Unless you can afford a two-week luxury boat cruise through the Mentawais, most of us are on a budget and our means of travel reflect that. For the price of two weeks on a boat, the frugal surf traveler can enjoy two months hunting for waves, while sleeping in huts and traveling by local transport. Of course, traveling the world searching for waves on a limited budget can provide endless hassles and long delays, but also make for great stories.

My recent African expedition by sea proved to be my most audacious journey to date. But first let me rehash a few culminating experiences that have molded me into the budget surf hobo I am today.

On my first trip to South Africa, instead of splurging on the $125 plane ticket extension from Johannesburg to Cape Town, I chose the $40, 27 hour, second-class train ride across the scenic African country side. So what if I missed a day of swell, I found myself sharing a six-person cab with Africans and refusing shots of cheap whiskey at 11 am. Even though I was suffering from the accumulated jet lag of back-to-back overnight flights, the six of us in that cab bonded. We shared stories and cultural tidbits as we learned more about each other’s way of life, all while chugging through the colorful winelands and ostrich farms of the African interior.

After spending two weeks in the jungles of G-land, a fellow American and I decided to go overland from East Java to Nias, well north of the Mentawai Islands. Three days of a hair-raising bus ride, complete with multiple near death experiences and locals vomiting in the isle next to my seat, was followed by a hired mini bus with a lazy driver taking us to catch the ferry. We paid the guy to drive during the night, and twice we woke up; first finding him asleep upstairs in someone’s house and then in a restaurant eating a meal at 3 am. After getting barreled for a week at Nias, I flew back to Bali.

However, some cultures have very efficient public transportation. On a two-week Indo recovery stop in Thailand, I believe I set a new world record for the most distance covered with multiple means of transportation. Traveling from one island to another, I took a taxi to a ferry that got me back to the mainland. From there, a taxi to the bus station, where I hopped a bus to the next bus station, changed buses, continued on, then got off and right on to a motor bike taxi to the next ferry. Once on the next island, I caught a taxi to my accommodation. Surprisingly, the longest wait was only 5 minutes in between buses.

Last summer's travels tops it all. While on a three-month surfing mission to South Africa, I was presented with the opportunity to fill a spot on the maiden voyage of a 65-foot sailing yacht. The Zanj Explorer was headed up the coast from Durban to Mozambique, then crossing to Madagascar. Immediately thoughts of Tom Curren and Frankie Oberholzer’s long right-hand barrels from The Search movies crossed my mind. Excitingly, this was my first time looking for waves by boat. A few guys on board knew spots on the Mozambican coast, but Madagascar was a mystery, except for a little prior knowledge of a spot called Jelly Babies.

Getting there is supposed to be part of the adventure of any trip, in this case getting there was the biggest adventure of my life. Since this was Zanj’s first exploratory mission, with hopes of a surfing, fishing, diving charter business in the future, both crew and passengers were amped.

Of course there were a few problems, hazards, and critical situations that arose, but our mellow crew stayed tight and never once lost hope. This was surprising since everyone was a little dejected the Madagascar leg didn’t happen. The worst dry season storm in 10 years decided to cross the Mozambican channel at precisely the same time we did. To our initial dismay, the engine’s gearbox decided to quit on us while we were just off of the capital city Maputo. This delay prevented us from sailing into the storm, which, we later heard, forced another crew to abandon ship and snapped a catamaran in half. I believe things happen for a reason.

We did spend three weeks storm chasing and storm dodging while surfing the endless sand-point setups Mozambique has to offer. Zanj’s maiden voyage was a memorable one. Especially since we were almost barred from even entering Mozambique. Although all the passports and visas were in order, it still took a big pile of peanut butter and jelly sandwiches and a few glasses of schnapps to coax the relentless Mozambican custom officials we were just after waves.

A few other elements combine to make this the adventure it was. Whether it was the 40 knot+, gale force winds that shredded our main sail and left us motoring back to Durbs. Or how about, the captain’s THC-induced misread of the beacon light that landed the ship on a low-tide sandbank at a 45-degree angle in the middle of the night. Or the skipper stitching up the occasional open wound with only whiskey to kill the pain. Ahh, the things we endure for waves.

But, no matter where you go, how you get there or what your budget is, there are perfect, unridden waves waiting to be discovered. They're just waiting to provide you with the endless adventure of searching to fulfill your dreams. --Mike Cianciulli