The Places You'll Go
The quintessential Moroccan surf scene. There’s more to life than 2-dimensional images, though.
The unfortunate reality of trying to see the world in this 21st century is that most places you go, places you’ve heard are great or have seen amazing photos of, are completely blown out. There are parts of the experience of traveling to first-rate surf destinations that are not necessarily what you hope to sign up for, but have unfortunately become commonplace in the experience. These include: ignorant tourists from the first world looking for their next drink, rustic thatched-driftwood on the walls, floors, ceilings of restaurant bars that blast house music and usually only serve pizza, hastily constructed shops and surf rental businesses on the beach, poor sanitation and a dearth of genuine ‘local’ culture. Whether it’s Taghazout, or Puerto Escondido, Canggu, Santa Teresa, or any of the litany of other surf towns-turn tourist traps out there, you won’t be able to tell where you actually are in the world until you exit the bubble to a surrounding area. It is not productive to look for the guilty party here, and there are probably plenty of economic positives that come along with the growth in tourism, but the homogenization of local and surf culture comes at the cost of the traveler. So what’s the solution to problems like this? When you hear of people going somewhere, or get told to go somewhere, don’t listen. Don’t follow the herd. A first-class surf destination can offer a second-class experience if the natural and cultural resources have been spoiled. Choosing a second-class destination can, by contrast, offer a more genuine cultural experience and still include fun waves. The only way to relieve the crowding at the popular places is to start choosing less popular ones. The fact that they’re less consistent, less quality, colder, or a little further away shouldn’t deter you, it should motivate you. What you’ll find is less competition in the water, fun setups you’ve never heard of, warmer welcomes in the car park or pub, and often lower costs as well.
My case in point—When you watch surf videos on the internet of Morocco, they always include themes of dusty desert sunrises, cars parked on lonely cliffs above rifling point breaks, camel herds passing by, and post surf tea with local berbers. These things are, in fact, present in that country, but there is so much more to it. They don't show the heaps of trash piled under the bushes and glass shards laying anywhere you want to walk with bare feet, they don’t show the fleets of campervans posted at every pull off and bend in the coast, they don’t want to give you the idea that the waves are crowded with aggressive intermediates, and they certainly don’t want you to realize that those reeling walls that look perfect on camera are often too fast to make or too bumpy to catch. This is not to say that I had a bad time in Morocco or that I have a low opinion of the place. I am simply trying to set the record straight on what happens when you choose to visit popular or often recommended destinations for travel.
Tagazhout was probably once a peaceful village by the sea, hosting some of Morocco’s safest, most beautiful and accessible sand beaches, plus close proximity to world class surf. It still does boast those things, but it’s also crowded and polluted. The main highway runs right through town, where rows of residential developments have been piled on top of each other on both sides of it. This effectively packs most of the humanity of town into a single 2-block stretch, where a bulge of shops, restaurants and vendors squeeze in as well. Try to drive through the main drag at pretty much any hour and you’ll be held up by every manner of human and mode of transport cutting you off, crossing in front of you, stopping in front of you, and you must cut someone else off to pass through. If you manage to get past those 2 blocks and out toward Anchor Point, then things quiet down significantly. Sanitation infrastructure in the area is basic, and stray dogs eat the trash on the streets and shit where they like, often on the sidewalks. There are still locals in Tagazhout, and they may profit quite well from all the visiting surfers, but foreign owned business is there to stay as well. You can still eat local tagines and ride a camel or buy a rug, but you can also get a smoothie and a burger, yoga or as many beers as you want. The oversaturation of foreign people and business dilutes your own experience. The people of Morocco were generous and caring everywhere we went, but when they’re exposed to as many white tourists as they are, their patience can only last so long.
