Mentawai Surf Update: Mid May Madness at S Resort Aloita

Photos by Grant Davis and Hatsumi Ishibashi | Video clip by Grant Davis

Hello! My name is Grant Davis and I work as a surf photographer for The Perfect Wave at S Resort Aloita. Here is a quick Mentawai surf update from mid May:
The swell hit properly on Monday morning May 16, but with N winds, our only real option was to hit Suicides.
It was a little lumpy from the previous day’s on-shores, but very surfable at 4-6ft. It cleaned up during the session, with the wind dropping and fading towards the NE direction.
After lunch, the wind had died and turned more to the east: Telescopes was chunky with a few barrels on offer. A small crowd was on hand to tackle the 4-6ft waves with plenty of sets rolling through.
Again, the swell seemed to clean up into the afternoon and everyone got a few.
In summation, a very good day of waves with more to come.

The waves were still solid the next morning and with N-NE winds again, Suicides was the call. The swell had peaked overnight so it was a little smaller at 4-5ft. The waves were much more organised than the previous day and hitting the reef nicely, with tubes for the brave.
It was a beautiful sunny Mentawai morning with crystal clear water and only a handful of surfers. We surfed for 3 hours and headed back to S Resort Aloita for lunch.
Very similar wind patterns to the day before meant that Telescopes was clean in the afternoon again. At 4-5ft some excellent waves were torn apart by a small crew of locals and tourists alike. As the sun dipped towards the horizon we were treated to some super fun green tunnels in golden sunset light.

The next morning, with more NE winds and a dying swell, we decided Icelands would be worth a look. With only 3 people out when we arrived and some solid clean 5-6ft waves, the decision was easy.
The other surfers soon left and we were trading Icelandic bombs all morning, some big kegs were coming through and the odd traditional cleanup set. Sunburnt and happy, we called it a morning and headed back to S Resort Aloita.
The afternoon was a little funky with a light south breeze so we grabbed a few 4-5ft waves at Icelands followed by some playful 3 footers at Tikus on the way home.

The swell ended up being very good in the central Mentawai region, and our guides at S Resort Aloita managed to put us in the best spots to take advantage of it.
With more swell on the way, May is shaping up to finish very strongly, so get yourself out here.