Honeymoon in Indonesia

Nihiwatu Resort: A Honeymooning Surfer’s Paradise
Words by Justin Cote

It was right about the time that I got spit out of my third barrel in a row that I realized I’d found nirvana. With an ear-to-ear grin, I rode my last wave nearly all the way to the staircase that leads to the “Boathouse.” I ordered up a cold Bintang beer to enjoy with the other guests who had gathered to watch the sunset on our first day at Nihiwatu Resort on the Indonesian island of Sumba. An hour flight from the hustle and bustle of Bali, Sumba is dry and sparsely populated—the polar opposite of most islands in the country.

The trip to Nihiwatu began years ago when hushed voices mentioned an island retreat in Indonesia where the surf spot was limited to nine surfers and the accommodations were out of this world. While I had always wanted to go, I’d never had the perfect reason to do so—until I met a girl who had the same passion for surfing and adventure as I did. With romance and perfect surf in mind (not necessarily in that order), I booked the dream honeymoon for a surfing couple.

Upon arriving to the airport in Bali and seeing a “Nihiwatu: Cote Honeymoon” sign, we began to realize the scope to which the staff from Nihiwatu look after their clients. We breezed through security, then relaxed and chatted with a few of the other guests in a private lounge before departure on the chartered flight.

After winding our way through the Sumba countryside, we arrived to Nihiwatu and were “greeted” by a traditional Sumbanese dance troupe that was waving machetes around wildly and singing some kind of battle song in the local dialect. While it wasn’t exactly a mai tai with an umbrella on top, it was a glimpse into the way Nihiwatu embraces and protects its local culture.  

Nihiwatu is way ahead of its time when it comes to responsible and sustainable development. It’s one of the only resorts in the world to be exclusively powered by bio-diesel (they buy coconut husks from local villagers and convert the oil into energy). The resort has also offset its carbon footprint by planting over 64,000 trees and counting, hatching and releasing thousands of sea turtle eggs every year, and building the resort primarily out of sustainable materials.

With all the physical activities we were undertaking (surfing, spearfishing, scuba diving, yoga, paddle boarding, etc.), mealtime was met with gusto. Served in a thatch-roofed hut with white sand as a floor and overlooking the Indian Ocean, we were presented a menu each morning during breakfast with three different options for both lunch and dinner. Each meal had a vegetarian option, organic salad, locally grown fruits and vegetables, fresh fish (one day I caught a Cubera Snapper and ate it that night) and a decadent desert. To their credit, Nihiwatu serves as much as they can from their own organic garden, which is farmed via sustainable methods and uses compost from the resort’s waste. Served up by a smiling staff and prepared by a gourmet chef, the meals were beyond our expectations in both presentation and taste.

The most romantic evening I shared with my wife was thoughtfully arranged by the Nihiwatu staff. To start, we were treated to a two-hour couples massage, which was followed by a candlelit bath in a tub filled with plumeria flowers. After a good soaking, we were blown away to see hundreds of candles leading us to a poolside dinner where we were presented with a large, flat stone topped with local lobster, New Zealand lamb, fresh Spanish Mackerel, soup, organic vegetables and all topped off with a delicious bottle of red wine from Argentina.  

The finale of the magical evening came when we arrived back to our room and found that plumeria flowers had been placed on the floor, floating in both sinks and there was a handwritten note on the bed right next to a heart that had been shaped out of more plumeria. In all, there must have been over 1,000 sweet-smelling plumeria in our room!

Being an editor of a surf magazine, I’ve had the opportunity to travel the world and visit some of the most beautiful and exclusive places on the map—but nothing can compare to Nihiwatu. From their support of the local culture via the Sumba Foundation, to the world class surf, Nihiwatu ranks as not only the best surf trip I’ve ever been on, but also the most romantic, making it the best of both worlds for not only myself, but most importantly, my wife.