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Palau Nias Island is located 80 miles off the west coast of Sumatra, and is home to Lagundri Bay, a silky right-breaking tube located on the island's south end. Lagundri—the first world-class right discovered in Indonesia—is commonly and mistakenly referred to as Nias. 

The May-to-October dry season is the best time for surf at Lagundri; because the break is tucked nearly a half-mile inside a bay, waves here lose size on the approach and are one-third to one-half smaller than those found at Grajagan (Java) or Uluwatu (Bali). But when swells do finally bend in and reach the flat seaweed-covered Lagundri reef, the resulting wave is a smooth, perfectly tapered wall that dependably spills over into an almond-shaped tube. 

Other surf breaks in the area include Indicators, a stronger and more erratic wave just outside Lagundri's main break; the Machine, a speeding left further inside the bay; and the consistent Hinako Islands, just northwest of Nias, which include the steam-rolling left tubes of Asu and the deep-water right walls of Bawa. Tropical air and water temperatures across the island are generally in the '70s and '80s. Although getting to Nias still requires a great deal of time and effort, and malaria remains a threat throughout the area, Lagundri's many "homestay" lodgings are often full during the dry season, and crowds of 100-plus surfers are common.

Lagundri was first ridden in 1975 by intrepid Australian surf travelers Kevin Lovett, Peter Troy, and John Geisel. "The search was over, the dream was for real," Lovett later wrote, before describing Geisel's death from malaria nine months after the Lagundri discovery. 

Nias became an international surf world sensation after it was showcased in a 1979 issue of 

 magazine; Lagundri natives took to the waves in earnest in the mid-'80s, when Australian Mark Flint began making boards locally, and the Nias Surf Club was founded soon after. Nias farmer and landowner Ana Dalin began to develop Lagundri Bay for surf tourism in the early '80s, and helped organize a series of international contests in the mid to late '90s, including the Nias Indonesian Open (which ran from 1994 to 1997) and the O'Neill Deep Jungle Open (2000). But as longtime visitor Peter Reeves later noted, "by the late '80s, the magic was gone. Lagundri had turned into an eroded, polluted, hygienic nightmare." The break nonetheless remained popular with international surf travelers, and much of the local economy was built on surf trade.

A massive earthquake measuring 8.6 shook the west coast of Sumatra on March 28, 2005. Over 1,000 people were killed on the island of Nias, and many surrounding reefs shifted in elevation altering the quality of surf breaks in the area. The wave at Lagundri Bay, for example, actually improved after the earthquake as the reef lifted enough to make the wave surfable throughout all tides and with less swell.

 (1982) were the first two surf movies to feature Lagundri Bay; it's since been seen in dozens of movies and videos, including 

 (1996), a documentary chronicling the discovery of the break and surf-related development in Lagundri. It was overcrowding at Lagundri that prompted '90s-era surf travelers to look for surf in the wave-rich Mentawai Islands, about 300 miles south. 

The Lagundri surf is detailed in a small number of guidebooks, including I

The Stormrider Surf Guide: Sumatra, Nias, and the Mentawais

 magazine listed Nias as one of the 25 best waves in the world.

Nias

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