Twenty-Three kilos isn’t nearly enough of a baggage allowance considering we all wanted to take at least 1 surfboard.  I had removed everything from my luggage in an attempt to keep under the weight limit.  Unfortunately taking 2 boards wasn’t going to work unless I wanted to spend 10 days with 1 pair of boardies and brushing my teeth with a stick.  After admitting defeat I took my fish out of the world traveler and decided to take my trusty shortboard to morocco with me.

We made it to the airport without too many problems, the M25 on a Friday afternoon isn’t usually a good idea but it didn’t hold us up too long.  There was a slight panic when we couldn’t find the airport parking.  As Co-Pilot it was my responsibility to direct us, unfortunately the map was as accurate as someone sneezing in a tissue so it took us about half an hour to find.

We did eventually make it to the terminal and checked in using the self-service bag drop.  They never actually weighed our boards so I could have brought my fish as well.. Damn!  We cruised past all the peeps queuing for regular check-in and proceeded to the bar for a pint.

The flight was ok, there seemed to be a lot more surfers on the plane than I was expecting.  Having been promised un-crowded waves and secluded spots I started to wonder if it was going to be a bit more like Fistral in Mid August.  Arriving into Agadir airport was pretty stress free, the airport is so small that the plane actually pulls right up outside customs so you don’t have to walk for half a mile.  Our boards all arrived in one piece and we waited with about 20 other surfers while Ben, our Lift to Tagazhout sorted everyone out.  Most of the other people there were for the surf camp.  As we were self catering there was hope that maybe we could still score some un-crowded waves.

Eventually 20 surfboards were loaded on top of a transit and we started the drive to Tagazhout.  It was dark so we couldn’t see a great deal.  Agadir itself is relatively new due to an earthquake in 1960 and most of it had to be rebuilt.  It looked like any other European city with huge supermarkets, ports and night life attractions.  It took us about 10 minutes to drive through Agadir before things started looking a bit more rural.  Health and safety definitely isn’t high priority in Morocco.  Guys on Mopeds weaving down the dual carriageway without lights are very interesting especially when it comes to the free-for-all roundabouts.  We weaved our way down the coastline and finally ended up in Tagazhout.  It’s a small fishing village made up of half finished concrete buildings in various states of repair.  Fortunately the apartment that we had was structurally sound and actually had a roof!

We didn’t feel like venturing out on the first night so we stayed with the surf camp and ate their food and drank beer.  Being a predominantly Arabic country meant that beer wasn’t easy to come by.  There was one bar in the village that sold alcohol and the only shop to buy beer from was all the way back in Agadir!

After possibly the worst sleep on a sofa that I have ever had, we loaded up our hire car with boards and cruised down the coast to find some surf.  The South Westerly points outside our apartment weren’t working so we were going to drive ½ an hour north to Tamri as we were told that this beach picked up more swell.  Jon took the wheel and we headed cautiously up the coast.  We completely missed Tamri and drove all the way past the beach, through the village and out the other side (another badly scaled map!!).  This did however lead us to see goats climbing trees.  I thought they were having us on but there they were.. Hoofed animals suspended in trees!  This is where we learnt our first lesson in Morocco.  We pulled over down the road from the goats to get the camera out of the boot.  It looked fairly safe, there was no one around and looked pretty deserted.  Whilst getting the camera out of the boot I saw a small person running down the hill towards the car.  The child looked as though she was on a mission so I got a move on and closed the boot.  As I was about to get in the car, 2 more children ran down from the other side of the valley, cutting off my escape root!!  I jumped in the car, whilst Jon tried to prevent the kids from stealing anything in the car that wasn’t bolted down.  As it was Ramadan, they seemed to me most interested in the crisps and food we had in the car.  Making sure that we didn’t run anyone over we made our getaway.  Not fazed by this encounter, we stopped by the Goats on the way back to Tamri and had the same thing happen!  We had learnt our lesson.

Being hassled was going to remain a theme through-out the trip.  Like any tourist destination there are people trying to sell you all kinds of crap.  We also had to pay the Local kids to look after our car when we went surfing!

Tamri was a large beach that as well as picking up the swell also picked up the wind and was very rarely clean.  Stormriders suggested low tide was best but we found that High Tide was more sheltered and the sandbars worked better.  The beach was fairly crowded as was one of the only breaks working.  Everyone enjoyed the relatively warm water; some of us even went in boardies. Picking up some sick waves on day one was just what we needed to start the trip, although it was only a beach break and nothing epic, it still beats the hell out of anything else!

