We put together King Millenium with the aim of offering other surfers the chance to surf the best waves in the world in a comfortable, safe and easy way.
We, Jose Manuel “Poti” Illumbe, (Hondarribia, Basque Country), and David Valladares (Vigo, Galicia), met one day surfing in Macarronis, one of the world’s best waves, in May 2000. Poti was camping in the mangrove swamp right in front of the break while David was squatting on a local fishing boat, surfing all over the islands.
We had both travelled around Indonesia for years and although we had common friends, we had never met before.
In December 2001 we decided to set up a surf charter company in the Mentawai, West Sumatra. After over 1 year busy setting everything up in Indonesia and getting our first boat (the King Millenium I) ready, in march 2003 we did our first surf charter and it was a success.
During the first years we grew slowly as very few surfers knew about the Mentawai, and just going to indo was still considered and adventure in itself. Slowly, the first features published in surf magazines as well as word to mouth, helped us spread the good quality of the waves and of the service we provide at the King Millenium.
In 2005 we register a record number of bookings and the KMI is fully booked yearlong. We also get the first trips with pros in magazines from all over the world.
Since then, we’ve finished every season as one of the boats with more trips per year, some many that sometimes we’ve had to hire a second boat to be able to please all our guests.
Seeing that the demand was growing year after year, we decided to purchase a second boat, the King Millenium II, a catamaran, larger and more comfortable, in order to please our more demanding public. In 2007 we did the first trip of the King Millenium II.