Surfing Waves

READ THIS IF YOU WANT TO GIVE BUSINESS TO THESE KOOKS
Let me start by saying that Ive been a traveling surfer for over 10 years. I have always been on the feral mission, Baja camping missions, several solo mainland Mex trips, took almost a year to drive from San Diego to Panama with a couple buddies, always just bought a plane ticket to South America, Indo or the Caribean and figured it out. Explored Sumatra by land and the Telos island by renting an Indo cargo boat and crew with 4 other guys sleeping on the deck eating fish and rice for a few weeks. This being said I had never paid to go on an inclusive Wavehunters style surf camp guided tour cause I can get across any country myself, yet there are a few land destinations that are said to only to be allowed access through a local surf guides.
Saw some swell coming and decided to sack it up and pay for a tour. Got to the camp, grabbed boards threw them in the truck and headed down to the surf slightly dissapointed that the swell wasnt showing like It should have been, but still having a good time.

For the next few days we encountered problem after problem, the food was pathetic for guys surfing, breakfast consisting of a bit of cereal and old bananas just not what you come to expect for $200 a day. I dont mind roughing it when Im paying for what I get but this was wrong.
I had asked Sean from Wavehunters how the camp was when I was on the phone with him, he assured me that it was the best camp in the area and that the other camps were run by "stoner guys who were not on their game and didnt have it dialed in" Well I come to find out the other camp is feasting on grilled Mahi Mahi and prawns, have all sort of fresh fruit, eggs and all sorts of good stuff for breky, the good quality food you need to power yourself when your surfing 8 or more hours a day.
I emailed wavehunters back and informed them that the camp was nowhere near what they were advertising on their website, that the cockroaches in the Kitchen were eating better than we were that our 4x4 had been broken for the first few days and then the replacement had broken down as well and that I felt like I had been lied to just to book a trip and make a commision. I didnt want to disrespect the local owner so I was just emailing Wavehunters cause thats who I paid my $ to.
Not a hour later we are headed to go for an evening surf driving down the road when the owner comes speeding up behind us, cuts us off on the side of the road forcing us to stop, gets out and runs over to the cars holding his phone with my email on the screen and starts yelling and berating us about how we can get the fleshin' out and leave, that he has been dealing with all sorts of problems and hasnt gotten to surf for a while, telling us to get a refund and get out but we had to leave right then. THIS IS ON THE SIDE OF THE ROAD.
Turns out...Wavehunters Decided to forward my entire email WORD FOR WORD to the owners.. No discretion as to who was making the complaint, just basically here theses guys are complaining you go and single them out. So now not only are we running to the surf cause our truck is broken and but the entire Vibe is just weird now. Were in a highly localized 3rd world country paying hundreds of $ a day and were getting bitched at and told to leave cause I emailed wavehunter as to the conditions. Thanks Wavehunters.. trip of my life huh

Long story short I got back to the internet emailed Wavehunter Back-

"That was the most unprofessional move I have ever seen in my life. Its one thing to pass on criticism and Its a completely new standard of low to forward my email to the owners while we are still staying here. I cant even believe that you did that. Way to make this trip even more uncomfortable than it already has been. Rest assured we will be speaking in person when I get back to the states."

That is a copy of my email I sent back.. There reply was that it was there policy to forward all complaints to the owners..... And that I had THREATENED THEIR EMPLOYEE and WERE KICKING ME OUT
The funny thing was is that the owner was fine said I could stay but It was HENRY MORALES AND SEAN DUNLAP of WAVEHUNTERS who were telling me I had to leave. Well I have traveled in this country many times before so I took my partial refund and caught a bus that night, to a small town up the coast and have been surfing better waves with a mellow vibe for the last few days.

maybe I shouldn't have bitched while we were still there maybe I should have just sacked it up and been ripped off but Im just not that kinda guy. If I was one of those meek little bitches then I would have allowed the captain of that Indo boat to sell one of our barrels of Diesel in a Telos village instead of demanding to take us back to Teluk Dalam to tell the owner why we are back early.. Result of that was we surfed all of the islands all the way down to the Mentawais got what we paid for and never grabbed our ankles to take it

THAT BEING SAID THE LOCAL SURF GUIDES ARE KILLER GUYS.. SIC DUDES WHO ARE JUST TRYING TO SURF AND MAKE A BUCK... STAY LOCAL GO TO THESE CAMPS IF YOU WANT TO BUT CUT WAVEHUNTERS OUT OF IT... YOU DONT NEED THEM YOU CAN ALWAYS STAY AT ONE IF YOU SHOW UP THEY WILL ACCOMODATE YOU OR THEY KNOW SOMEONE WHO WILL

fleshin' WAVEHUNTERS!!!

I'm in two minds whether to let this stay or not. Comment from Wavehunters would be welcomed.

surf patrol wrote:I'm in two minds whether to let this stay or not. Comment from Wavehunters would be welcomed.

It was far to long winded for me to bother reading. Had it been just a couple of lines i would have read it but i agree the other side of the story is needed.

KS

Same thoughts sounds like a quorum to me

surf patrol wrote:I'm in two minds whether to let this stay or not. Comment from Wavehunters would be welcomed.

I read this a couple of days ago and thought "hmmmm, I'll let SP deal with this one"

I thought it was an interesting read. I think wavehunters shouldn't have just forwarded the email to the camp owner, he took the clients money without any problem, and he should have tried to resolve the situation. Booting someone out, or having someone booted out, is not the most professional way to deal with complaints.
However it would be interesting to hear the other side(s) of the story as well; from wavehunters and from the camp owner

Customer expectation comes first . . . customer no happy at the end of the day = sommit needs rectifying.

Also, take everything you read on the internet with a pinch of salt.

some of these companies take pretty big commissions....once i booked a surfcamp in morocco for 45 euros a night, for 2 nights...stayed 3 extra days for about 15 euros night same deal..just directly with the people there

Have you considered using one of these companies perusurf?

surf patrol wrote:Have you considered using one of these companies perusurf?

I do...but talked the commission down...really hate it when someone makes more money behind the computer than the people who actually are doing the job...besides, if you're going to an undeveloped country or 3rd world or whatever you wanna call it, you should not pay as if you're in a developed one....
they do their part...they're getting clients...but I feel like people are getting ripped off sometimes by these travel agencies, i know several cases where one could be charged about 750US for a week here in Punta Hermosa(not me) my prices differ deending on what you're looking for..for a week just lodging($77), with meals($154), with board rental($210) and with lessons($315)...each a different price...whereas other would charge that no matter if you need boards or lessons or not..they do also include aiport transfers...that's additional $45us each way in my case..but still...
10% - 15% commission is cool......
Most hotel booking engines charge 10% the most i pay is 17.5% for one of these surfing ones....
but in both cases is over my actual rate..so i pay the commission not the client.

forgot to mention those prices are on shared accommodation, if anyone would like to stay in a room by themselves it wuold be a bit more

I think some people are reluctant about booking and arranging it all themselves. It can be a bit daunting for someone, perhaps on their own, to research, book and arrange the entire trip. A safer, and less hastle option, is to book through one of these companies.