RealSurf Surfers' Forum

Can anyone recommend any towns/surf spots to stay somewhere in Java? I'll have around a week in late Sept. Love the look of this http://www.worldsurfaris.com/surf-trip/ ... eco-resort But id rather stay in a Losmen or cheaper simple place, where the wife and I could see some sights/culture as well.

Any ideas?

You should get the April Tracks issue. Istana Ombak Eco Resort features in it (in an article called "The Wave Palace") and it comes with a video of the waves being surfed by Dimiti Stoyle and a couple of young guys. It looks like a fun set up and an easyish wave to surf - well they make it look easy. Barrel after barrel.

I'm off there next week for 10 days, will post a review when I get back ..

Hoping my f***ked back gets a bit better before I leave or it might be a review posted from the pool after a case of Bintang

Seeing ads for that place pop up all over the internet lately..

Yeah im seeing heaps of ads for it lately. Looks pretty epic.
A little more digging and I found some cheaper places to stay in the same area. Not right on the best waves but some other options anyway

Hey Jimmy, Just got back from Istana Ombak and got to say it's well worth the trip.

Probably do a couple of things different if I went back, mainly around the travel. Door to door from Sydney is about 21 hours which was pretty taxing, especially the last 3 hours in a car over super pot holed roads. In saying that the car the resort sends is comfortable and has an esky fully of beer and soft drinks ready for the trip. I would still do a layover in Jogja or Kuta on the way through tho

The resort itself is probably better in real life than the photos show, rooms are spacious and well setup and they seem to be continually improving - aircon getting put in soon apparently and a family bungalow is nearly complete, they are also finishing a new bar area. Food is great and plentiful, they will pretty much cook anything you ask them to do and you have free reign to go in there and grab beers, soft drinks, chocolate etc.

Now the important bit .. the waves

I was there 10 days and the first 7 we had at 4 foot (Iggy scale) with the odd bigger set, I reckon you need 4 foot for the right to work properly but apparently it gets un-surfable over 6 foot so there's a pretty narrow window for the best conditions. I would say the right works pretty much through all tides except dead low on bigger sets. I would say you need to be a pretty confident surfer to get regular barrels on the right, there's a super fine line between being too deep and outrunning the wave. I didn't hit the bottom on the right although another guy got reasonably cut up and they did tell some horror stories of guys needing multiple stitches

The left is a really fun wave and I surfed that mainly, again it's surfable through the entire tide except dead low. At full tide you can surf off the point and get roll in's but the wave will section off 99% of the time, the only guy I saw connect the full wave was Marlon Gerber on a 2 foot day. I reckon it works best on an out going tide from about half tide down, this seems to really make the wave stand up and barrel. The left is fairly unpredictable which makes it more fun than the right

In terms of crowds most days there were only half a dozen people spread between both breaks and with that number there is a super chilled vibe in the water with people taking turns. The exception was 2 days when some sponsored Balinese turned up, about 4 of them and things rapidly turned into a shit fight. I have a feeling that that might become a more regular occurrence as for them it's only 4 hours from Bali door to door.

We also surfer Pancer point one day at about chest high, rides of about 300 metres but pretty soft

All in all a great trip and I would go back

Let me know if you want any more specific details

how much, and how does it compare for value with other nearby accommodation?

Cost wise I think it was about $7k for the wife and myself including flights, transfers, all food and drinks for 10 days. Don't have the exact price because it was my Xmas present from the wife, that's partially why we ended up there, she was seduced by the pool and the all inclusive deal

I'm not really sure there's too much in the way of other accommodation there but can't say I looked, maybe a couple of home stays in the village. For us we have a pretty limited amount of time for holidays so like the idea of a little luxury at a spot you can just wake up and paddle out

There are definitely a few spots in Pacitan but you would get pretty bored surfing with the back packers at Pancer every day and the 45 minute drive to Watu Karung would get pretty ordinary after the first few trips

Monty wrote:Cost wise I think it was about $7k for the wife and myself including flights, transfers, all food and drinks for 10 days. Don't have the exact price because it was my Xmas present from the wife, that's partially why we ended up there, she was seduced by the pool and the all inclusive deal

I'm not really sure there's too much in the way of other accommodation there but can't say I looked, maybe a couple of home stays in the village. For us we have a pretty limited amount of time for holidays so like the idea of a little luxury at a spot you can just wake up and paddle out

There are definitely a few spots in Pacitan but you would get pretty bored surfing with the back packers at Pancer every day and the 45 minute drive to Watu Karung would get pretty ordinary after the first few trips

See now thats a damn good woman...I need to find myself one of those...dont suppose she has a twin sister...or how about a spare rib, have you got any of those...I once...aw that didnt work out so well either, come to think of it. Did you know that a few thousand years ago...I digress...

Thanks for the info...sounds like a sweet holiday, well done