Mentawai Just for Small Cruises

Mentawai Islands regency in West Sumatra, the rich natural and cultural tourism potential, just maybe stop off at small cruise ship. It was given that most tourists come to play surfing with the needs of specific waves.

David Venderleeden, surfers from Australia, Friday (6/3/2011), said he would prefer to use ships to transport passengers to menjuju Mentawai Islands. From there he then hired a local boat owned by local tour operators. "I was offered a yacht ride from Padang at the rate U.S. $ 2,000 for about ten days. It's too expensive for me, "said David.

In Seminar on International Cruise Development of Indonesia in Jakarta on Monday (5/30/2011), cruise ship captain complaining about the poor quality of port infrastructure in Indonesia (Kompas, 31/5/2011).

It is also common in the Mentawai Islands. In addition to the ships operated by local residents, a number of small cruise ships also frequently entered the Mentawai waters. However, the ship did not go through a number of ports, like Port Crossing Mailetet in the District of South Siberut. The ships came directly from Padang and anchored directly on the islands around to find the waves.

"In fact, sometimes there are foreign vessels directly into the territorial waters of the Mentawai and replace the flag with the flag of Indonesia," said Dedi, a local boat operator.

Crossing the harbor officers Mailetet, Anton Caleilei, confirmed the condition. "The ships were often not reported here first. They just anchored in certain islands and looking for waves to surf. Thus, we often do not know if anything happened, "said Anton.

Small cruise ships in question has a length up to 19 meters and a width of about 7 meters. Ships with luxurious facilities that can carry up to 12 passengers, including cruise ships with double hull Catamaran type