It was the first time for an all girls-boat trip to be organised in Bali. On board of the Sama Sama boat were seven motivated and talented surfer girls from different nations, including a film crew and a lot of equipment. Together they wanted to discover the best surfspots in Indonesia from Flores to Komodo, Sumba, Savu and Roti. Check out the diaries to share the girls stories and impressions of this trip.

Finally the day of the departure, which everybody of us had awaited eagerly, had arrived. We met at the Bali Camp at 8 a.m., loaded our cars and went to the airport, where we checked in and released our overweight luggage to fly from Bali to Flores. At the tiny airport in Flores we took two mini vans to get to the harbour, where we saw our boat, the Sama Sama for the first time. Our captain, Klaus, had already cooked a brilliant lunch for us. After that we left the harbour and started the first part of our trip to Sumba. Some of us became seasick right away – it would a good idea to take seasick medicine BEFORE the boat trip starts. In this case thanks to Lisa for helping everybody. We soon passed by a beautiful island, where we stopped and jumped enthusiasticly into the clear water for refreshment and snorkelling. All of us were bewitched by the amazing underwater world. After the swim we anchored the Sama Sama to in a little bay to enjoy a placid dinner, some beers and to watch the stars appearing in the sky. There were so many stars on the ceiling that we suddenly felt very small in our little nut shell on the huge sea. It was like a dream. Exhausted of the long day, we went to our bunks very soon – Clara, Karin und me crawling up in the honeymoon Suite as the belly of the boat is supposed to be the least shaky.
Looking forward to the first surfing spot, we left the bay during the night to get to Sumba in the morning. I was woken up by a big clangour in the middle of the night, not .knowing where I was and what had happened, until I realised it was just the big chain of the anchor being pulled in. I went back to sleep immediately, just to be woken up again by Clara moaning. It was only now, that I realised the boat was cruising and shaking, I was rolling from one side of my bed to the other. In the beginning it was really fun, but suddenly seasickness hit me and became worse with every movement. Clara felt the same. We grabbed our blankets and pillows and went upstairs to lie down on the floor of the deck. Marc and Heli where already there and so we lay on the floor, packed like sardines, concentrating on “not- getting- sick” until the morning arrived.

Day 3 (16th of April 2009) by Cathi Strebinger from Austria/Bali
Our third day on deck of the Sama Sama boat. The waves were really small and not very challenging, the perfect opportunity to go and discover the island. Not far from the beach we could see some roofs, so we grabbed some money and our cameras, went on the Dinghi (the little side boat) and soon found ourselves white sand under our feet. A group of locals waited curiously and welcomed us with huge smiles. In poor Indonesian we asked for a tour of their little village, which they happily granted us. After a ten-minute hike through the jungle we reached the wonderful village, where small and huge gravestones decorated with paintings and hieroglyphs were located between the houses. In front of a big building made of wood we were asked to sign the guest book and donate some money. After that we returned to the beach and realised happily that the tide brought braking waves. Sweating from the village tour, this was exactly what we needed! Around lunchtime we continued eastwards along the coast of Sumba. After some time of cruising something was pulling the fish-rod. Iballa was fighting the fish but couldn’t get him out of the water. Only with the aid of Wayan and her lance it was possible to pick the giant fish up to the deck. Dinner was save now.
Along the way we passed spots we knew from different surf magazines like God´s Left, Ochies Left or Nihiwatu. We also saw the Indonesian equivalent of Fidji’s Tavarua wave, that is only accessible for paying guest. Fortunately the waves there were tiny and so being chased away by the lifeguards on the beach wasn’t a big deal and we moved on to our original destination, a wonderful little bay with a nice swell and a calm atmosphere . Small, but very clean waves were waiting to be surfed solely by us that afternoon.

Day 4 (17th of April 2009) by Sonja Hoenscheid
Still fast asleep, I heared Mario whispering “ Wow, the waves are looking soooooo good!” That made me jump out of the bed in my bikini immediately. After applying some suncreme and muniching a banana we were ready to surf. The waves seemed like an engine had made them and the background was decorated by huge palm trees – this view was the exact image I had had of Indonesia. Iballa got the wave of the day and surfed a perfect tube. What broke the fairytale image a bit, was the huge masses of trash and wood that came with the tide. But after long hours of surfing and enjoying the sun we were done anyway so we consequently hoisted the anchor and carried on with our trip.
On the way to our next destination, Tarimbang, we made a short stop in a bay for a nameless lefthander. But within minutes the sky turned dark and it started raining cats and dogs – welcome to the tropics.
Luding and the two Wayans (every second guy in Indonesia is called Wayan) ran around deck trying to collect some of rainwater in canisters before they soaped themselves and showerd under the rain. Normally quite shy, they suddenly started singing and dancing in the rain. Iballa and me didn’t have to think twice before we joined them and I had by far the most fun shower of my life. When the rain stopped, all was calm again, the sea looked like a lake of oil and we stayed in the bay for the night. Soft rocking only gave a slight preview of what we could expect the next day.