What’s the point of even going then? The waves are truly world class. Almost every cm of the 30km drive from Tagazhout to Boiler Point is surfable, and regularly receives clean groundswell and good conditions. Anchor point is a stone's throw from the main drag of Tagazhout ‘village’, and holds true as a quality setup in a country loaded with quality. The outside section peaks, bowls, then pushes down the line until it slows, reforms, and then freight trains through the inside. Its proximity to town means that the crowd will be constant, and clashes between zealous locals and clueless blow-ins are common. Don’t feel like dealing with it? Fine, drive 20 minutes up the coast and you’ll pass plenty more options, some well-populated, some not. And this is only a small piece of the coast. Get in the car and put some kms on the odometer, and you're almost guaranteed to score, and you'll likely forget all about the tourist bubble you left behind near Agadir.
Endless potential in the mid and background, just watch your step on the way down to it.
Standard highway views in Macbeth country.
By contrast, I knew that there were waves up in Scotland, but not much else, and decided to meet up with some friends who had been there before. Tell someone, even someone from Scotland, that you’re going there to surf, and they’ll look at you sideways and then probably tell you about how cold it’ll be. I arrived directly from Morocco with absolutely no expectations of what the place would be like. It strikes you as soon as you walk out of the airport that being there to surf is a rarity. The drive from the airport to the furthest north coast of the mainland UK is surprisingly beautiful, with pristine peat-covered hills rolling down to gushing rivers and wetlands, which flow toward the rocky coast. Rain is commonplace but not ever-present, and the gaps in clouds often reveal stunning rainbows. Keep on pushing and you may find yourself amongst some swell and if you’re lucky, clean conditions at one of the endless setups you’ll drive past on either the west or north coast on your way to northern Europe's crown jewel.
Thurso east is not a surf town. It is the main settlement option for people employed by Europe's oldest nuclear power plant, along with whiskey and gin distilleries and other blue collar industry. The bastion of local surfers are there by virtue of the wave quality that occasionally graces their slate reefs, and they hold hardly a surf shop between them. Keeping the natural resources pristine and in the control of the local people has been a deliberate mission of theirs for a long time, and it’s kept their surf scene core and underground, and their local culture perfectly intact. In addition, the reef at Thurso East is as close to perfection as you can really come in surfing, and the locals will be in control of the peak at all times. Be friendly and kind, and you’ll find some room underneath them and sneak into a few. Drive either direction from Thurso and the coast unfolds into peat and gorse, slate slabs and sandy bays, castles and unbridled rivermouths. There is protection from every wind direction and exposure to every swell direction. You probably won’t pass many vans laden with lesson boards or hiluxes packed with shoulder hoppers either. The local pub will have you mixing with every walk of life there is in the far north of the UK, which is almost certainly quite different from wherever you may come from. These people will be excited to meet you, and might even buy you a drink for it.
What makes this a second rate destination is the part I haven’t mentioned yet—the co…nsistency. You thought I was gonna say cold, right? The temperature there will not be warm, if you choose to visit, but if you prepare with the proper gear you can still be comfortable. The biggest problem with a surf trip to this region is that in any given week, there may or may not be more than a day or two of even rideable, let alone quality, surf days. The weather is a serious factor up there, the main factor that will dictate your experience of the place. Get lucky and you’ll be booking tickets for next year, but get unlucky and you’ll be either sheltering from powerful North Pole systems, and alternating between tea, gin, whiskey and Guinness, or all of the above at the same time. On the bright side, you have 3 different coasts and 2 different oceans (or rather one ocean in the Atlantic and one sea with the North Sea, which are completely separate in terms of swell sources) within 2 hours drive, so if you have the time and motivation, a wave can often be sought, weather be damned.
At the end of the day, the choice is yours. Pick first-class waves and pay the price in terms of crowds and a tempering of your cultural experience. Pick second-class waves and you might still score, but you’ll probably also have some days off to enjoy some unspoiled scenery and interact with locals who are happy to have you. It is always so easy to choose the former when wanting to travel for surf, because of course surfing is what we set out to do. At a certain point though, prioritizing wave quality over all else is really just getting in your own way. If the crowds in the water and on the beach interrupt your enjoyment, then the second rate spot would’ve been the go. Conversely, it is always possible to carve yourself some space in a crowd, or just altogether ignore it and hit the road the way a place like Morocco allows. Choose wisely and enjoy the road wherever it takes you.
Cheers,
LG
Even with reefbreaks as your main focus, you’re still in for some scenery.
