Traveling down Sumbawa’s arid west-to-east highway in the late 1980s, I idly watched the island’s monotonous landscape pass by endlessly. Then, near Dompu in eastern Sumbawa, the lumbering contraption lurched to a stop by one of the many non-descript dirt roads and footpaths leading to the south coast.
Craning out the window, the sign read HU’U. This was such an intriguing, unpronounceable name that I impulsively grabbed my rucksack and followed the few passengers and one goat off the bus. After a half an hour on the crossroads, a minibus stopped and took us and the baying goat tied to the roof over a dusty spleen-slitting road to Hu’u.
Lying on the eastern shore of Cempi Bay, 39 kilometers south of Dompu, I found a fishing village so tiny that it didn’t even deserved to be given a name. Judging by the looks of hostility I received from the strapping tanned Australians, I realized that I had stumbled upon a secret surfer’s paradise and the island’s premier surf breaks.
Now the fishing settlement of Hu’u is so famous that a watering hole (known for its potent lychee martinis) in Bali is named after it. In the past five years, much to the consternation of the surfers, Hu’u has been successful at attracting not only backpackers but even your average garden-variety tourist. For these outsiders, this is an ideal environment in which to observe the fascinating traditional Australian surf culture close up.
Lakey Beach, three kilometers from Hu’u, is a long, wide, palm-lined white-sand stretch of beach fronted by reef. Much of the bottom is rocky, but even farther up the beach it's sandy and good for swimming.
Hu’u is the kind of place where you can join in a soccer game on the beach with the local boys in the afternoons, watch villagers fish in the tide pools at low tide, or try spear fishing when the tide comes in. If you take any path out of the village, you’ll find the vicinity is greener and has more vegetation than other locales along the island’s south coast.
Since its discovery by Australian surfies in the mid-1980s, Hu’u has been known to offer Sumbawa’s most consistent and challenging surf. The waves break at four separate spots, including the renowned Periscopes.
From May through August the surfers arrive. These swells are not for the faint-hearted as they break over exposed razor-sharp finger coral. Bring a first-aid kit, helmet, film, plus a tent if you’re arriving during the prime June-July surfing season.
During the surf season it's a busy place, often so crowded that some people have to sleep on the beach or on none-too-comfortable beachside raised platforms. There are far fewer guests Oct.-Dec. as the swells are not as good.
Where to Stay
There are currently eight places to stay, most concentrated along the seafront about 3 kilometers from Hu’u. If you let the bus driver from Dompu know which place you want to stay, as he’ll drop you off in front. Breakfast is included in all prices which plunge dramatically in the off-season (September to April). During low season, some of the surf camps close.
The best and longest-running is the 22-room Mona Lisa Bungalows which offers a range of well-maintained accommodations. Economy rooms in back (only Rp30,000 single, Rp35,000 double) have outside mandi, while those facing the beach are Rp40,000 double. The breezy bungalows (Rp75,000-100,000) are built of solid wood and woven bamboo with have tables, chairs, storage shelves and a veranda where you throw your feet up and watch fine sunsets across the bay while sipping a Bintang chilled even to exacting Australian standards. A good restaurant serves a variety of cheap Indonesian and European food. Billiard tables, souvenir shop, safety deposit boxes. Electricity is generated in the evening.
Next door is the Amangati, a popular hotel with clean bungalows for Rp75,000 after bargaining. Further along is Lakey Peak with well-kept, similarly-priced bungalows. Its selling point are the two notorious surf breaks directly to the front, Lakey Pike and Lakey Peak. The latter is said to be one of the few perfect peaks in Indonesia, up to 1.5 meters high, where you can ride both left or right. Also check out Prima Donna with its big restaurant, bungalows with TV and interior baths.
Also among this cluster of accommodations is Intan Lestari, one of Hu’u’s first surf camps, which rents 14 rooms with or without mandi facing each other across a walkway that runs up from the beach. It’s a nice, friendly place and its restaurant has a good reputation and big portions.
Surf camps (losmen) Lakey, Unicorn and Anton rent basic Bimanese cottages at around Rp75,000 including three meals per day. Thirty minutes walk down the beach, 1.5 kilometers past Hu'u village, is Camp Periscopes opposite the fast-barreling intense right-hander by the same name.
Getting There
It’s not easy to reach Hu’u, but worth the effort. If you’re burdened down with a lot of luggage or a surfboard, it’s most expedient just to take a taxi from Bima airport for Rp150,000-Rp200,000. You’d get a better deal if you look for a taxi on the main highway outside the airport.
For public transportation, first take a bus from Bima (or 5 hours from Sumbawa Besar) to Dompu’s Ginte Bus Terminal in the northern side of town, then take a cidomo (horse cart) to the Lepardi Bus Terminal on the southern edge of Dompu. The morning buses go all the way to the end to the road; the afternoon buses just stop in Hu'u village from where you'll have to take a cidomo to the best accommodations.
Bemo drivers at the Dompu bus station will hound you to charter a vehicle for the trip to Hu'u. The price is steep (Rp150,000), but the trip is much quicker and you’re dropped off at the door. Good deal if you’re in a small group. Through the Mona Lisa, taxi service can be arranged to Dompu, Bima airport and Bima.
Note: With the imposition of the government’s new visa policy on February 1st, limiting tourists to only a 30 day stay, Hu’u’s days as a faraway, laid-back escape may be numbered. With the stroke of a pen, the new visa rule has severely curtailed backpacker and surf tourism in the far reaches of the archipelago, cutting off the livelihoods of thousands of Indonesians in the eastern islands who make their living from budget travelers.
E-mail : pakbill2003@yahoo.com
Copyright@2004 PakBill
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