Telos

Telo Islands ~ (Telo's)

Overview of Telo's

 The Telo's are made up of two main Islands that are surrounded by about 99 smaller islands, situated between Nias and The Mentawai's, the area is very remote, untouched and sparsely populated, geographically the islands are closer to the mentawai's, however the people, culture, local language originated from Nias. An extremely beautiful area, think tropical paradise.

The waves

  Generally the waves in the Telo's are not of the same quality or consistency as the Mentawai's, with many of the better surf spots needing a solid swell to get going or a swell with a lot of west direction in it, hence the waves can be fickle in nature, often turning on then turning off, within a short amount of time, due to this the area holds an air of mystery and holds a secretive nature that has been around since surfers started venturing there from Nias over 20 years ago. Perhaps for this very reason just about every surfer/charter boat/surf resort has a different name for the surf breaks in the area, we have only included the better known ones.

Crowd wise in the past the area has been very un crowded, however there is now a number of surf camps/resorts there, so perhaps it may be better to say crowds may be hit and miss, if there's a solid swell and light winds I'm sure there would be un crowded waves about, but if conditions are small options can be limited hence crowding may occur.

North Telo's- The waves in this area are generally of a fairly average quality (for Indonesia), more suited to older surfers/long boarders, often being fat or sectiony, although there is the odd world class set up, the better spots tend to be very fickle in nature requiring a certain set of conditions hence don't show there true nature very often.

Church's/Misho's- is perhaps the most consistent wave in the area, an average left by indo standards but still can be a lot of fun, fairly long sectioning lefts, generally better surfers can take of deep and race or float a fast section, with most other surfers taking off where the waves slow down a little, winding through a series of sections suitable for off the tops and cutbacks with the odd barrel, located in a picture perfect setting between a number of islands, with two churches in view one on separate islands. (vid says Mentawai's but yes it's telo's)

The Boot/Max's right= A right located in front of a surf resort this wave is on the other side of Island that Churches left breaks off, not as consistent as the left and more suited to a bit better surfers, the right having more bite than the left, a high performance wave with a variety of sections with the possibility of getting barreled not the longest wave, end section often closes out on shallow reef.

Pinnacles- Another of the more well known reliable waves in the areas, the wave is a right that is similar in some ways to Burger world in the Mentawais, breaking down the edge of a tiny picture perfect tropical island, the wave itself unlike burger world is better with a bit more size head high or bigger the wave peaks up outside in a peak, with a good drop and a nice shoulder to carve the wave then tapers of and if your lucky lines up for a nice inside section, again not true Indo quality, but the combination of the setting, warm water and the fact that its the kind of wave average surfers can surf at a solid size mean its often a lot of fun.

Hollow right- (Satu batu,Corona's, Ranngas, GT's) One of the better waves in the Telo's this wave like many waves in the Telo's it is known by different surfers/charter boats/camps by many different names, it's even been featured among Mentawai magazine articles/video's just to confuse. fairly short, but yes this is a perfect hollow right, however there are a number of draw backs, one it's fickle requiring a certain set of conditions, and due to the nature of the area it is often a long wait between sets, think flat 15 minutes then bang a head high set, this combined with the small take off area, means it doesn't handle a crowd at all, this wave also has a habit of breaking boards and body's on it's shallow reef, definitely only for better surfers.

School yards/Mouse traps- One of the swell magnets of the area, a right that lines up in a unique shape, then runs through a series of sectiony "mousetrap" like sections, again not world class but, can be fun in the right conditions.

Off course there are other waves in the area, mostly rights but the odd left, mostly either low quality that are swell magnets or higher quality but fickle.

Mid Telo's- Generally this area requires a solid swell to get going, although when it does there is a number of waves (mostly lefts) many of good quality.

South Telo's- Again mostly rights of varying quality with a few lefts thrown in the mix, this area has possibly the best quality waves in the Telo's when on although the area is also extremely remote.

Duru/Pasti,Rollins is a fairly reliable long right with a number of sections including some nice barrel sections, one of the better waves in the Telo's, again site of a surf resort/camp.

Surf camps/resorts in the telo's

Telo island lodge- Up market personalized surf accommodation, located on a pristine island in the North area, with a right out front, run by very experienced Aussie operators(ran hinako's hideaway until quake affected the area), aimed more at the more mature surfer with $$$, Max guest 8 ($500-$755pp pn, no that is not a typing mistake, see web site) www.teloislandlodge.com

Resort latitude zero-Another high end style resort, also run by very experienced operators, who have run charter boats in the Sumatran islands for years, very nice set up complete with pool a true resort, max guest 12? ($-$pp pn) www.resortlatitudezero.com

Surfing village-Located in the south telo's in a beautiful bay in front of a great right hander, owned and run by two brazilians that could pass as Aussie's, a unique set up/building design. www.surfing-village.com

Telo surf villa- due to open 2012 www.telosurfvilla.com

Charter boats that focus on the telo's:

Charters generally don't focus exclusively on the telo's, but are normally included in a trip called (north Sumatra charter) that either begins in Sibolga near Nias on the mainland or begin in Padang on the mainland where the charter boats for Mentawai's are based.

North Sumatra trips generally visit the Telo's, Nias, Hinako's and the Banyaks and sometimes Simeulue, If conditions are not good in the Mentawai's or very crowded, charters may also visit the telo's as part of there trip, but this is not as common and even then they would generally only visit the south Telo area.

Please see Mentawai boat charters for charters boats that also do charters to this area.

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