Keen Swellnet readers will recall that we recently gave away a trip for two to the Banyak Islands. The deal was this: take out a Swellnet subscription, get your name dropped into the hat, and the lucky winner will score ten days aboard the Pulse including airfares.

The winner was Anthony Agius, a construction manager from Victoria who'd completely forgotten about the comp. Got quite the surprise did old Anthony when Swellnet called him. He then went and surprised us by nominating his son Ando as preferred travel partner. We were pleasantly surprised, you understand, it made our day to hear father and son would be spending quality time at our expense.

Well, Anthony and Ando are back now. They're tanned up, rash-ridden and sore from ten days of wave soaked gluttony. They sailed all over the Banyaks and scored a heap of waves, bonded with the other passengers and crew, even welcomed folk from other boats aboard to talk story over sunset beers. A fine time indeed.

The following photos were all taken by Lance Morgan, the photographer aboard the Pulse, with each caption taken from Anthony's journal.

Before we get into it: Swellnet is giving away another free trip. Simply sign up to Swellnet’s newsletter (you'll then get forecast notes and latest news sent to your inbox) and enter the draw for a trip for two to P'Pass. It doesn’t get any easier so click here to sign up now.

"We head out to the islands at 4am. Three hours later we arrive at Treasure Island. It's three-to-six foot and going off. Dez and Lance tell us not to rush in as it will get better. I scoffed down some fruit and rush out..."

"First wave, I take off from the outside peak and ride it through to the end bowl but lose it. I start to paddle back out, something doesn't seem right. I've creased the Evo! Fuck, my favourite board. First day and I've fucked it."

"I take the new board out. I haven't surfed a conventional board for quite a while so I’m relieved when it goes off. I have to make some adjustments but really not many. I'm happy again."

"There's one other boat charter here at the moment. If we're all out in the water at the same time there’d be approximately twenty guys out. We all keep an eye on who's out and for how long and time things so there are never more than ten out. Anyway, it's pumping so there's no shortage of waves."

"We head around to Cobras - a left hander! It's a beautiful spot. What you visualise when you think of a tropical surfing paradise. The other boat follows us around and we're all muttering under our breath, “fuck off, fuck off!” It works, they fuck off."

"The water is so clear, when you're dropping into a wave the visual experience is almost overwhelming.

"Ando and I hop into it. The surf turns out to be way better than expected, the whole session is full of big drops, fast sections, and a shack or two."

"The swell gets a little bigger after lunch, the wind swings a little and Cobras shows it's fangs."

"Ando and I have a good session. We get talking and get a couple of things off our chest. All is good"

"Lance has been diving and has seen some lobsters. The skipper fashions up some barbed rods to pull them out of their little caves and we hit the water hoping to bags some."

"We settle down with a lovely meal and a few of bottles of red. We talk shit and solve the problems of the world."

"My plan was to get as many waves as possible before the rest of the guys hit the line-up. I target twelve waves in the first half an hour. I do this easily and then slow the wave count down to a comfy twenty plus waves in the hour. I then stop counting..."

"Ando, Dez and l squeeze the most out of our last surf in the Banyaks and surf till dark."

Thanks to Pulse Surf Charters and don't forget to enter Swellnet's P'Pass contest.