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FAQ

Cost to stay with us in the Telo islands?

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Package price:

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Low season (Nov,Dec,Jan,Feb) Rp 350,000(USD $23)

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Shoulder season (March, April, Sept, Oct) Rp 450,000(USD $30)

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High Season (May, June, July, August) Rp 550,000(USD $37)

 

Price is per person per night, price includes accommodation and cooked breakfast, lunch & dinner, complimentary fruit bowl, tea & coffee plus bottled drinking water. 

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Does not included snack food, soft drinks, alcohol, boat travel.

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(Snacks like biscuits, chips, chocolate bars etc can  be bought in Tello town, we sell cold soft drinks and cans of Bintang)

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# Boat travel to surf spots, pick up and drop off from ferry charged as needed, please see "prices and bookings" page for more info.

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How do i get to the Telos?

Via ferry from Nias we will tell you more when you contact us.

What is the food Like?

Breakfast:

Pancakes with coconut and chocolate sauce or banana.

fresh cooked donuts, sweet buns, banana fritters, fried rice & omelettes.

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Lunch & Dinner: Generally Indonesian food mostly fish & chicken dishes with rice & noodles.

 

Either deep fried or BBQ style or in curries, with or without sambal (up to you, let the sisters know if you don't like spicy food)

 

The fish is mostly Trevally, Sail fish, Spanish Mackerel, small Tuna, etc so generally fish with sweet white flaky flesh, rather than small reef fish with lots of small bones.

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Squid, shark, crab is available at times.

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Most meals come with cooked eggs of some form.(boiled or fried) and some vegetables and often pawn crackers or cooked peanuts.

 

Other typical dishes included, nasi goreng(friend rice), mie goreng(noodles), mie rebus (boiled noodles with vegetables), cheesy noodles, gado gado (vegetables with peanut sauce)

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Chicken  has now become more widely available so we also cook chicken dishes served as either, fried chicken, curry chicken or BBQ chicken.

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White rice is served with all meals, occasionally home made chips.

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#Please note: We can cater for vegetarians to an extent with tempe & tofu, eggs, and some vegetables, but catering for vegans is almost impossible.

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Generally speaking our meals focus is on fish and chicken with rice or noodles, due to limited availability of quality vegetables and not currently having refrigeration we are limited in what we an provide in fresh vegetables and fruit, our aim for 2023 is to get 24/7 electricity and refrigeration and this is an area we hope to develop more.

Is there a bank in the Tello Islands?

There is now one bank in Tello town however it DOES NOT ACCEPT FOREIGN ATM CARDS so unless you have an Indonesian ATM card it is useless.

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We highly recommend you bring enough money to cover your trip.

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There is also no money changer in the area the post office does have western union though and Andreas accepts payments via bank deposits, we recommend using Wise.

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Please note we dont accept balances via PayPal, only deposits.

How much money will i need?

That really depends on how long you plan to stay and how much you want to travel by long boat to waves and if you will need any money for extra things like beers?

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Below is a rough guide, but obviously some may spend more or less.

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Budget per person per day: 

 

Food and accommodation= Rp350,000 to Rp550,000

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Snacks and soft drinks etc = Rp 50,000 (more if you want to drink bintangs)

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Boat rides to surf or to town= Rp 200,000 (although depends hugely on how many friends you are with to divide cost or if the left is working you may not want to surf elsewhere)

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Total= Rp 600,000-800,00 (USD $40-$55)

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PS. note the price to stay at the surrounding surf resorts is from USD $300 to $900 per person per night, yes the level of comfort is a little different and their boats faster than ours, but end of the day, we generally surf the same waves drink the same beer and watch the same sunset, all for a fraction of the price.

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What's the weather like in the Telo's?

The Telo Islands lie right on the equator, the weather is very tropical humid and hot, unlike Bali there is no true wet or dry season, most days are sunny and clear with the odd tropical down pour.

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Although we are located on the equator an area know for it's light winds, the weather can get in certain cycles, some weeks it can be clear and sunny with light winds, other times we can get a run of storms (rain and strong winds) it can sometimes suck when we hit a patch of bad weather, but just spare a thought for those paying hundreds of dollars a night at nearby resorts or those stuck anchored on a charter boat, paying hundreds of dollars to kill time watching DVDs

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El nino and La nina also can influence wind patterns generally speaking.

