Macaroni’s Surf Resort / Report October ’09
Hey guys, well we’re on a roll with reports, so thought I might as well keep it going…
Last week we had Alessio, Pedro, Marco, Elisa and Simona arrive from Italy and James from Northern Beaches of Sydney, just 6 guests at the resort plus me Bootsy Cynthya and Damo. James was actually doing some relief work in Padang to help out with the earthquake victims, and then decided to jump on board for this trip at the last minute.
For the first couple of days, following a nice swell the week earlier, we had pretty small waves with the boys from the Mediterranean getting just enough size to enjoy a few fun ones by themselves at Macas. Then fortunately on Saturday we started seeing the new swell that had been forecasted, unfortunately down graded from what it was looking like the week earlier, but still looking Ok for the week ahead.
The first day of swell James and I stayed at Macas, while the rest of the crew headed up to Bat Cave with Bootsy and Cynthya. James headed out for a morning surf which ended up being a 6 hour session, I joined him in the early afternoon and we were only sharing with only 3-4 others off a boat so there were plenty of waves to go around.
The other guys scored some much bigger surf in the 5 ft range up at Bat Cave, and were all stoked with their trip up there. At the end of the day Pedro cooked an incredible spaghetti Marinara, teaching Sony a trick or two in the kitchen. Also later Elisa and Simona cooked some awesome Pizza and gnocchi in the next couple of days, geeps felt like we should have been paying the guests for the Italian food we were eating…!!
The following day we were treated to some bigger waves at Macas, all the crew getting some nice waves. James had a long surf in the morning, I surfed early arvo, and then Marco and Pedro surfed late arvo. The waves were fun in the 3-4 ft mark, still with just one boat visiting so plenty to go around.
That arvo we had some gnarly looking clouds hanging around meaning a storm was on the way, then we suddenly had a massive clap of lightning which hit the main building and scared the day lights out every body. We actually saw blue light around us and the sound was deafening, as it happened I saw the internet signal drop out immediately on my laptop. Yep, the lightning wiped out our modem, our stereo, our big screen projector and possibly the outdoor wireless unit. Indonesia… whether it be earthquakes, tsunami, volcanos or lightning, it seems there is always something you are up against….!!
So next day I had to return to Padang on the Beriloga Ferry with the electronic gear to be repaired or replaced, as the swell was forecasted to rise a little for the next couple of days. On Monday and Tuesday the crew enjoyed some larger waves at Macas with good conditions, but obviously a bummer the internet was down which is usually such a bonus staying on land at Macas, as it is so easy to keep in touch with family and friends.
Arriving in Padang I sent some emails off for the guests, fortunately as my house was still standing with the internet connection working, but the rest of Padang is such a mess after the recent earthquake, so many buildings now reduced to rubble, so many livelihoods lost, so many people probably still buried. There still around 200 NGO’s in town assisting communities worst effected by the disaster. Fella’s Bar and Restaurant has been packed out with Westerners, never seen so many people around before!!
For the week ahead we still have our 5 Italian guests at Macas, but unfortunately forecasted to be our smallest week of surf for the year, it looks almost flat out there at the moment. Before I left I had offered for the guys to keep a week in credit and instead head down to Bali as they had originally booked for 2 weeks then some where headed to Bali, but despite the internet being down and not such a great surf forecast, the crew chose that they would like to stay on anyway, as there were few people around and being used to surfing the Mediterranean, only small waves would keep them happy…. I really hope at this point they are at least getting that!!
Our Internet technician will be headed out to Macas this Sunday on the ferry to reconnect the Internet, and the resort will be staying open until November 25 2009. So for anybody keen on a late season trip (keep an eye on the swell forecast!!), then you’re most welcome as we currently only have a few people booked for the last 4 weeks of the season, keeping in mind November can still deliver some clean swells in the 3-4 ft mark with lighter winds usually as well.
Anyway Damo will no doubt be dropping us a line from Macas a bit later, until then hope your getting some waves and look forward to hearing from you if you’d like to book a spot in late season or 2010!!
Cheers
Mark @ Macas
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