Day 6 (19th of April 2009) by Clara Zeiszig, Austria
Waking up we were still on the crossing to Dana, a small-unoccupied island between Sumba and Savu. Sitting together for morning coffee, Wayan discovered some dolphins. When we reached deck we couldn’t trust our eyes: a whole school of dolphins conducted our boat towards the island. After arriving we checked out the isle, which was almost to wonderful and perfect to be true. Turquoise water, beach with white sand some dark black rocks and in the background a green little hill. As the waves weren’t much inviting, we decided to have an extensive breakfast, discover the island and do some photo shoots. Walking along the beach we found some tortoises shells, with calibres up to one meter. Captain Klaus told us, that there were fishermen stopping by at this beach from time to time who hunt tortoises. After this appalling experience, we got back to work: photoshooting with Spanish photographer Mario and a video interview with the two pros (Iballah and Sonni) by Heli. Back on the Sama Sama the dolphins reappeared and came as close as 20 meters to our boat. Cathi, Mario, Klaus and me jumped into the water and cautiously swam in their direction. Although the dolphins kept their distacnce it was such a good feeling to swim with them in the sea! As tide arrived we climbed back on the boat, where a restless feeling spread over all of us. It was time again to get ready to surf and the conditions looked good, a bit windy but high tide and a good lefthander. We had a nice session but I was looking more forward to our next stop at Roti island, as I already knew and liked that wave. Back on the boat the crew welcomed us with great news: their fishing had been so successful, that we could have a barbeque on the beach! The guys built a little bonfire to roast potatoes and fish with a side of a good Bintang (local Indonesian beer). After darkness had fallen we tried to make our way back to the boat, but with the upcoming wind it was complicated to get from the Dingi on to the boat. Part of us had already made it, when the little side boat impended to be turned over and as a precaution Lisa let herself fall backwards into the water right away. In the end everything turned out well and we all arravide safe, but a little bit wet at the Sama Sama. During the night we started crossing to Savu, our next destination.

Day 7 (20th of April 2009) by Lisa Veith from Austria
The morning started with romantic sunrise, blue sea and calm crusing to Savu. That wasn’t all tough. Sitting drowsy at breakfast, we saw another boat approach and stopping right beside us. It was loaded with surfers too, but with surfer boys! As they realised that we were only girls on board, three of them jumped into the water “We come over and kiss all of you!”. To be honest we enjoyed the sight of their muscular bodies too (especially Patrices, whose black skin was like chocolate for breakfast). After some small-talk the guys left as quickly as they appeared and almost out of our sight cried back: “We already miss you! See you in Bali!”
Next point on our agenda was more cultural. In Savu we paif a visit to the pastor Franz Lackner, who was born in Austria and has lived on the island for 35 years. His mission was to build a school for the children and a fountainfor drinking water, for which Klaus had brought a special drill, that had been funded by donations. The school we welcomed us very nicely with tea and cookies and Miss Hösli introduced us to a short lesson in Schwitzer-Dütsch. After some stories from the pastors life we gave a little offering and walked back through the village to the harbour. After having good dinner we started towards Roti.

Day 8 (21th of April 2009) by Lisa Veith from Austria
After a delicious breakfast we started the first surf session at Roti, a long left with a comfortable take-off, some fast sections and even some barrels for the professionals amongst us. The waves were fantastic and I had two of the best waves of the whole trip at that spot. A second deluxe session followed in the afternoon. In the line up we met some cute old guys, aged between 50 and 60, type “surfing legend”. They were totally relaxed and very courteous in the line-up, but surfed like hell. For the evening they invited us for drinks at the bar in their hotel. So after dinner Karin, Clara, Miri, me and our filmer Heli went to meet them there. We had a lot of fun and it turned out, that one of the guys was of company called Body-Glove while the other one was a co- proprietor of Burger King! Most interesting tough was the fact, that they had known each other since adolescence and had always went surfing together. This inspired us, to make a deal on this evening. Maybe we were all a bit drunk, but when the first of us will turn 50, we vowed to go on a boat trip to go surfing together again. Four old ladies on a boat trip perhaps in a swimsuit and a longboard instead of a bikini and short board, but with the same pleasure.

Day 11 (24th of April 2009) by Clara Zeiszig, Austria
Sadly, the last day on the boat had arrived. We had stayed in front of Roti for a couple of days to ride Nembrala, an endless lefthander, strong but not scray. The morning surf was great and each of us got real good waves. After breakfast Heli and I decided to discover the island a little more. We tried to rent a motorbike but couldn’t find any, so in the end it was friendly local who lent us his bike for a couple of hours. Driving along along at the coast, we stopped at an amazing bay with white sand, turquoise sea and three trees in the water. We were really impressed of the big mussels lying on the floor, the mangroves woods we drove through and the other bays. Midday heat was too hot for us tough so we returned to our Sama Sama for lunch.
Actually Lisa and Miri had wanted to go for another surf, so when we returned to the boat with Klaus we expected a sleepy, calm atmosphere. Instead we could already hear laughter and giggling from far away, originating from a drinking game the rest of us was playing on the boat. After Mario and Karin had settled their discussion about who lost and had to drink the Bintang, lunch was served and everyone calmed down again. After a little break, we went for a little sunset surf that we had to share with only 10 other surfers and therefore enjoyed the waves and the atmosphere very much.This last session was like a dream, we all caught lots of amazing waves and had huge smiles on our faces. The perfect ending to our boat trip. After dinner the crew started the last crossing to Timor from where we flew back to Bali.
The trip had brought all of us closer together and the time on board of the Sama Sama was as wonderful as it was impressing. I can only recommend it And would always do it again!

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