View of the ocean from our hotel room.

We decided to walk around and see some of the area.

Matt and Jesse at the Padang sign.

Girls in front of the Padang sign.

After our 2 day stay, the boat crew picked us up from the hotel and took us to the marina. We then loaded up all of our stuff on to a small boat and headed to the big boat.

All of us piled into the small boat.

Tengirri boat waiting for us in the harbor.

Tengirri Boat

Once we got on the boat, the crew greeted us, we picked out our cabins, got our surfboards all set up, had a beer, and then settled in for a rough night crossing to the Mentawai Islands.

Heading out of the harbor to the Mentawai Islands

We woke up to stormy conditions and rough seas, but that didn’t matter, we still headed into the water.

Matt surfing at Moots

Matt surfing at Moots

Matt surfing at a break called Thunders on the 3rd day.

Matt paddling back to the lineup. Look at that smile

The first few days of the boat trip were pretty rough. We got some real stormy conditions, see the rain and chop on the water at Macaroni’s in the next photo.

Matt surfing at Macaroni’s on Aug 25th.

I (Tricia) had a pretty rough time with the constant rocking of the boat. Luckily it ended up calming down around day 5 of the trip.

Indonesian islands

Look at that clear water and postcard looking island.

Indonesia man canoeing around an island

Around day 5, we made our way over to a right hand reef break called Bintangs.

Matt surfing at Bintangs

Matt surfing at Bintangs

A few days later we made our way North to a break called Suicides. What an inviting name, right! It was home to a perfect right hand break that broke over a shallow reef. We got there about an hour before sunset. There was quite of bit of people out, but to our luck, about 20 minutes after we got there, they all got in boats and left so we had the break to ourselves till the sunset.

Matt surfing suicides surf break

Tricia surfing at suicides

Tricia watching sunset from her board

We decided to stay at that break for another day and got out in the water before anyone else in the morning.

Matt surfing in the morning

Playing in the Mentawais with the #gopro @tengirrisurfcharters #ucp #icantunderstandaustralians #birdsound

A video posted by Matthew Morey (@matthewmoreydotcom) on Sep 11, 2016 at 7:25pm PDT

One of the last breaks we went to was called Goodtimes, and we did have a good time at it.

Matt surfing at Goodtimes

Tricia surfing at Goodtimes surf break

Matt surfing switchfoot at Goodtimes

Exploring different islands

Overall it was a great trip. The food, accommodations, crew, and surf were top notch. It was extremely difficult to come home and put on a wetsuit again. Warm water and great waves will keep us longing to go back to Indonesia.

Us and the tengirri crew.

Unfortunately this trip required us to leave Gidget in Southern California. I’m sure she was lonely sitting in the LAX airport parking lot for 3 weeks. It made us sad to leave her there, but sometimes you just got to get away.

We started our trip off by getting on an A380 double decker Singapore Airlines flight.

Singapore Airlines Flight

Look how big that plane is, insane. We decided to upgrade slightly to premium economy since the flight was like a million hours long with a stopover in Tokyo. It turned out to be a pretty good decision.

Getting ready for takeoff

We left Saturday and arrived in Singapore Monday early morning. A quick nap was in order, then it was time to explore and get some food.

Walking to our first meal in Singapore

We started off our eating at the Old Airport Road Hawker Center for breakfast. Breakfast in Singapore doesn’t seem to differ that much from lunch or dinner, which was fine with me. We got a iced coffee, wonton soup, and a spicy crispy wonton bowl served with broth. Everything at this meal was great. The total was around $5.

First meal in Singapore, wonton soup and spicy crispy wontons.

After our bellies were full, we headed over to the Gardens by the Bay. The gardens are huge and include 2 air-conditioned dome gardens. Even though it was still early the heat was already strong, so the fact that they had air-conditioning, allowed us to linger longer in the gardens.

Gardens by the Bay Dome

It was Orchid Celebration, so there were so many gorgeous orchids. I will spare everyone the massive amounts of pictures I took and just show one.

Orchids at the Gardens by the Bay

Okay I lied, I am going to show two.

