For most surfers, a trip starts with a search for cheap flights and a look at the swell charts. For Michael Dunphy, it begins with pulling a 1978 Cessna out of the hangar and pointing it towards a tiny airstrip somewhere in the Caribbean.
Over the past few years, Dunphy has built a following documenting his self-made strike missions. Equal parts surfer, pilot and explorer, he’s turned the dream of searching for empty waves into a reality after learning to fly during Covid. He documents the missions for his YouTube channel, which has helped him reinvent his surf career from QS grinder to the ‘surf, plane, YouTuber guy’. His social feeds are highlights reels made up of cockpit POVs, tiny island airstrips and empty wedges.
Anyone who’s travelled enough knows that it’s not always Caribbean sun and tropical rainbows. For Dunphy, the best trip of his life involved finally cracking a wave that had eluded him for years, ending up alone in warm Caribbean barrels after one of the most ambitious missions he’s ever undertaken. His worst? Well, let’s just say it involved Bali airport, a locked room and one of the most uncomfortable moments of his travelling life.
Good Trip – Flying to a remote Caribbean sandbar
“I had tried to score this wave multiple times previously and got skunked every time. So when Jimmy hit me up I was pretty reluctant to go. It definitely took a little bit of convincing,” said Dunphy.
The wave in question sits on a remote Caribbean sandbar. When everything aligns it turns into a dredging right point with multiple tube sections. You could compare it to ‘The Snake’ which Mick Fanning made famous, or even liken it to a tropical reverse Skeleton Bay – slightly smaller, but every bit as mechanical.
What makes the wave even more remarkable is the effort required to reach it.
“The mission to get there is crazy,” said Dunphy. “It’s not just a plane ride. It’s every mode of transport you can think of – plane, boat, bus, the lot. That’s what made the trip so rewarding. You really have to earn it.”
The score was made more satisfying by the fact that Michael had flown himself down there in his 1978 Cessna which he purchased on Facebook marketplace.
When Dunphy and filmer Jimmy Wilson eventually arrived, they were greeted by exactly what they’d hoped for – two days of perfect sand-bottom tubes wrapping through crystal-clear Caribbean water with hardly another surfer around.
“It’s such a crazy wave, it just keeps running and barreling the whole way. I ended up breaking my board on my first wave and by the end of the day I only had my fish left, so I was trying to navigate these slabbing sand bottom tubes on a tiny board,” said Dunphy.
“It was mental, I remember after the first day of the swell, everyone else kind of left and I pretty much scored it by myself. I literally had these perfect barrels in the most crazy blue and warm water, on my own.”
Since buying the plane, Dunphy has used it to go on a number of strike missions up and down the East Coast, and across to the Caribbean – filming the adventures in the process.
And people can’t stop watching.
Dunphy’s social feeds have become filled with cockpit POVs, usually bare foot and in boardies, turquoise blue Caribbean water and empty wedges from above.
“Even when I got the plane I didn’t think I’d turn into this surf plane YouTuber,” he laughed. “In this day and age you’ve got to be doing something a little different and I’m super fortunate with how everything has turned out.”
Despite the cinematic aesthetic of the videos, Dunphy insists the missions are surprisingly accessible.
“It’s not quite turn the key and go but it’s closer than you think,” he said. “I take off on a private strip and don’t have to file a flight plan so I can just go and rip it and grip. It feels pretty cowboy style.”
However, he admitted that the extra effort makes the score more special.
“It takes the satisfaction to a whole new level. You can find positives in 2ft average waves when you know you found them yourself.”
Dunphy has since returned to the wave and scored it again, but says the original mission remains the benchmark.
“We went back and got it good last winter,” he said. “The exciting part is knowing how much is still out there. I’m constantly looking at Google Maps, comparing it to the data I’m collecting and trying to figure out what might work.”
“The Caribbean is still relatively untouched. There are so many places with little airstrips where you can land, look around and potentially find waves with nobody surfing them. The possibilities are endless.”
Bad Trip – Spreading cheeks in Bali Airport
When asked about his worst trip, Dunphy immediately laughed.
“I feel like everyone has some kind of crazy story from Bali,” he said.
His began at immigration.
“I’d been in Indonesia, left for a contest somewhere and was flying back into Bali,” he recalled. “When I landed, immigration pulled me aside and told me to come with them.”
Dunphy was taken into a separate room where officers accused him of carrying drugs.
“I was completely confused because I had absolutely nothing,” he said. “They kept asking questions and it felt like they were trying to pressure me into admitting something. Things got pretty heated.”
Then things became even more uncomfortable.
“Next thing I know, I’m being told to spread my cheeks so they can make sure I wasn’t hiding anything,” he laughed. “At the time it wasn’t funny at all. I was terrified.”
The search continued for what felt like an eternity.
“They went through all my bags, searched everything and people kept coming in and out of the room,” he said. “You hear all these stories about Bali prison and I’m thinking, ‘What happens if they decide I’m guilty of something?’”
Eventually, they let him go.
“I walked out of there completely shaken. Thankfully it all worked out, but it was definitely one of the more stressful travel experiences I’ve had.”
If Bali was the most nerve-racking moment of his travels, a QS event in England remains one of the most miserable.
“I remember being in Newquay for a contest and it was freezing,” he said. “The waves were terrible and I was just standing there thinking, ‘What am I doing here?’”
While the contest grind delivered plenty of good memories, it also provided perspective.
“Moments like that make me appreciate what I’m doing now,” he said. “Being able to fly myself around and chase waves on my own terms is something I’m incredibly grateful for.”
Check out the other episodes of Good Trip, Bad Trip below:
