The old classic days of 5 tubes a wave and holding two and a half times overhead are gone, as an earthquake lifted this amazing island and tilted it slightly, with a bigger rise on the west coast than the east coast.
Before the earthquake you would come out of this tube and have an Angourie like wall bending back at you with two more possible cover up sections. When you kicked out at the end you could look across the reef at the take off tube about 500 metres out the back.
A lot of guys would kick out after this third tube and now it’s just too shallow and doesn’t break on the inside.
These days its still a great wave and the island is still home to crocodiles, huge turtles and I’ve even been shown a picture of a pygmy deer by a friend who has spent time on the one place you can stay on the island. He thinks the pygmy deer may even be endemic to this island alone.
My good mate Aki said fairies still live on the island and pulling into the anchorage at night you can still smell the blossom and hear the buzz, a very special place.
I’ve seen eagles pick up sea snakes and carry them away, there used to be a white bird that sat above the line up in the canopy and whistle when a set approached.
I remember the first day we got it really good was also the first day Gerry Lopez, Peter McCabe and Al Byrne surfed it. We had an amazing week of waves and Gerry said it was his favourite right in the world.
– Chris ‘Scuzz’ Scurrah
