Morocco

Text: Pete Matthews
Photos: Donkey

Leaving good waves is always a hard thing to do, but that’s what Mikala and I did. Taking off from the North Shore at the end of February and meeting up with the rest of our crew of Josh Mulcoy and Jeremy Sherwin in San Francisco. Another 20 plus hours of flying and we made it to our destination.. the coast of northwest Africa. Nate Lawrence planned the trip and assured us we had everything lined up, guides that know all the spots, jet skis and 4 star accommodations.
Upon arrival at Agadir, Morocco we learned that all of Nate’s plans had fallen apart. We were on our own. None of us had been there before. So we were forced to do what we had to. The first few days were spent lining up a 4x4 truck, finding a luxurious beachfront villa and looking for waves to surf when the swell came up.

We had done good, after a few days of driving hours up and down the coast and surfing some small fun waves, we decided to head to the mountains and see some culture in the ancient city of Marrakech. Snake charmers, tooth pullers, pick-pocketers, women with black veiled faces giving us weird puzzled looks. The shops and the people selling stuff made Poppies Lane look like yoga retreat in Ubud. After 2 days there we checked the internet and saw a huge swell on the way.. the real reason we were there. So we headed back to the coast, though the mountains and valleys taking all the sights along the way.
The waves in Morocco weren’t disappointing. The days before the big swell we were surfing a place 3 hours to the north of where we were staying. We didn’t even know the name of it. The guys were riding waves for over a minute and a half on a hard packed sand bottom righthand point break with no one around. It was a dream come true for the 3 regular footers we had with us.
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