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As told by Christie Carter.
In March 1998 I moved back to West Sumatra with the intention of opening a surf resort somewhere in the WavePark area. I had some connections already with an Indonesian friend and his German wife who had befriended us during our time on the yacht. I also had become friends with a man who owned the most beautiful island in the WavePark area, and my intention was to build there. I moved in with Aim and Biggi and straight away they refused to speak English with me. "If you're going to live and work here, you must speak the language" was the logic, and although it was a difficult existence for the first 6 months, I eventually started picking up the language. Aim became my mentor and introduced me to the Indonesian way of doing things, and I met his friends from all walks of life.
My first survey trip to the islands was a near disaster. I camped out on my intended island for what was supposed to be 2 weeks. I was by myself, and had enough food for 2 weeks, along with all my camping gear. My days were spent basically collecting rain water, foraging for things to supplement my diet, and either cooking or eating whatever I could find. Things headed downhill one night when a large swell appeared and, coupled with a high tide, washed my tent away with me in it! I lost some tent poles and couldn't put it back up. My food had run out and I had a massive ear infection and no drugs. The weather in the channel had deteriorated and the boat that was supposed to pick me up never showed up. I ended up on the "floating fishing hut" hanging out with lobster fishermen who were planning a shipment to the mainland soon. I learned to eat fish heads and enjoy them. During my time on the island, president Suharto could no longer hold onto power after 32 years of swindling his country's resources from his own people. He was thrown out amidst riots and general mayhem which devalued the local currency, which was the only reason I could stay in Indonesia for the first 2 years: My dollars went further.
With our limited communication I managed to decipher that the man with whom I was planning on building a resort didn't actually own the land, he only owned the coconuts on the land. That shot the plan all to hell, but I also learned that another island nearby was properly owned by a single family and the family invited me to come and see their island. It was the one.
The guests showed up in ones and twos through 1998 - 2000. My friends came from all over and joined me on the island, and sometimes on island/charter boat combined trips. I even guided a couple charters and got to see the rest of the island chain. It was a good exercise in knowing why I had found the best spot and to stick with it. Happy friends tell their friends, and word of mouth started to spread about the WavePark.
The first two years I surfed very little, as I couldn't afford to hang out in the islands without guests helping to pay the bills. The money I did spend was to survey the islands learning about who owned what, who not to trust, and trying to get my head around how it would all work.
The original facilities we used consisted of a coconut harvesters shack that we would take over when needed. No electricity, storm lanterns at night, no toilet, ice for about 3 days. One cook, one boat driver and me; surf guide and student of logistics. The majority of trips could only last as long as the food, and it was greasy at best. The supervisor of the coconut plantation offered to build me a house specifically for my guests, and in July of 2000 construction was started on the "bar". The one building housed everything that we needed, and the guests slept on the floor. I added on a kitchen a toilet to the back and voila! A camp is born!
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