There are not many places left in the world like the tip of Rote. It’s a fragment of coastline on an island off West Timor, which itself is a far-flung extremity of the eastern Indonesian archipelago, closer to Darwin than Jakarta. Aussie surfers started coming here 40-odd years ago, arriving for Rote’s long, clean waves, magicked up by a rare blend of wind, swell and bathymetry.
There are other elements that give Rote its dream-come-true energy: tropical weather, white sand beaches, dense fringes of coconut palms, lingering sunsets, a steady trade wind in the dry season that keeps the mosquitoes down. Rote is, alluringly, always on island time. Crucially, it’s not easy to reach – good for surfers who don’t much like sharing a wave. The long journey to get here is why Rote has stayed Rote, one of the most wonderfully inconvenient places out there.
Amid all this remoteness, the first top-end resort has just opened, Nihi Rote & Hospitality Academy, sister property to Nihi Sumba, west of here. Both these hotels – a few hundred miles apart – front one of the most coveted waves in the world. When I visit, the hotel is still taking shape. At the eastern end of the bay is a clutch of thoughtfully designed, thatched, low-rise villas, each with a swimming pool; the interiors in mine use local materials such as lontar palm and ikat textiles. The gathering place is beach club Nammo, with its poolside restaurant and watersports instructors, smack in front of Bo’a break. Here I wait for the tide to turn before paddling out. When Nihi Rote launches fully in October, there will be 21 villas, three pools, a spa, a pump track and a golf simulator. It is also planning to build and sell multimillion-dollar residences alongside the property.