A Trip to the East: The First Surf Trip, Rote
Last year, a friend of mine told me about this southernmost island of Indonesia called Rote. She told me how nice the beaches are there, the food, the people, and most importantly, how popular surfing is there. Purely from her story, I added a trip to this island into my annual wish list I always draw up every new year.
Separately, I made a pact to myself to always travel every quarter. I went to Nusa Lembongan and Nusa Ceningan for my Q1 trip last February. I haven’t decided where to go for my Q2 trip but another friend of mine, Boris, offered me to join his family trip to Raja Ampat. I thought a trip to Raja Ampat will be very expensive if I am going to do it on my own, but since there are already some people signing up for the Raja Ampat trip, I decided to go as it won’t be that easy to gather that many people to go that far. But this post is not about my trip to Raja Ampat, I wanted to take a pitstop somewhere in the east before Raja Ampat. Initially, we wanted to go to Alor as it is known as one of the world’s best dive spots. But after contacting the dive center there, they told us 50 minimum dives are required to dive there — which unfortunately both of us were not able to fulfill (especially me, I just got my Open Water license last May and haven’t gone diving since then). We finally decided to change our pitstop to Rote.
I didn’t complain when we had to change our plan to Rote. It has always been on my 2022 wish list, I’ve heard good stuffs about the place, I can dive there, and most importantly, I can surf as I found out that Rote offers one of the best waves in Indonesia. There are so many things I want to share about this beautiful island, but I am going to start with the most popular activity there, surfing.
Getting to Rote
I traveled to Rote from Jakarta. Since there are no direct flights from Jakarta to Rote, I had to take the following route: (1) direct flight from Jakarta (Soekarno Hatta) to Kupang (El Tari) where I took Citilink at 2AM and arrived at Kupang at 6AM; and (2) fast ferry from Tenau Harbour, Kupang to Ba’a Port, Rote at 9AM and arrived at Ba’a at approximately 12PM. It roughly took 10 hours trip for me to get to Rote from Jakarta.
Boris took a different route as he is based in Bali. He flew from Denpasar (Ngurah Rai) to Kupang then flew from Kupang to Rote (the airport in Rote is located near Ba’a Port).
It took around an hour to travel from Ba’a to Nemberala, where we were staying. We were picked up by the driver from the resort for a IDR 200k charge. However, if there’s no option for an airport transfer, you’ll meet a lot of people offering you a taxi ride to your destination in Rote. So, you don’t have to worry about getting no transportation options at Ba’a.
Surfing in Rote
I did my research before going to Rote as it would be my first official surf trip after I started to religiously surf earlier this year, so I don’t want it to flop. I look up the surf spots and each of their difficulty levels, the best season to surf there, and obviously, a local surf coach. This is where I met Adit (@indo.lines on Instagram), a renowned surf coach and surf photographer in the area. Before my travel, I already contacted him and told him that I’ll be visiting Rote and I’ll need a surf coach and surfboard, to which he responded he will take care of everything.
Adit introduced me to many of Rote’s surf spots. But since I had very limited time, he took me to two spots, Besialu (or known as T-Reef) and Squealers.
- Besialu (T-Reef)
Besialu is the main surf spot in Rote, the line-up is always packed every morning when we were going diving and in the afternoon for sunset surfs. It is known for its long left-handers, which excites me as a goofy-footer.
We had to take a boat ride to reach the line-up, so not that much paddle was required. The water was clear, and I was able to see what was on the bottom. The bottom was not that deep and arguably shallow as I was able to touch the bottom of the sea most of the time. Note that the bottom of Besialu is all reefs, so expect some scratches here and there.
The first time I surfed there was in the afternoon on the day of my arrival. Adit was not available to guide me but one of his friends, Daud was there to help. The waves were beyond my expectation, it was way bigger than the ones I usually ride in Bali and there were many huge sets.
The next day I surfed there again. This time Adit accompanied me. I snapped two leashes in less than 2 hours, which was clear evidence of how big the waves were that day. Caught some waves too and one was possibly the best wave I’ve ever ridden. I was so happy that afternoon.
I surfed there again the next day. Didn’t snap any leash this time, caught some waves but not as many as the day before since the waves were slightly bigger that day so I didn’t surf at the peak. I went back to the shore earlier than I initially planned as the sets were unfortunately too big for me.
My take on Besialu: Great, great, great waves, no wonder the line-up is always packed. It is definitely not for a complete newbie, catching two or three waves as an intermediate surfer should be a good start. I had to muster some courage to pop up as some of the waves were very steep. But that surf spot was very beautiful though, especially during sunset, I loved it.
2. Squealers
I surfed at Squealers in the morning on my last day before I went back to Kupang. I was so hungover that morning. On the night before, the four of us, I, Boris, Adit, and Daud chugged on two bottles of sopi — the local moonshine of Rote, which by the standard of locals was a lot (or maybe arguably too much, hehe) for a party of four. That basically illustrates how hungover I was that morning, I told Adit I will not survive at Besialu with this hangover — you have to take me to Squealers.
Adit told me this surf spot is popular for beginners who are learning to surf. I found out that it is named Squealers as this is where a lot of girls were screaming as they were catching their first waves. Similar to Besialu, the water was clear and shallow, and the bottom was all reefs so I got some scratches from the reef after I surfed here.
This surf spot is full of baby waves. The waves were fun-sized, very gentle, and probably great for longboards. Met a lot of local kids that morning, some of them were surfing with their mom (my dream!), and saw a guy on a stand-up paddle too. Unlike Besialu, little to no pressure here. Caught some waves there, some were right-handers.
My take on Squealers: Perfect for beginners. If you’re an intermediate surfer and looking for fun-sized waves with no pressure, Squealers is also the place. I was so happy that morning, this surf spot gave off the vibe of a slow morning on the weekends where you just surf with your loved ones. It was at Squealers when I first realized that I have to go back to this place as soon as possible.
3. Sandbar
Actually, I haven’t surfed at Sandbar since every time I wanted to go there there were always no waves, but Boris did surf there once. From what I heard from him, the line-up was empty (literally it was only him and Daud that day), the waves were easy to catch, and not many sets so it was very easy to paddle out after riding the wave. Based on that, I think Sandbar is a good surf spot for beginners or intermediate surfers who want to catch fun-sized waves.
4 days was clearly not enough time for me to enjoy and get used to the waves of Rote. There are many surf spots I haven’t explored — such as Bo’a (known for its long right-handers), the Bombie, and Suckys. But eventually, I was very content with how my first surf trip turned out. Being there made me realize how great the waves are and why some people decided to move for good to the island purely for the purpose to be able to catch world-class waves on a daily basis. If you are a surf junkie, even if you’re still learning like me, Rote should be on your wish list.
Not into surfing? This island has a lot to offer even if you don’t want to surf, which I will share with you in the next chapter of my trip to Rote.
