About Atoll Travel
Atoll Travel offers Surf Travel and Surf Holidays to a variety of destinations.
“Back In The Day” as they say, surf travellers seeking the holy grail of perfect waves in dreamlike tropical locations were young, time rich but money poor. They endured arduous days of travel to live the most basic existence in order to surf the finest of waves; an era of discovery and adventure.
Times have changed but the lure of perfect waves in dreamlike tropical locations remains………..for today’s time poor surfers easy access and a quality experience to match the quality of waves is the aspiration of the modern era.
While the genesis of Atoll Travel Surf Holidays may have been spawned back in the day our exclusive range of Maldives, Indonesian and Fiji tours are the benchmarks for today.
In 1980 a young Ian Lyon first left Australia to travel and surf through the islands of the Indian Ocean, the subcontinent and South Africa. During 3½ years of travel over two trips from 1980 – 1984 he met many inspiring surfers and some legendary characters with whom some lifelong friendships were forged.
Of all these meetings the one of greatest influence was that with the exceptionally interesting and amusing Tony “Honky” Hussein Hinde; one of the original Maroubra boys who had been shipwrecked in the Maldives in late 1973; discovered the surf of the atolls and kept it a very tight secret for the next fifteen years only shared with a handful of his most trusted friends. In 1984 Ian travelled from Mauritius via India to spend two months with Tony on Himmafushi island, becoming one of the first dozen surfers to experience the pristine waves of North Male Atoll.
This period was the genesis of an association between two families and two companies. In 1989 Tony with his wife Zulfa established Atoll Adventures, the Maldives’ first surfing tour company; then Ian and wife Lynne, now back in the beautiful countryside of the south-east Victorian coast, set up Atoll Travel to manage the bookings.
With the success of the Atoll Adventures Surf Travel tours and a variety Surf Holidays and a reputation for reliability Atoll Travel was approached over the next few years to represent a select range of operations in Samoa; Indonesia and Fiji.
Concentrating on a limited number of Surf Travel destinations means close cooperation with the operators in arranging Surf Holidays for clients, which in turn means full attention is given to all aspects of the tour to guarantee reliability and maintain client satisfaction. All Surf Travel and Surf Holidays operators are licensed businesses in their own country and operate in a manner that is respectful of local laws, customs and culture. All Surf Travel operations are run by surfers with long-time local surf knowledge of their respective areas.
International GSA ~ Atoll Adventures at Cinnamon Dhonveli (Maldives)
Australian GSA ~ Horizon-2 & Theia surf charters (Maldives)
Australian GSA ~ Nemberala Beach Resort (West Timor, Indonesia)
Australian GSA – Namotu Resort (Fiji)
Australian Agent ~ Tavarua Resort (Fiji)
Australian Agent ~ Barrenjoey charters (Mentawais, Indonesia)
Atoll Travel staff have a wealth of Surf Travel industry and Surf Travel experience; you can be assured that they will do their very best to ensure you’re heading to the best destination to suit your needs and that all your Surf Travel arrangements are managed professionally and efficiently.
The Atoll Team:-
Ian Lyon – Managing Director
40 years travelling
32 years travel industry
30 years surf travel specialist
Lynne Lyon – Director
38 years travelling
23 years with Atoll Travel
Janine Redpath – Sales
31 years travel consultant
15 years with Atoll Travel
Luke Kewming – Sales
10 years as ASP/WSL international contest judge
7 years with Atoll Travel
Amanda Foster – Sales
12 years with Atoll Travel
Susie Duursma – Accounts