Destination Tales: Addiction Surf Charter Mentawai

MV Addiction is one of the best surf charters in the Mentawai. It is owned, operated, and skippered by surfers for surfers. The luxurious 24-metre (80ft) high-speed catamaran and their experienced crew will take you on the surfing adventure of a lifetime. 

At the end of the 2024 surf season, we caught up with captain Dee, and had a chat about the past season, and his outlook for 2025. 

Although they are currently very busy with off-season maintenance and improving the vessel, including a refit to repower MV Addiction with brand new YANMAR marine diesels, captain Dee was extremely kind to find time to give us this fascinating and candid interview.

How many seasons have you done in the Ments now?

My name is Dickinson Antal, and I’ve been working on surf charter boats in the Mentawai Islands for 22 years now (since 2002).

I came to Bali on a surf trip with some friends in ’99. We came back (of course) in 2000 and I met a local girl. I found a job working on a surf charter boat out of Bengkulu with Mr Keith Golledge at the end of 2001 and started work in 2022!

It was a Dream job, with a dream lifestyle.
I never looked back….

Making a go in Indonesia meant I had to bump around those first 5 seasons in Mentawai, getting some experience and finding my way. Step by step, I worked my way up from cook to captain, and by 2006, I started working on MV Addiction after getting my Masters 5 captains license.

I have been with the boat and with the same crew since then!

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For 19 years, I’ve worked alongside:

Geni, our skilled photographer who has all the cameras and knows all the angles for every spot in the Mentawais

Tony, our masterful chef who keeps us and our guests delighted with healthy, tasty, breakfasts, lunches and dinners to keep us well fueled for multiple surf sessions each day.

Professor Azman, our engineer keeps the boat in fine working order so that we get to use our high speed capacity to get to the best breaks first, ensuring more uncrowded water time for our guests.

Yudi, our decky makes sure that everything is ship shape throughout the trip.

And Andy, our other Captain takes turns with me to guide guests to the best waves of their lives.

We aren’t as young as we were when we started, but we’ve learned every nook and cranny of this island chain in the decades that we’ve spent chasing the dream in this wave rich part of the world.

We’ve been through thick and thin together and are pretty close — as can be expected after working together for so long!

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How was the 2024 surf season?

2024 was a year of epic surf but also of personal loss for those of us in the Mentawais surf community.

The early season started off really well, and the mid-season months pumped – having a long string of continuous ground swells.

There were some real classic days, good winds and long-period ground swells.

That type of weather model always helps to spread out the boats and put smiles on everyone’s faces.

Mentawai is a pretty tight-knit community. Not only are there the locals and the Westerners that have made this place home, but we have the same guests coming back year after year. There are a lot of people that have become sort of like family.

The downside of knowing people and caring about them of course, is that it hurts that much worse when something bad happens. Unfortunately, we had some major losses in the community this year with a few old friends passing, including world-class surf explorers like Mikala Jones and my former co-Captain, Eric Foraker.

Each of those boys cut their own path through the world. They didn’t just stick to the script, they drew beyond the boundaries of the map altogether. I’m grateful to have gotten to share some time with them in and out of the water.

It’s a reminder to me that life is short and we have to make the most of it.

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Where have you and your guests been surfing?

On Addiction we really like to chase the classic surf charter experience.

We are fortunate to have a vessel as well suited as the Addiction to make this a lot easier. Being a high-speed catamaran, our boat is fast and far less likely to make passengers seasick, since it doesn’t rock side to side nearly as much as a monohull does. Nobody wants to feel nauseous when the waves are firing.

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Knowing the islands as well as we do, we study the swell reports and the local weather and then discuss options with our guests, to ensure that we maximize our chances of getting them their version of perfect surf. For some groups, that means double overhead waves at Kandui or Bank Vaults or Lances Right. For other groups, that means head-high peelers at waves like Macaronis. For others, it means going to one of the dozens of secret spots that we have in our back pocket, including places that are a little too far for the other boats to usually want to go, given how much slower they move.

In addition to great conditions, we always try to do our best to select spots that will minimize the crowd factor — it being the (semi)-random variable that can either make or break a session. But sometimes the group decides that even though there may be other surfers, the quality of that particular spot is what they want to chase that day. And often, crowded or not, our guests get some of the best waves of their life.

There are always little windows in Indo, when the surf just comes on, good tide, no lulling – good smooth seas – maybe the crowd does a changeover. Stuff like that. It really doesn’t take much to make a session turn on.

I’m always looking for the little things – those moments- when you become dialed in and totally engaged in the present.

How have the crowds and the vibes been in the water this year?

It’s true that as the years go on the crowds keep coming. I guess that’s just the progress of our sport and the attraction of surfing at a world-class location. It’s fair to say the word’s out … haha.
But that being said. We’re all visitors here. At least most of us.

I think the vibe in Mentawai is still pretty agreeable overall.
There are enough of the “old boy” operators who still understand what it is to be on a surf trip.

Then of course there are the almost long and forgotten “rules” — the “tribal law” that keep everyone catching waves, the concept of sharing and seeing stoke for someone, maybe you don’t even know them – they’re not on your boat – but you’re stoked to see them get a wave.

Calling someone into a wave and seeing them get a good one can be really rewarding – especially in place where there really are enough waves to go around.

There’s no loss in sharing and no benefit in withholding.

The world does have jerks in it. But there are many more decent people out there and we can gently nudge those who are losing sight of the bigger picture.

It is surprising how easy it is to make a new friend or have a nice conversation with someone if you’re not trying to snake him.

I’m always amazed at some of the incredible people I get to meet in the water in the Mentawais. That guy that is sitting next to you might not be a pro surfer, but maybe he’s a doctor, a scientist, or a brilliant businessman. Sharing waves out here, I’ve met people who have changed my life. You might too.

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What are your expectations for next year?

I’m hoping next year is the best one ever!

We are really busy in the shipyard this off-season, installing new motors. We have always had a really solid maintenance program. It’s just such a big aspect of the industry – to keep everything up to a good standard that can make us feel confident in the passengers’ experience and in the dreams we are making.

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Are you currently running any special deals, or have any news?

We are focusing on keeping the classic surf experience alive!

Aside from the reliability that the new motors will provide, we are happy to say that we offer our charters to smaller-sized groups to help keep the experience as awesome as it can be & the crowds in the line-up and at the dinner table down.

The addiction can sleep 10 or even 12 guests comfortably.

That said, we advise groups to keep it small with the costing for a group sized at 8 passengers.

The comfort of a boat as big as the Addiction with only 8 of your closest friends on board is really special. There are some big surf charter boats out there. But if you pull up to a spot and have twenty people on board, even if nobody else is around, you’ve brought your own crowd! And if other people are around, nobody is excited to see the Deathstar pull up. Plus with a larger group of surfers, it is harder to find waves that will be right for everyone. Some are more experienced. Some less so. Smaller groups mean each surfer gets to spend more time surfing the waves that are right for them.

Of course, if groups want to have more buddies (or non-surfing partners) along – we can support that as well.

The focus for our boat and crew is on delivering the classic surf experience. Same as it always has been. We just refine our approach little by little – a kind of Kaizen, really.

We are still as stoked to be in this magical part of the world as we were 2 decades ago.

Being able to share this experience and to do so by a conscious decision:

to be here,

to be good,

and to be grateful.

We are watching the bounty unfold, and getting a few good waves along the way.

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