13/05: Asu alone, my first guests, and the storm of the year
After nearly 2 weeks in Lagundri on Nias I was really ready to get back out to Asu, but it seems that the stars held me in their favor and kept me on Nias. The northwest wind had been blowing ever since John, Sam and I had left Asu on the first of May. That translates into nearly 2 weeks of onshore wind and rain on Asu, rendering the wave un-surfable and the working conditions absolutely terrible. So, the time in Lagundri spent searching for supplies and food supply contacts was time well spent and hastling with the Lagundri surf crowd proved less of an issue this time around. Seems everyone in town had learned that I was the new big fish in town, spending money on supplies drew the attention of more than a few of the local surfers who would be more than thrilled if they could score a job working at a surf camp. I soon had the local kids approaching me for a job and thus granting me equal respect in the lineup to catch waves, not something a foreigner comes by easily in Nias.
The NW wind and rain that was slaughtering the wave on Asu was delivering morning offshore winds in Lagundri with afternoon rain showers to cool things down and shift the afternoon side-offshore winds back to straight offshore. A few moderate swells came through, about 3 to 5 feet, and even though it wasn’t big, it was more energy than I had seen arrive Lagundri yet, so I was stoked. Surfing twice a day and getting some really nice barrels, meeting travelers from all over the world and making friends with the local rippers and kid crews. A few day trips into town kept me out of the water, so it wasn’t all fun and games. Barriga and I spent a day looking for food in the “Big City”, Gunung Sitoli, where I was able to chip through half of my food “wishlist”, finding such goodies as pasta and spaghetti sauce , peanut butter and jelly, brownie mix, and some other hard to find staples. The main items from GS were the freezer and a little electric oven essential for cold drinks and baked goods. I also did a shopping spree for kitchen utensils and ended up coming across some mango trees, a lychee tree, and an orange tree, which I was really excited to get planted and fruiting as soon as possible. More tools were on the list, as were hitting the internet and getting a haircut and beard trim. We got material for getting some hammocks sewn up as well as rope to hang em.
John left us straight away on the 1st, but Sam hung around until her flight on the 7th. While she was with me in Lagundri she met Luiz and Luiz, 2 Brazilian guys both interested in going to Asu, one who spoke English and the other not a word. So we got them on board and I encouraged them to be patient and wait out the NW wind, all working according to my plan of waiting until all the supplies were ready to go and utilizing them to help subsidize the transportation costs. It worked out really well. We left on the 13th for Asu, with no issues on the way up the coast we made it to Sirombu in just 2 hours by car. The boat was ready and waiting, we loaded our stuff and headed out towards Asu, headlong into the NW wind that had whipped up a bouncing 6 foot wind swell that kept us hanging on to the rails the entire ride, rising and dipping, to-ing and fro-ing for the 1.5 hour ride.
We were just 15 minutes from arriving Asu when the front that had been looming out ahead of us passed over Asu and hit us like a brick truck. The wind whipped up to at least 30 knots and a steady rain beat us in the face, Luiz, Luiz, and I were drenched to the bone in seconds, and finding it hard to see in the driving rain. It was really funny as the front approached, because Luiz, the non-English speaking, kept pointing to how the front was going to pass to the north of us, but I was pretty sure that we were going to get nailed just as we landed the island, making it extra difficult to get everything unloaded. Well, we were both wrong. When the front hit it blew the boat south and we were just able to reach the lee side of the island at the southern point, catching a break and creeping up the lee side to our landing point. Had we been just a little further out and gotten blown a little further south, we would have ended up spending the night on Hinako, the island to the south, because our little boat that could, couldn’t have made it. So, we were both lucky and unlucky. Lucky because we made it, but unlucky because we had to wait 2 more days before being able to unload the boat completely of all our supplies and tools, it was even too windy and bumpy to unload the boat as it sat at anchor, and this was the lee side of the island. The first day we just grabbed the essentials, Luiz and Luiz’s bags and some essential food to keep us fed.
Ronnie and I worked on the projects that we could for the next 2 days, while the Luizes slept, read, and watched surf movies. 2 days later we unloaded the boat completely, got the Luizes their surfboards so that they actually felt like they were on a surf trip, and I got all of the tools that I had bought so that Ronnie and I could start the renovations on the bungalows.