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El nino= See's a predominant southerly air flow, which is offshore at the left out front.

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La nina= See's more north west to west winds that is offshore at most of the rights in the region including the right on the other side of our Island.

What else is there to do other than surf?

Even though you may have come to surf, the reality is you often cant surf all day and like anywhere we can get days where the waves are flat or no good.

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Fishing: We love our fishing, trawling lures for pelagic like Trevally, Spanish Mackerel, even Sail fish, we can also do reef fishing with lines we also have a few areas we go fishing for squid.

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We do have some hand lines and game rods, but if you are a keen fisherman it's best if you bring your own rod & reel, lures etc. (best lures are big sizes rapalas) 

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Snorkling: There is plenty of places to snorkel around our island, no matter the wind direction, and even better snorkelling can be viewed near some of the waves we surf, where all kinds of corals and marine life can be seen.

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Spear fishing: We don't have a spear gun but guest often bring their own and often are successful in getting a feed of fish.

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Island walk: Everyone should do it at least once, you can walk right around our island at low tide in an hour or less.

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Local sights: If the waves are small or not doing it, hiring some motorbikes and circumnavigating the main Island of Tello is always fun, there is many small villages along the track that goes around the island with some jungle and a sea cave to check out and many opportunities to take photos.

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Beach combing: You never know what you might find.

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Bird watching: If it's your thing there is actually quite a lot of different birds that can be spotted, from king fishers, and sea birds to even toucans.

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Local canoes: Can be a bit of fun in the protected waters.

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Photography: Dont forget your camera, the sunsets are some of the best ever.

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Bring a book: Even if you don't normally read, occasionally a storm will hit and there wont be too much to do, we sometimes have books that guest leave but we recommend you bring your own.

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Cards: We normally have some cards around or just incase bring your own.

What should i bring?

  • SURFING GEAR

  • Surfboards (See below)

  • Spare leg ropes

  • Spare fins & fin key

  • Solaresin for small ding repairs

  • Plenty of warm water wax & wax comb

  • Warm water booties

  • Boardshorts

  • Protection from sun, rash shirt, surf hat

  • Plenty of sun cream and zinc

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  • OTHER 

  • Mobile phone

  • Electrical adapter for your countries power point.

  • Sunglasses

  • Cap/Hat

  • Aloe vera cream for sun burn

  • Paw paw ointment or Chinese medicine for reef cuts

  • Insect repellent (although its rare to see mosquitos on our island)

  • Basic first aid kit. (although there is a basic chemist/drug store in Tello)

  • Toiletries (tooth brush/tooth paste, soap, shampoo)

  • Flip flops(Thongs/sandals)

  • Towel

  • Clothes for hot weather, best if cotton and light.

  • Sarong (is good to sleep under)

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  • Entertainment

  • Book

  • Phone/i pod & headphones

  • Playing cards

  • Fishing gear

  • Snorkling gear (spear gun)

  • Camera

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What surfboards should i bring?

We recommend you bring at least two surfboards. 

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The first board, a board for those fun days between waist to over head, we recommend bringing your everyday board that you ride most days at home that you know and love.

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Second board might be a few inches longer and narrower and more refined for those days where it's a bit bigger or for the days when some of the more hollow waves in the area are working.

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Unless you request to go hunting some much bigger waves or super heavy waves there is no need for Indo style guns and even on the biggest swells of the years we can normally find some not too crazy waves.

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Generally speaking waves are normally in the waist to head high size, with the odd bigger day.

What is the risk of Malaria?

Although rare like most areas of Indonesia including places like Nias & Mentawai's there is always a risk of contracting malaria.  

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It is a up to you if you take anti malarials or not, most guest that do, choose to take the doxycycline if you need extra they can also be purchased locally very cheaply.

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The negatives of doxycycline is it does make you more prone to getting sunburn, the positives apart from being an anti malarial is it is also an antibiotic and may help your body heal any coral cuts etc.

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All our beds also come complete with mosquito nets.

