A surf trip doesn’t always mean a vacation. Many times, a traveller returns from a month-long wave search haggard, sunburned, and weary. Not wave-hungry anymore, but weary. Some of the best waves on the planet exist in countries with little-to-no infrastructure, so finding a place that’s close to that wave you’ve been dreaming of for years isn’t always the easiest thing to do.
Of course, there is a time and a place for those feral trips–sometimes returning haggard, sunburned, and weary is just what you’re looking for… but if it’s not, there is one place where world class waves don’t mean you have to share a cot with a cockroach.
Kandui Villas was created by the founder of Kandui Resort, Jordan Heuer. Originally from Hawaii, Heuer has spent more than a decade exploring West Sumatra. The Kandui Villas sit on Karangmajet Island, smack dab in the middle of an absolute glut of waves called Playgrounds. In between the islands of Siberut and Sipora–the Playgrounds area–there are nearly 30 world class waves, all jammed into a relatively small area, including legendary breaks like Rifles and Bank Vaults.
The Villas have everything you need to get yourself in the right spot to get some of the best waves of your life: two 15-foot heavy duty plastic dinghies, one 10-foot Kahajaya center-console speed boat and four 45-50 foot longboats for accessing the spots a little further away, like Hideaways, Nipussi, Burgerworld, and E-Bay. For a way more complete breakdown of nearly every wave in the area, click here.
One of the greatest things about Kandui Villas is the fact that you can take your family there and not feel like a dead-beat when you leave them for hours on end to get barreled. There are twelve private umas–or bungalows–each carved to a theme that’s taken from the beauty of the Mentawais. Each uma has two or three king-sized beds and two double beds set on a large second story loft, and the bathrooms have beautiful stone floors laid by Balinese craftsmen.
The Villas have an amazing restaurant, a bar, game room, and spa. Fish caught locally is on the menu nearly every night, and the greens you’ll be fueling your surf-wasted body with are straight from the garden.
And because the ocean is much bigger than just surfing, (and let’s be honest, sometimes you just have to know when to call it quits for a few hours) Kandui Villas can put you into some of the best snorkeling in the world.
Since 2011, when the Villas opened, they’ve been aware that they need to give back to the country they’re in. They make sure to provide jobs to locals, and are working hard to ensure that it stays that way.
So if the next surf trip you’re thinking about taking doesn’t involve the same hardships as the pilgrims endured, or you simply want a place where you can surf and feel a little pampered at the same time, or you want to bring your family along with you, Kandui Villas is the place to go.
