Lagundri Bay

Lagundri, usually called Sorake for the point at its western end, is a right-hand wave breaking over shallow coral at the southern tip of Nias, and it was found in 1975 by two Australian surfers who were told about it by a local and stayed; word spread through the 1980s and the bay filled with losmen built by families along the shore. It is a point break of unusual regularity - it holds shape at a wide range of sizes and breaks in the same place - which is why it produced a competition circuit and a certain reputation. The 2005 Nias earthquake lifted the reef by a metre or more, which changed the wave permanently: it now needs a bigger swell to work and breaks differently, a fact every returning surfer mentions.

What you actually see

• A shallow right-hand point - breaking in the same place over coral.
• A wave changed by earthquake - the 2005 uplift altering how it works.
• Family-run losmen - the accommodation strip built along the bay.
• A 1975 discovery - the Australian surfers who found and stayed at it.

When to go

May to September for the swell. A week.

Honest expectations

It breaks over shallow sharp coral and is not a beginners' wave. Getting to Nias is a flight plus hours of road, or a long ferry. Malaria has been present on the island.

Nearby

Bawomataluo and the southern Nias stone-jumping villages are inland.