It is no longer a secret Mentawai islands has great waves all year round, but with everyone so focused on the festive season, school holidays and summer activities back home it remains mostly empty for several months a year.

So what’s it like?

While you probably won’t be surfing 8ft NoKandui (a peak swell season target) you will still have a lot of fun and surf your brains out in quality waves every day of any summer boat trip in Mentawai.

We regularly surf firing Lance’s Right & Left, Macaronis, Telescopes and many more favourites every summer, and have done for decades.

These world-class waves can be busy during peak season, but often empty or close to it right across the summer months.

We are blessed with plenty of 4-6 ft swells from November to March and these legendary A-grade waves are what we target during swell bumps.

For a visual, all of these photos were taken during December and January over the years, and all of these surfs were on our own.

What happens between swells?

There is very rarely a flat day in Mentawai, less than a couple a year, and to be honest, they can happen at any time of year.

Mentawai Islands is home to some of the world’s best wave magnets allowing for quality waves, even when the swell is tiny. Burgerworld is likable to Noosa on reef, a long super fun point break, while Thunders still throws up meaty tubes, even when the ocean is almost flat. These are just two of Mentawai Islands’ best wave magnets in summer. These world-class waves almost never go flat. We also have many lesser-known super fun waves up our sleeve for smaller days.

Isn’t it the ‘Wet Season”?

Mentawai Islands sits almost right on the equator, far from the influence of the Bali monsoon influence of wet & dry seasons. As a rough rule, we get any weather at any time of year. We consider January through to March probably the best weather of the entire year – postcard blue water, almost no wind and beautiful boating conditions.

There is no “wrong time of year” for Mentawai weather.