Close Encounter
Layne Beachley, Jodie Nelson and crew have an otherworldly experience in Baja.

Forget about exotic boat trips to Indo, racing the dolphins at J-Bay, carving down monster faces on the North Shore or all the miles in between. As seasoned world travelers Layne Beachley, Jodie Nelson and friends recently discovered, some of the best waves in the world still exist under our noses -- in this case, Baja. Who would have guessed that perfection could be so easy to find?

We were in Sumatra, about to embark on our 12-hour boat ride to the Mentawais and I saw that the only people coming off the boats were really good pros...