Bright Pink Orchid at the Gardens by the Bay

This is Tricia’s, I’m in Singapore face! Photo by Claudia

The gardens had some awesome wood carvings on display.

Wood Carving at Gardens by the Bay

Outside of the domes, the rest of the gardens were just as pretty.

Supertree Grove at Gardens by the Bay

The next day we decided to explore Chinatown. Our first stop was some food at the Chinatown hawker center.

Chinatown Hawker Center, chicken and duck meal

We then went over to the Amitabha Buddhist Center. The buddha center was beautiful and ornate. Most of the center forbid cameras, but there was a few places you could take pictures.

Buddhist Center

Inside Buddhist Center

Statue inside the Buddhist Center

Offerings outside of the Buddhist Center

After Chinatown we walked through Little India.

Colorful building in Little India

By this point of the day it was hot and jet lag was starting to take over. We decided to go back to our AirBNB and relax a little. After some time out of the heat, we headed to the Shoppes at Marina Bay Sands to get some food and walk around.

Outside of the Shoppes at Marina Bay Sands

A rare group shot at the Marina Sands Bay area.

I had also convinced everyone that we should go on the Singapore Flyer. The Flyer is the largest observation wheel in the world and gave us some pretty good views of the city.

Waiting in line to get on the Singapore Flyer

We got real lucky and was on the Flyer during sunset.

Gardens by the Bay from the Singapore Flyer

City view at sunset from the Singapore Flyer

City lights from the Flyer

The next morning we got up early to head to the airport.

Singapore Airport en route to Indonesia

Bye Singapore, time to head to Indonesia.

Catalina Flyer Ferry

It was a pretty rough ride over as a swell had shown up. I concentrated really hard on not getting sick, while Matt was taking pictures on the second deck.

Almost to Catalina Island

We made it to Catalina Island

Avalon Pier

After we disembarked the ferry and got rid of our sea legs, we walked to the Wrigley Botanical Gardens. On the way we stopped at the Catalina Island Conservancy for a little island environmental information.

Catalina Island Conservancy

We then continued up the hill to the gardens.

Wrigley Botanical Gardens

Cacti blooming

Top of the Wrigley Memorial

Us at the top of the memorial

After the botanical gardens we walked back down to Avalon and went to the Catalina Island Casino.

Could not have asked for a more beautiful day

Catalina Island Casino

After we went to the museum at the Casino, it was pretty much time to head back to the ferry dock. We casually made our way back to the ferry where we then headed back to Newport Beach.

Bye Catalina Island, until next time.

She did great on the easy Geology Tour trail and made it through about 60% of the way through the Berdoo Canyon trail. We had to turn back due to lack of ground clearance.

When we purchased Gidget we had QuadVan convert her to 4 wheel drive so that we could explore, surf, and hike all the places a traditional RV can’t get too. We’re not off-road enthusiast but we do enjoy getting to hard to reach places and being out in nature. So far Gidget is performing very well when not on pavement.

The next big test for Gidget will be driving on beach sand. A trip to Baja or Oceano Dunes where you can drive on the beach is probably in our future.

Heading to Joshua Tree you can see the snow capped San Jacinto Mountain.

During our visit Geology Tour Road was doable with just a 2 wheel drive vehicle. Berdoo Canyon Road definitely requires 4 wheel drive and high ground clearance.

Don’t be scared by the sign. Geology Tour Road isn’t bad.

Geology Tour Road sign at the entrance.

Entrance to Geology Tour Road.

Entrance to Geology Tour Road.

Geology Tour Road

Gidget and rocks along the way on Geology Tour Road.

Geology Tour Road

Rock pile in Joshua Tree.

Geology Tour Road

Geology Tour Road

Most of the Geology Tour Road is narrow and sandy.

Gidget in front of some rock piles somewhere in Joshua Tree.

Berdoo Canyon is more difficult than Geology Tour Road. This picture is showing an easier section.

Berdoo Canyon

Berdoo Canyon Road

Berdoo Canyon Road

Berdoo Canyon Road

Goofing off somewhere in Joshua Tree.

Having fun in Joshua Tree.

More fun in Joshua Tree.

Eventually Gidget couldn’t go anymore due to ground clearance.