2020, THE YEAR THAT WASN’T – APRIL

02 Nov 2020

With ongoing respect to the world’s efforts dealing with the pandemic, we have consciously been keeping a low profile both within the community and online.

But we feel it might be time for a quick rundown for those of you out there wondering how we are going out here at Resort Latitude Zero in 2020, the year that wasn’t.

March 2020 will go down as one of the worst months in any of our lifetimes as the world shut down like never before. This is what happened after boarders closed, ferries and flights stopped and we went into lockdown here at Resort Latitude Zero.

APRIL

By March it was clear things were not right, and as we said goodbye to our last resilient and long time loyal guest Mike Hishier, devastated to be cutting his trip short with empty perfection everywhere it was time to look ahead and take stock of exactly what was happening. Mike made it out to the mainland and on home to the states, and the remainder of our senior management team, along with their families made it to RLZ with only days to spare before we were issued with “cease to operate” notices and the entire island chain was cut off to all passenger travel, and so it was……4 surfers (Wal, John, Tyler & Dave) were in isolated lockdown at Resort Latitude Zero for the long haul.

One of our biggest concerns as surfers in late March as we processed the world around us and took stock of exactly what was happening in regards to the pandemic was- would we be allowed to surf while being “stuck” in the islands? With the activity of surfing being banned in Bali and Mentawai we were right to be concerned.

For a brief few weeks, some of our more frequented surf breaks closer to communities and villages were off-limits due to community uncertainty and apprehension as everybody settled into the strange new world during the pandemic. We continued to surf the more isolated waves in the area and kept a low profile.

Moving into April, while hotels were essentially banned from taking foreign guests there was no ongoing restrictions to the activity of surfing in North Sumatra and we quietly had some typically fun season waves throughout Telo as the Southern Ocean started to cool down and the winter Roaring Forties sprung to life.

The fishing was good to pass the time between swells and Dave revisited his love of surfboard shaping, hacking down some old SUPs to shape some big wave boards in preparation for the larger swell season fast approaching.

Check some of the surfing action below from Resort Latitude Zero during one of the most uncertain and anxious months any of us have ever faced in our lifetime- March 2020, “The Year That Wasn’t”.