dudes without shirts

All aboard, once again, on the annual pilgrimage to Sumatra, Indonesia. This time, the vessel is The Ilike with her hearty crew and the legendary Captain Scuzz from Sumatran Surfariis.

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Below is a 42 minute video I cut of all the surfing and some of the festivities. Might be quite boring if you dont know us or dont surf.

For the rest of the photos… click

Below is Travis. Two weeks of 12 hours a day sun exposure gets pretty taxing on your face and your eyeballs. They have never itched more or been as red in your life. Sunscreen and lots more sunscreen.

Below, somewhere, not sure where nor does it matter. Right around day 3 of the trip. Already scored.

Crew photo #1

One of the few times that we saw other boats. Needless to say, we kept heading in a different direction, warding off the thought of having to surf with anyone else other than our friends.

“Sea Lice” Basically tiny invisible jelly fish that float on the surface of the water and sting the shit out of you. Derek with a pretty bad reaction around day 2.

We were “near” the Mentawai Islands off the coast of Western Sumatra. The islands have been separated from Sumatra since the mid-Pleistocene period, which has allowed at least twenty endemic species to develop amongst its flora and fauna. This includes five endemic primates: the Mentawai or Kloss Gibbon (Hylobates klossii), Mentawai Macaque (Macaca pagensis), Siberut Macaque (“Macaca siberu”), Mentawai leaf-monkey (Presbytis potenziani), and snub-nosed monkey (Simias concolor). Some areas of the Mentawai Islands rain forest ecoregion are protected, such as the Siberut National Park. Red Junglefowl and the Crab-eating macaque are also native. (cite: Wikipedia)

Really insane sunrises and sunsets most every night and morning.

A mysto bomby peak

A local fishing boat navigating the reef to get into a protected bay as a looming storm tails it in.

Around day 8 of the trip, all the prior days of the trip blur together, making it hard to distinguish which day you got that one good tube and which day you got that one good one with those five lippers.

Nighttime drinking games.

The following sequence of photos were all taken within a couple hour period. On one of the “down” days, we decided to build a bonfire on one of the mini desolate islands, cook the fish we caught that day, and in general, just trip out on our surroundings to say the least… There is a pretty good scene in the movie from this day as well.

One of the most intense sunset colors I have ever seen. Bouncing off light khaki sand.

Yes, thats our 120+ foot pirate ship, the Ilike in the background.

Crew photo #2, we were all tripping on our surroundings.

Captain Scuzz and Derek exfoliating in the sand.

More “exfoliation”

Crew photo #3

Once the bonfire started to die down, we took to the water to start our swim back to the boat. As I started walking into the water, I noticed a really strong Phosphorescence in the water. It basically felt like as you moved your hands or feet in the water, your drag was creating bright bright green or blue sparks, as if you were dragging a piece of metal on the asphalt. I have seen this plenty of times at home, but to be in crystal clear 80+ degree water in pitch black at night, it felt like I was on mushrooms or something. Meanwhile, there were lightning storms off in the distance, and the stars were as bright as they could be with no moon in sight. A completely surreal experience I will never forget.

Below, a very high ISO hand held shot of the stars in the sky, as well as a lightning storm in the distance and a Japanese or Indonesian fishing fleet even further off.

Trav, just “hanging out”

Below, it was Spencers birthday. We all threw eggs on him as he blew out the candles.

Crew shot #4?

Morning colors.

Isac got dragged on the bottom and got a few pretty good cuts. We joked it looked like the Sumatran Tigers got to him.

Lost label whores…

Below, Derek in the middle of the very last tube of the video.

Lance, shacked.

Crew shot #5? and I think the last. From left to right: Me, Joe, Isac, Capt. Scuzz, Derek, Spencer, Brendan, Lance, Matty and Trav

The end.