north north sumatra is where i’m headed tonight. been there 7 years ago and had a great experience. 7 years ago nobody knew where it was, there were no boats as we had to sail from padang. took 29 hours to get there but when we arrived, i remember pure paradise. i didn’t see another human being for 7 days. it was just us and the beautiful islands surrounding the banyaks. i know there are 4 boats operating there now with a few surf camps. more people and more crowded. that’s why i’m focusing on diving because i know that world will still be empty.
we stopped by a busy port on the way up to get supplies. once we left, that was it.
one of the spots is called treasure island. here is Tamae Taro on a jewel. still can’t believe we had this spot to ourselves for a week straight.
another thing i remember was the water being so clean. i shot some amazing underwater photos that were published in magazines around the world.
i was the only diver on the trip. so from the very first day, i remember Tokura-san telling me “ok kirby, go get us some sashimi for tonight.” it was scary diving alone in the late evenings but i had to feed the crew. i remember just pulling up to a spot 50′ deep in the channel off this secluded island. i loaded jumped off, loaded my gun, dove down to the bottom, waited, and about a minute later, i seen a huge GT come to say hi. i had only one breath and one shot. i took it and as soon as i knew i had it, i threw it on the dingy and headed back to the big boat. 10 minutes later i was back, everybody was stoked, especially me.
when you shoot a big fish like this alone, you have to take the perfect shot. if you do, you land the fish. if you don’t, the fish will land you.
i was the youngest guy of this crew. everybody older than me and everybody well respected in the japan surf industry. i still remember being inspired by each ones story to success.
Tokura-san is a very successful man living a dream life. i traveled with him for 20 years and he showed me the way to happiness. retired owner of Dove Wetsuits still surfing hard and traveling the world. i owe this great man a lot. here he is catching the perfect tuna on our last day of the trip. we had a 29 hour sail back to port and this tuna went a long way.
this is my catch on the last day right before we left. one guy ordered a snapper and luckily i found one. in fact, i found 2.
these were the kind of sashimi platters we were eating every night.
i leave tonight with 8 divers and 5 surfers. expect much more sashimi to come. we will be eating very well and surfing a lot as 3 back to back to back swells are heading to indonesia right now. i’m freaking so excited!!!
surf your dream…
