cleaning everything for the guests. The price was 60K (5 USD) a night including dinner, over looking a white sand beach, with a view of a perfect right through the over hanging palm trees. The four of us took over 2 rooms upstairs with a nice big room to keep our boards bags in and a large patio with dinning table to converse. There were two other people staying as we arrived, one being Francisco from Spain and the other Ben from Australia. Both super easy going guys, Francisco did a lot of spearfishing, basically all day everyday unless he was fixing his spear gun or the waves were to big. Ben on the other hand loved to lounge in his hammock and read whenever he wasn't getting ridiculously barreled sitting way out the back ever session getting some of deepest barrels I've seen in person!

     A few hours after arriving, settling in, unpacking, and getting a quick mie goreng (fried noodle and vegetables) Jeremy and I headed out for a surf. There was nobody out and we saw a few fun lil waist to chest high fun rippable waves coming through with nobody out. We were careful for the first few waves since it was lowtide and quite shallow on the inside, after about 30 minutes we slowly made our way deeper and farther out to better waves. On my 4th wave, 45 minutes into our first session I took off on the biggest wave we had seen so far only about 5ft and had a late drop, air dropping a few feet before landing and unfortunately sticking the nose and falling over the front of the board. I had penetrated the water luckily and popped out the back unscathed until I pulled my board toward sme and saw there was only half remaining. I quickly yelled out a few curse words as it was a basically brand new board and one of the favorite shaped I've had in a long time, but what can you do.
     It wasn't the best way to start the two weeks here but luckily I have 3 more boards knowing this would happen eventually. I didn't surf the rest of the day but sat behind the camera lense and got some shots of the boys getting some fun ones till the sun went down and the Beer caps started popping of the bottles......

Look out for Part II coming in the next few weeks!