Surf trip in feb-march, south east asia?

[curls]

Hey,

I live in Sydney and I'll have 6 weeks to travel from mid feb to end march. Looking for a cheap, easy option for a surf trip which I can combine with some work on my laptop in the evenings. I call myself an intermediate surfer, doing a few turns and cutbacks, normally ride a 6'0 really fat and wide (20 1/2, 2 5/8) fish board, haven't really progressed on to a proper shortboard. Goofy so prefer lefts.
Was first thinking about Canggu, Bali because of the low season but I've read that the waves aren't really working. East coast would probably work, but not a big fan of the vibe there, so snoozy.
Any tips for a good surf destination for feb-march which is fairly close to Sydney?
Maybe Sri Lanka, Philippines, Thailand, other island in Indo?

[jaffa1949]

Have you been to Bali before?

February is the wet season, very polluted from stream runoff, march is drying out a little.
East Coast, Sanur, Nusa Dua etc are the wave areas of choice, but not at all snoozy, big water movements in the Lombok Strait , sneaker bomb sets but some epic waves can be had.
Bukit and south Coast heading west Caangu, Medewi ( offers a good type left point break) dirty water due to river mouth in wet season.
Read up along with all the other replies about when you are thinking of going.
The main season for all of Indo is April till the end of October, pretty much the same for Sri Lanka or the Maldives
You might be better thinking PNG (Vanimo or Nusa surf retreat , Rubio's or others there) , New Ireland and New britain, hot as, but easy swell and no real crowds.
For Indo and PNG make sure you take antimalarials during this time, ( talk to your doctor re this. I do not recommend Lariam) there are others you can use.
Be mossie wise, there are serious health implications other than malaria.

Forget Thailand it does have surf but you need a good dose of luck to coincide.
Not sure of the seasonal surf in the Philippines, but you could check out Taiwan!

[curls]

Hey Jaffa. I've been to Bali once before, stayed in Sanur because of the wind conditions for kitesurfing. The kiting was good but the town itself wasn't that much fun once you got out of the water. Seems like Canggu and the west coast is out of the picture with the lack of swell and polluted water.
PNG looks amazing. New Ireland and those places are quite hard to get to though, cheapest one was $1300 but it's a 27h trip or 2500 bucks for a 10h. Not really in my budget for this trip to be honest.
Looks like I've timed it pretty bad for surfing around asia pacific. Maybe I'll just go somewhere here in Oz instead.

[jaffa1949]

Try the surfing travel companies for PNG they are packaging them, to get there yourself is not really possible and there are government restrictions about numbers and " loose " surfers!
Think about across the ditch to NZ as a possibility, similar in price to places and driving in OZ though. West coast has some really great lefts, Raglan is NZeds Byron Bay but a leftical!
Cheap flights with Air New Zealand who are board friendly!
Don't rule it out!
Or get flexible with your dates!

[JesseSimeulue]

jNormally would suggest Phuket Kata Beach but its a lake there this time a year with heaps of tourist so

Jump on Air Asia to KL then to Medan then to Simeulue... but for the most part Indian Ocean is quiet early February but but late February and March definately starts picking up again but the wave Jackals at Simeulue is a swell magnet always something and theres a sandy beach break there too not far easy walking distance
message me at surfsumatera@yahoo.com if you need more info

Mahalo
Jesse

Jackals at Simeulue

[curls]

Hey thanks for the info.
Hm, I'm thinking about only doing a short surf trip and do other things for the rest of the time. Found some great tickets to Sri Lanka around mid march. I've found various info on the surf there (south coast) in march though. Some say it's the end of the season and fading out. Some say the shoulder season can be really good since it's less people and potentially good wind conditions.
Anyone who's been there in march who can give me some advice? Cheers!