Going to Taiwan with 3 other SUPers in about 5 weeks. Surfing the south coast. I think Moonwalker is our guide. Staying for ten days.

Anyone been there already and can share some tips?

No but Mooney is your man have spoke to him about it before , the place sounds unreal.

Did u guys have any dramas taking your own sups I'm booking a trip there real soon

Sounds great. Roughly what sort of money for a trip like that are we talking about.

Any update on how this went? I'm thinking of going later in the year.

Okay, after being back for nearly two weeks now it's time to answer some questions.

Booked with World Surfaris. For 9 nights, all airfares (Sydney to Hong Kong to Kaosiung and back again), accommodation, western surf guide (Sammy - a laid back US dude who made the trip very relaxed), vehicle transport to surf, and breakfast it was a bit less than $2900. Moonwalker showed up from time to time and had a surf with us or a drink and a chat.

We didn't get any major swell because there were no typhoons or ground swell. However, considering there was no swell, we still scored a river mouth (Jialasieu - spelling isn't right) up to waist-high and really clean and great shaped lefts and rights. Otherwise, we walked across the road to Nan Wan just after dawn and surfed a sub waist-level beach break that was nice.

Taiwan was hot and humid and the water temp allowed us to surf in boar dies very comfortably. The people are friendly. The most crowded it got was 20 people in the water, including us, but only two could surf so we politely took the ones we wanted and had a ball. Eating is very cheap and I ate 3 meals a day like a king (restaurant quality food) for 9 days and spent less than $200.

All our boards copped minor damage from the airport baggage handlers. I guess that's to be almost expected when you go OS with big boards. It happened with my mals when I went to the Maldives too.

We are all thinking of going to Taiwan again and staying longer because we can see the potential if some swell hits. All things considered - well worth going for a great experience!

Daz

Photos?

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Wodenau said...

Okay, after being back for nearly two weeks now it's time to answer some questions.

Booked with World Surfaris. For 9 nights, all airfares (Sydney to Hong Kong to Kaosiung and back again), accommodation, western surf guide (Sammy - a laid back US dude who made the trip very relaxed), vehicle transport to surf, and breakfast it was a bit less than $2900. Moonwalker showed up from time to time and had a surf with us or a drink and a chat.

We didn't get any major swell because there were no typhoons or ground swell. However, considering there was no swell, we still scored a river mouth (Jialasieu - spelling isn't right) up to waist-high and really clean and great shaped lefts and rights. Otherwise, we walked across the road to Nan Wan just after dawn and surfed a sub waist-level beach break that was nice.

Taiwan was hot and humid and the water temp allowed us to surf in boar dies very comfortably. The people are friendly. The most crowded it got was 20 people in the water, including us, but only two could surf so we politely took the ones we wanted and had a ball. Eating is very cheap and I ate 3 meals a day like a king (restaurant quality food) for 9 days and spent less than $200.

All our boards copped minor damage from the airport baggage handlers. I guess that's to be almost expected when you go OS with big boards. It happened with my mals when I went to the Maldives too.

We are all thinking of going to Taiwan again and staying longer because we can see the potential if some swell hits. All things considered - well worth going for a great experience!

Daz

Cool, glad you had a good experience, im thinking of trying to go around a month in November or February or close to the 30 day visa limit, i think that would make the trip worthwhile for both $$$ and swell window basis.

Can i ask where you stayed and is it close to the beach/s? Although from what i understand accommodation differs on the East coast from the South.

Sounds like a good idea not to take a brand new board over given the risk of damage on the airlines.

We stayed at Fu Dog Surf Hostel across the road from Nan Wan beach in Wengchun County I think. Google Fu Dog Surf Hostel and check out the pics.

My Starboard Hero was just over a month old! It doesn't look it now though...

Cheers for the info, sorry to hear about your Starby.

Hi guys,

My brother and I went to Taiwan mid June. Same tour as Wodenau with Sammy as a guide. We got some great swell before and after a typhoon. Though the water is very brown in these photo's that is not always the case (heaps of rain before we arrived). We had at least five surfs in 9 days over head high at five different breaks ranging from left point to reef to river mouth (Jalaswei) to beachies.

Sammy has a few SUP's so we managed to surf a nice outer reef one day near Nan Wan and took the out the front a bit as well.

We also had a lot of board damage on the way over but was fine on the way back.

I can highly recommend Taiwan.

Cheers,

Mitch

Now that just makes me jealous!

We got nothing over waist high but it was clean and sometimes glassy. Would have dearly loved to have surfed anything head high or over.