Tamri is about the same size as Tagazhout although not even a hint of tourism.  The High Street is busy and filled with stores all selling the same thing.  Again, every building looks as though it is about to fall down or never got finished.  We found some bread and Laughing Cow cheese and quickly got on our way.  I was under the impression that cheese had to be refrigerated; the Laughing Cow had definitely been in the 25 degree heat for a couple of days!  Putting these thoughts aside we went back to the hilltop over looking the beach and ate our flat bread and warm cheese.

After surfing the afternoon at high tide we drove back to Tagazhout, showered and went out to find some dinner.  There are about 8 restaurants in the village.  All have a limited and identical menu; we picked the one closest to the apartment and sat down.  The owner/waiter/chef spoke pretty good English.  Although it took an age for the food to appear it was pretty good.  The bill including soft drinks came to just under 150 dirhams (£10.00) which isn’t bad for three people.  We wondered down to the only bar in town for a beer before heading back to the apartment.
We spent the next few days Surfing Tamri as there was still nowhere else working.  On Sunday we had to go and pick up Paul from the airport.  Jon volunteered to drive, which he later regretted.  We made it to the airport in one piece and Jon was only mildly insane from driving.  Once we had Paul’s board and stuff loaded up we decided to head to the main supermarket to by some beer.  I’m not sure why it took us so long to find it because the place is massive!! I’m sure it must be one of the largest buildings in Agadir.  We loaded up a trolley with food for the remaining week and went on search for the Alcohol Isle.  Because it was Ramadan the beer was under watchful eye by security. So the government can keep track on who buys alcohol we had to show our passports and fill out various forms.  The guy was friendly enough and even sorted us out some cardboard boxes to cart our booze away.

We managed to get back to Tagazhout without incident and introduced Paul to the local nightlife.  Everyone decided on calamari and washed it down with a couple of sprites before heading back to drink some of our precious beer.

Again we surfed Tamri but this time avoiding the Goats and Children.  We were all itching to surf the points but it was just too small.  There was word of some swell coming in and the lines outside the apartment that night backed it up.  Although Hash Point and Anchors were un-surfable we decided to look round some of the other spots.  In the morning we loaded up the car and drove up the coast to Boilers.  It’s an awesome right hand point that breaks over shallow sharp rock. The swell still wasn’t big enough and it was breaking 3 foot onto almost dry reef.  We decided to give it a miss and headed south towards Agadir to see if anything was going on.  About 10 minutes short of Agadir outside a village called Tamrhakht we stopped at a beach called bananas.  The beach itself didn’t have much going on and was breaking about a 2-3 foot closeout but there was a small rock formation in the centre of the beach where a consistent Left called Devils was breaking over an almost exposed reef.  Being one of the only spots that was working it was super crowded, probably about 20 people out all hovering over the peak.  Jon and I gave it a miss but Ben and Paul went in and both scored some waves.  The peak was quite punchy but then crumbled and you had to pump like crazy to make the reformed shore break.  Settling into the routine we headed back for calamari and sprite followed by a few more of Morocco’s finest beverages.

The following day Boilers was still looking a bit sketchy and Tagazhout’s points still didn’t have enough to be surfable, even the left we surfed the day before was looking ropey.  We were starting to think that maybe we wouldn’t surf as Tamri was blown out when we stumbled across Mysteries and La Source.  Maybe Breaking 3 to 4 foot we had a choice of beach break peaks and a left and right hand - sand covered reef that was fairly consistent.  The outside peak we called Plastics broke onto dry reef that was marked with a floating plastic bottle. On a set wave Plastics would break all the way to the inside beach break providing long effortless rides.  We surfed the various rights all day and were happy that the swell had picked up.

The sound of the waves crashing outside our south westerly facing apartment signified that we were in for a good day and finally some of the World Class Moroccan right points should be firing.  Skipping breakfast we jumped in the car and headed to Boilers.  It seemed to be the point that picked up the most swell.  On arrival it was clear we weren’t the only ones that had made this assumption.  There were about 12 cars and already 12 people in the lineup.  It was still breaking a bit too close to the rocks for my liking and the entry points were straight over the sharp pot-holed reef.  People were scoring waves and others were getting washed onto the rocks..  I’d made up my mind that I’d be happier at the mellower reef, Mysteries.  No one else wanted to go in either, some said that they had gotten sand in their eye and others that there were already too many people out and it wouldn’t be worth it.  Regardless of the excuses I’m sure we were all thinking the same thing, ‘I don’t wanna end up on the rocks getting worked!’  