It was another 3 days before the waves came surfable, forcing the Luizes to be very patient. We had one tree come down in the storm, which we hired the chainsaw guy, Amatari, to cut up into lumber to make new deck rails and seating for the bungalows. It also set off an alarm that the Big Tree was in danger of coming down and started the wheels in motion to take the big fella down…
The NW wind and rain that was slaughtering the wave on Asu was delivering morning offshore winds in Lagundri with afternoon rain showers to cool things down and shift the afternoon side-offshore winds back to straight offshore. A few moderate swells came through, about 3 to 5 feet, and even though it wasn’t big, it was more energy than I had seen arrive Lagundri yet, so I was stoked. Surfing twice a day and getting some really nice barrels, meeting travelers from all over the world and making friends with the local rippers and kid crews. A few day trips into town kept me out of the water, so it wasn’t all fun and games. Barriga and I spent a day looking for food in the “Big City”, Gunung Sitoli, where I was able to chip through half of my food “wishlist”, finding such goodies as pasta and spaghetti sauce , peanut butter and jelly, brownie mix, and some other hard to find staples. The main items from GS were the freezer and a little electric oven essential for cold drinks and baked goods. I also did a shopping spree for kitchen utensils and ended up coming across some mango trees, a lychee tree, and an orange tree, which I was really excited to get planted and fruiting as soon as possible. More tools were on the list, as were hitting the internet and getting a haircut and beard trim. We got material for getting some hammocks sewn up as well as rope to hang em.
John left us straight away on the 1st, but Sam hung around until her flight on the 7th. While she was with me in Lagundri she met Luiz and Luiz, 2 Brazilian guys both interested in going to Asu, one who spoke English and the other not a word. So we got them on board and I encouraged them to be patient and wait out the NW wind, all working according to my plan of waiting until all the supplies were ready to go and utilizing them to help subsidize the transportation costs. It worked out really well. We left on the 13th for Asu, with no issues on the way up the coast we made it to Sirombu in just 2 hours by car. The boat was ready and waiting, we loaded our stuff and headed out towards Asu, headlong into the NW wind that had whipped up a bouncing 6 foot wind swell that kept us hanging on to the rails the entire ride, rising and dipping, to-ing and fro-ing for the 1.5 hour ride.
We were just 15 minutes from arriving Asu when the front that had been looming out ahead of us passed over Asu and hit us like a brick truck. The wind whipped up to at least 30 knots and a steady rain beat us in the face, Luiz, Luiz, and I were drenched to the bone in seconds, and finding it hard to see in the driving rain. It was really funny as the front approached, because Luiz, the non-English speaking, kept pointing to how the front was going to pass to the north of us, but I was pretty sure that we were going to get nailed just as we landed the island, making it extra difficult to get everything unloaded. Well, we were both wrong. When the front hit it blew the boat south and we were just able to reach the lee side of the island at the southern point, catching a break and creeping up the lee side to our landing point. Had we been just a little further out and gotten blown a little further south, we would have ended up spending the night on Hinako, the island to the south, because our little boat that could, couldn’t have made it. So, we were both lucky and unlucky. Lucky because we made it, but unlucky because we had to wait 2 more days before being able to unload the boat completely of all our supplies and tools, it was even too windy and bumpy to unload the boat as it sat at anchor, and this was the lee side of the island. The first day we just grabbed the essentials, Luiz and Luiz’s bags and some essential food to keep us fed.
Ronnie and I worked on the projects that we could for the next 2 days, while the Luizes slept, read, and watched surf movies. 2 days later we unloaded the boat completely, got the Luizes their surfboards so that they actually felt like they were on a surf trip, and I got all of the tools that I had bought so that Ronnie and I could start the renovations on the bungalows.
It was another 3 days before the waves came surfable, forcing the Luizes to be very patient. We had one tree come down in the storm, which we hired the chainsaw guy, Amatari, to cut up into lumber to make new deck rails and seating for the bungalows. It also set off an alarm that the Big Tree was in danger of coming down and started the wheels in motion to take the big fella down…
