La isla Sentinel
The Sentinel Island, India
Global Surf Magazine 1998

The Andaman Islands. This surfing paradise is located in the Gulf of Bengal (between India and Burma). The more than five hundred tropical islands (of which less than fifty are inhabited) spread as far as the tip of Sumatra. Ethnically though, the islands do not belong to India, and not very long ago they were inhabited by indigenous groups. However, at this moment these same groups are in a delicate situation since they are victims of the latest politics of colonization and development adopted by the Indian government. Nowadays, the indigenous amount to less than 10% of the population and in most cases this percentage is still decreasing. Out of the five thousand Andamanese that inhabited the islands in the middle of the XIX century, there are only about 30 individuals left.

The same has happened to another tribal group (that of the Jarawas) which nowadays is reduced to 250 members on a small reserve. And the list of tribal groups that have followed the same fate goes on and on.

The only group that has resisted the colonization and development politics of the Indian government is that of the Sentinelese. This group has always avoided contact with the outside world. Every time a contact group gets near the beaches of their island. They are rejected with arrows. There are about two hundred Sentinelese left living in their exclusive territory on the island of North Sentinel.

It is as if they understood that their only hope of survival is to avoid at all costs any contact with the outside world.

All the islands are surrounded by coral reefs, have beautiful beaches and the water is mesmerizing transparent. 

In order to enter the islands, you are required to request a permit, and you are not allowed to stay longer than one month.

The Trip

My first contact with India was as I expected. It's like travelling in a time tunnel, another world. It's spectacular, noisy, colorful and poor, very poor.

It is difficult to try to explain the sensations you get the first time. The best way is to see it for yourself.

We spent a day in Madras, a big city in the south of the country. From there, we caught a flight to Andaman.

After a two hour flight and a more than nerve wrecking landing on the only tiny runway of the airport, we landed in Port Blair, the capital of the islands. Port Blair is a pretty big enclave situated around a harbor. After grabbing something to eat, and walking around the city, we headed to the harbor where our ship, a beautiful trimaran, was ready to set sail.

We were a group of eleven. Graham (the boat's owner), two guys from Thailand (Kong who had the tasks of the captain and Boy who was the chef), three guys from the Canary islands (Oscar, Landi and Julio), the trip's organizer (Ellen) and her girlfriend Sonny, Charly Cun (veteran California surfer from the 50's, Pitu (my longboarder friend from San Sebastian, Spain) and myself.

Miguel, the other organizer, was not able to come along with us because of some family matters. We send our best to him from these lines.

We finally set sail and after twelve hours of sailing, more or less, we arrived at our first surf spot. It was a lefthander that seemed to be very promising but for the fact that the wind was hitting it onshore and made it messy. Still, we surfed the wave because we had not surfed for a while. Things changed that same afternoon. A few miles away we found a very long right with a light offshore breeze. The only problem was that it peeled down the line really fast. Still, the tubes were great!

The next day, after sailing the whole night, we anchored in front of a little island where we could see another right breaking. This wave was a bit shorter than the other one, but very good, too. During the day, the swell started picking up so much that Graham and Ellen told us that they new another island where we could surf great waves. The only problem was that nobody was allowed to access that area. It was banned by the authorities since the indigenous could cause us a lot of trouble. I remember very clearly the word "cannibalism" being mentioned a few times.

All in all, we showed up there. A beautiful bay popped up in front of our eyes. General frenzy. On one side of our ship a beautiful right was peeling long the reef, and on the other side, a mirrored left broke unridden all the time. Unbelievably, another right, which no one had ever heard of, was breaking behind the first right.

Graham assured us that it was the first time he'd seen that wave breaking. 

Our friends from the Canary islands jumped out of the boat with their surfboards and in no time were surfing those majestic rights. They called the spot "Sibiricoque Point." Why this name? I really don't know, Who knows? We ended up spending four incredible days on this amazing island.

On the seventh day we returned to the left that we'd surfed at the beginning of our trip. This time it was windless and like strip glass.

The sets were around 4 to 6 ft and they would come non-stop. However, this time we were not alone. A catamaran owned by some Australians was in front of the spot and a bit later, another boat arrived with crews composed of O'Neill and Rusty team members. I guess it's not that bad to have some company after spending a whole week without seeing other human beings.

We shared the spot during some unforgettable days. The swell never stopped sending us sets of perfect waves.

During the last days of our trip, we surfed our brains out. The swell was consistent everyday but the last one the sea went flat.

Our spectacular and unforgettable trip had come to its end.

There are daily flights from Madras and Calcutta, servicing Port Blair. All customers must fly in and fly out. Must obtain an Indian tourist Visa prior to arrival in India.

"Geographic isolation, heavily restricted travel, mysterious stone age culture and totally un-chartered waters - the Andaman Islands are everything you want in a surf trip". SURFER Magazine 1998.