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Hey friends!

I just got back from a dream surf trip out in Indonesia. 10/10 experience living on a boat, surfing more than we slept, and painting my brains out. It was an all-time experience.

To kick it off, I spent nearly 50 hours traveling from NYC > Ethiopia> Singapore > Indonesia > a 10-hour boat ride to the islands. No joke, long. I think the high of getting there was much easier than coming home, as it was a long experience. That being said, worth it 100% and will do it again in a heartbeat.

To coordinate with my 10 friends, we all have to land in Indonesia at the same time. Once the boat takes off, there’s no coming back to grab anyone else. In our situation, 9 friends arrived on time, one friend missed his flight. It was a brutal circumstance as we had to make the decision to wait for him 24 hours later, or have him drive up nearly 10 hours North, take a crazy private boat ride, then we pick him up at one of the islands. It was a moral challenge b/c if there is weather, then no boats could go, which could lead to everyone missing out on waves. The ultimate decision was to go and meet our friend nearly 5 days later (delays, travel, etc). It was hard, and I’ll get back to that later.

As we departed, froth was high. Everyone was so stoked to get on the boat. You basically unpack your gear, find your living area, which was below the boat in single beds, hostel style, then the main area is the hang zone. You unpack all your surfboards and quickly realize the boat is now a full-on surf shop with 30+ boards floating around. It ruled. With the 10-hour boat ride in motion, we all ate dinner and basically fell asleep with jetlag.

The next morning, you wake up to the boat arriving at all these beautiful islands surrounding you. Each island, depending on the swell, has nearly perfect waves peeling on each corner. It was a sight to see. At that point, everyone is scrambling, eating breakfast, and getting their boards ready. Once the boat stops, the captain says, "Go”. We all jumped in the water, and the first of a hundred sessions started.

Luckily, they warm us up to a softer wave before we get into more technical waves. That way, we can get the rust off us before the coral eats us when we fall. lol.

Over the next week, while we waited for our friend, it was surf, eat, paint, rest, and repeat. It was so rad to catch up with my friends I haven’t seen in ages while we surfed hours on end.

5 days later, we moved from the bottom of the islands to the top. We finally got word our friend arrived and was eager to get him. We ended up picking him up around 10 pm from a 24-hour car/boat ride. He was exhausted, but we got him there safe. The full crew finally was there. We new all that hard time would be forgettable once he got in the water.

The next morning, we all paddled out. Our friend brought a brand new surfboard, and go and behold, the first wave he duckdives in snaps the board clean in half. It was mind-blowing. Literally everything was going wrong for him, and we felt for it. Things did turn once he grabbed a new board, reassessed, and finally started to catch waves. The curse was broken!

While I’m focusing on this wild scenario, we all got a bit banged up. I got dinged in the head with my fin, got all bloody, and turned into a 4-day fever/flu that took me out. Other folks hit the coral, and another friend also got hit with his board.

That being said, paradise won, and we scored hundreds of waves. We were in the water surfing from nearly sunrise to sunset each day. When you had breaks, you ate or painted, then got back in the water again. It ruled so much. I got some of the best waves of my life out there.

Each morning, we moved locations to new waves. You’d wake up to the boat moving around 4 am, then around 5:30 the boat stops, and you jump in the water. The program they had was dialed for how well they read the forecast, wind direction, and swell. Completely hands off as the crew did everything from cooking, photography, and full hype with the guides. Unreal experience.

Outside of surfing, I got a bunch of painting done in my sketchbook. Similar scenario from my trip I did 2 years ago, but with a different perspective on what I was painting. I added in some of the paintings below. I imagine an Indo Part 2 collection will come out of this at some point.

The trip finally ended 😭 and now back to reality in NYC. These past few days have been heavy on jetlag, catching up on emails, and getting back into the groove. Excited to start painting as I have a new commission and a few other projects lined up for the next few months!

So many more stories, DM me and can chat anytime.