A left-hand reef off north-west Sipora that swings from a mellow head-high wall to one of the heaviest big-wave barrels in the Mentawai.
Also known as Iceland.
Icelands sits off the north-west corner of Sipora, a short run from Simakakang, and it is the swell magnet for that stretch of coast. It is a left-hand reef break with two completely different personalities, and which one you get depends entirely on how much water is moving. On a small day it is a friendly, rippable wall. On a big west swell it becomes something else altogether.
That second face is what built its reputation. Icelands has a fair claim to being the premier big-wave spot in the Mentawai, a wave that has been ridden at genuinely serious size while the more famous lefts nearby are still being called merely good. The crews who work this coast will tell you that when Telescopes is big and pumping, the Ice can be two or three times bigger.
The wave
On small swells Icelands is one of the most useful waves in the region, because it picks up energy when everything around it has gone quiet. You get a head-high, cruisey wall with an easy take-off and a shoulder that runs long enough for two or three proper turns. It is not a barrel on those days, more a lazy but very whackable face, and it is a good way to salvage a flat morning.
Push the swell past four foot and the mechanics change. A deep ledge sitting outside the normal take-off zone makes the swell stand up sharply, which sounds intimidating but in practice gives you a relatively straightforward drop for the size. From there the wave funnels into a horseshoe section where it bends back onto itself and throws a thick, heavy barrel that spits almost every time, then bowls again on the inside.
The peak wants a south-west swell angle, though it will work off anything from due south round to the west, and the biggest days come out of the west. Easterly to north-easterly winds hold it clean and it will handle a south-easterly. Tide is the one thing the guides do not agree on: some call it a mid to high wave, others reckon a moving low to incoming is when the barrel section is at its best, so ask whoever is driving the boat what they have actually seen out there. It runs through the year, though the dry season from April to October is when swell and wind line up most reliably. It will hold well overhead and has been surfed a long way beyond that.
Conditions at a glance
- Wave type: Left-hand reef break
- Best swell: South-west through west, with the biggest days arriving out of the west
- Best wind: East to north-east, and it will take a south-easterly
- Best tide: Guides disagree. Some favour mid to high, others a moving low to incoming
- Best size: Head-high and up. Holds well overhead and has been ridden far bigger
- Season: April to October, the dry season, with the mid-year months most reliable
- Crowd: Quieter than the Playgrounds breaks further north and localism is not an issue, but Icelands is well known and it draws people the moment it starts working. Expect a handful of surfers on an ordinary day, more when it is on, and noticeably fewer once the size gets genuinely serious.
- Where: near Simakakang, Central Mentawai
Who it suits
On a small to head-high day a confident intermediate will get plenty out of Icelands. The drop is manageable, the wall is forgiving, and the deep ledge sitting outside the take-off is part of why it lets you in so easily. Do not read that as a soft reef, though. Accounts differ on how much water is under you once you are up and riding, and the coral is sharp wherever you end up on it. If your paddling is sound and you have surfed over coral before, this is a sensible place to build some confidence while the rest of the boat waits for the swell to fill in.
Once it gets properly overhead that changes completely, and we would rather say so plainly than have you find out on the reef. The barrel section is thick, the currents can be strong, the coral is sharp and you are a long way from any hospital. This is step-up board territory, and on the true big days it is expert-only water. If you are not comfortable taking a heavy beating on your own, sit the session out and watch from the boat. Nobody on our trips thinks less of you for it.
How to surf Icelands with WaveBorn
From Sunset Surf Villas the wave is close. The villa sits on the beach at Pulau Simakakang in the central Mentawai and runs a dedicated private boat, with Icelands one of nine named breaks inside a fifteen to twenty-five minute run. That proximity matters more here than at most spots, precisely because Icelands changes so much with the swell. You can go and look at it, come back for lunch, and be back out there not long after it turns on.
If you would rather chase the swell than wait for it, both charters cover this coast. Ombak Kabau takes up to ten guests for eleven nights and ten surf days, roaming the entire Mentawai chain and sitting wherever the forecast is best, so a solid west pulse simply means you are there for it. Odyssey Mentawai is a 46ft catamaran for up to eight guests with a surf pro on board, working the Mentawai and the quieter Tello Islands, which helps if you want someone experienced reading the charts alongside you.
Trips that reach it: Sunset Surf Villas , Ombak Kabau and Odyssey Mentawai .
Nearby breaks
Icelands sits within easy reach of Telescopes, Scarecrows, Suicides and Tikus , which is what makes this part of the archipelago so productive: if the wind or swell does not suit one reef, another is usually working a short ride away.
More breaks in Central Mentawai
- Lance's Right : A perfect, photogenic right-hand barrel and probably the most photographed wave in Indonesia.
- Lance's Left : A long, consistent left that wraps down the reef at Katiet in three sections, from a shallow barrel up top to rippable walls on the inside.
- Ombak Tidur : A sectiony right-hand reef off North Sipora that picks up swell on the smaller days and rarely carries a crowd.
- Doughnuts : A fickle, expert-only left off North Sipora that barrels hard over shallow coral on the rare days it switches on.
- Bintangs : A short, dredging right across the channel from Lance's Left that turns on when the north wind ruins everything else in the bay.
Conditions here are a guide, not a guarantee. Our crew reads the swell, wind and tide each morning and puts you on the break that matches your surfing that day. See the full Mentawai surf spots guide or browse every break we surf.