Surfing at Cape Bakaro of Manokwari

by Charles Roring/ E-mail: peace4wp@gmail.com
Very few international surfers know about the existence of Cape Bakaro. After I wrote an article about Victor Dykman's (a Dutch tourist) surfing trip in Manokwari city a few years ago, I got an email from a member of Surf Explore team. He said that he would explore beaches in West Papua that is suitable for wave surfing. In my reply email, I told him there are several places that are suitable for surfing. Some of them are Abasi, and Cape Bakaro. We still had some telephone conversations before I got a confirmation that they would come to Indonesia. They arrived in this city in late February 2013. Spending around 2 weeks in Manokwari, they surfed at the beaches of Abasi, Cape Bakaro, Tanjung Pepaya and some places that are far from the downtown. When I asked them the recommended spot for experienced wave surfers, all of them answered Cape Bakaro. The following photograph shows how an international surfer, Hayato Maki, enjoyed surfing at the cape.

Phil Goodrich - a surfing artist at Abasi beach of Manokwari

It is not difficult to reach Manokwari. If you are a surfer and wants to ride the waves of Cape Bakaro, just fly from your country to Jakarta - the capital of the Republic of Indonesia. Then take a domestic flight to Manokwari city. The airlines that fly between Jakarta and Manokwari are Sriwijaya, Express Air, and Lion Air. Bring your own surfboards and don't forget to contact me before you come.