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Here is a link to a risk map, according to this map the telos is at lower risk than Nias and other Islands of indonesia like Lombok, Sumbawa, Sumba, Rote etc https://www.fitfortravel.nhs.uk/destinations/asia-east/indonesia/indonesia-malaria-map

Do i need travel insurance?

You can still stay with us if you don't have it, but we highly recommend travel insurance (with air evacuation), it doesn't cost much but could save you big dollars if something does happen, ideally a company that specialist in surfing travel insurance such as STI, Indo surf or Nomad Travel.

Is there medical facility's nearby if i have an accident?

Yes, just over 20 minutes by boat in Tello town, is a basic hospital/medical clinic, where there is doctors and nurses, at times there is even foreign doctors and nurses in the area.

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Tello also has a number of basic chemist/drug stores where you can get all kinds of things like drops for ear aches, anti inflammatory medication, antibiotics and other medicine's.

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Whats the best time of year to come?

Like other areas of Indonesia the most consistent months for regular swell is March to October with the most consistent months being May to September.

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From November to February we still do get waves, however it is much more inconsistent generally smaller conditions and there can be flat spells. (our price is lower during this time)

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Winds are general variable and change little from month to month.

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Although it can be a little wetter from Nov-Feb there is no true dry and wet season like Bali, generally speaking we get a mix of tropical weather all year round.

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How are the crowds?

For a long time the Telo Islands were virtually unknown to most surfers, there was no surf resorts in the telos in those days and sometimes surfers in the know use to sneak down from Nias and come and stay in our village often with our family, guaranteeing totally uncrowded waves.

 

However over the years many upmarket surf resorts have opened in the Telos and charter boats occasionally do visit the area although nowhere in the numbers that the Mentawai's see, although we sometimes surf alone these days we cant avoid surfing with others.

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Crowd numbers are still generally less than 10 to 15 people though and most of the surfers that visit the area are older and laid back, so most days the vibe in the water is relaxed unlike many other areas of Indonesia.

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One of the best things about being located in eye sight of the left means even when there is a few surfers about we can time our surfs around others and the best conditions, and when winds are onshore at the left generally speaking the rights are working of which there is quite a few of.

Is there Internet or phone reception?

Good news in 2022 they built a new 4G phone tower not far away so our phone signal is now quite good for phone calls, SMS and even internet.

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If you have an unlocked phone you can use an Indonesian sim card from a provider such as Simpati/telkomsel these now need to be registered best place to buy and do this is at the airport in Jakarta or Medan

 

Phone/internet credit can be bought cheaply in Tello town.

Is there electricity?

In our village we only have electricity between sunset and about 10:00-11:00 at night, this is when we recharge phones, iPods and cameras etc

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We don't view the lack of electricity as a problem and it's actually great to get away from things like TV and computers etc

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In the future we hope to install a few solar panels and batteries to run refrigeration etc

How long should i stay?

We recommend a minimum 10 to 14 days stay to ensure you get at least one or two good swells that will light up some of the Telos higher quality waves.

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Better still a three to four week stay ensures an even better chance of getting really good waves and a wide variety of conditions ensuring you get to surf a wide variety of waves.

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You can book in for a week stay but it really becomes a role of the dice, and you might just miss a good swell on your arrival and murthys law will ensure on your departure a new swell hits.

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We also don't recommend last minute few day strike missions, it's rare that we would be able to fit you in at the last minute, plus logistically it's not always possible to get the ferry on the days you wish.

Will the experience suit me?

We are not a resort, we don't have luxuries like air conditioning or lots of mod cons or an extensive menu with western food, or modern fast speed boats, or internet, pools and masseuse.

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If this is what you are after we advise you to check out some of the upmarket resorts in the area.

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However if you don't mind roughing it a little and enjoy an insight into Indonesian village life while getting some fun to epic waves, then you should enjoy your stay with us.

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Wave wise if you are a ripper seeking big indo barrels you may also be disappointed although on solid swells we can get these kind of waves and some spots can get as good as anywhere in Indonesia, generally speaking waves in the telos are more user friendly and more suited to intermediate or older surfers, more fun smaller rippable type waves.

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