So we headed back to Mysteries and there were a few people out surfing the various peaks.  It was still Low-tide so I decided to surf the beach break until the reef got a bit deeper.  Ben and Jon paddled over to Plastics and after a few late take offs and close misses with the exposed reef they disappeared from sight.  After an hour or so I was getting bored surfing closeouts so Paul and I decided to paddle over to the bottle to find the other two.  We grabbed a few waves there but no sign of the other two.  We then paddled round the point to another smaller left and but no sign of the others.  About 300 yards up the coast we could see that Killer Point was going off.  I contemplated the paddle but decided I’d be too knackered to surf if I made it.  Admitting defeat Paul and I surfed the reefs for about another hour or so.  When we got out and back to the car Jon and Ben were walking back from the other direction.  They had been surfing Killers for the last hour with only two other guys out surfing some insanely long rides with 4ft pealing solid walls of pleasure, by the sounds of it we missed out big time.. Maybe I should have made the paddle!.... Next time!

With only 2 days left of our trip, we had surfed about three times everyday for the last week and everyone was getting tired.  We had tried every restaurant and everything on the menu.  From the amount of calamari that Jon ate I wouldn’t be surprised if he started shitting ink!  The Second to last day we headed to Mysteries again.  The surf camp was there and it was getting a bit crowded.  No one felt like making the paddle over to Killers as the swell had started to drop so we stayed put waiting 20 minutes a time for set waves.  We took a trip up to Boilers to see what the score was.  There were about 20 people out all fighting for the same waves.  On such a dangerous break it was funny seeing 6 people taking off on one wave!  The offshores were howling and yet again we decided to give it a miss.  Mysteries called and we surfed there until sunset.

Sunday, our last day was going to be the best day of our trip.  The swell had died right down and none of the local breaks were working so we cruised up to Tamri.  From the hilltop it looked pretty clean and everyone thought we were in for a good session until we arrived on the beach.  It was a lot bigger and a lot choppier than first perceived on the hilltop, but we paddled out anyway.  I managed to pick up a fast right straight away that almost put me on the beach.  I couldn’t be doing with the paddle again so came straight in, thinking that I’d save my energy for the afternoon.  Whilst I wrote rude comments about my mates in the sand, Ben picked off a sick left hander, taking the late drop right on the pitching lip, throwing in a couple of turns and a quick cutback. Unfortunately that’s the best that was on offer here. Jon and Paul managed to pick off a few over head rights hitting a couple of sections pretty hard but in the end they all struggled to find waves and with tired arms they admitted their defeat. With only 2 hours from checkout it was looking as though our time was up.  But we decided that maybe we should drive a bit further north to a break we had heard about a spot called Imessouane. It works on the same swell as Tamri but it is supposed to have a couple of points and a beach that work well.  It was about another 45 minute drive from Tamri, putting us about an hour and a half from checking out in Tagazhout.  Deciding that surf was more important than checking out we went for it.

Imessouane is a very mellow place, although there seemed to be a surfing influence there was no hassle by locals and it wasn’t as built up as Tagazhout.  We parked up by the beach to see 30+ people out surfing the beach and left point.  We sat around for half an hour, no one really wanted to battle for the odd set wave and we were going to call it a day.  Before heading back we drove round the harbour wall to see if anything was going on.  It was a bay with several fishing boats in it and was so sheltered it looked like a lake.  We parked up and had a look anyway as the place looked nice and we wanted to take some photos.  As we walked up to the edge of the cliff we noticed perfect right handers peeling 300 yards along the cliff all the way to the beach.  Standing on top of the cliff it was difficult to see the potential of these perfect waves.  Longboards? We all had shortboards and thought maybe it was too small.  It wasn’t till we walked down to the bottom of the cliff that we saw that it was breaking 2/3 foot rideable and there was nobody out.  Boards were off the roof and in the water within a minute, ahh perfect, four mates, all in boardies , right hand pealing fun waves that seemed to go on for ever! I wondered if there was a pot of gold at the end!I was first out and my first wave took me what seemed miles away far far into the cove! I kicked off the wave and looked at my paddle back out only to see how far it was! Checking where the others were Ben paddled straight out and into a perfect 3ft hollow beauty! With a grin on his face he took off and pumped straight passed me as I paddled over the back of the wave, hoots all round echoed through the cove as we all new what he had in store!! We all had more than our fair share of waves.  Although some of the waves were still quite small and some of the sections were hard work it was compensated by the smooth, clear, rippable, sometimes hollow faces that broke consistently down to the beach.  After racking up a good wave count and some pretty sick rides, we had to get out, checkout time had been and gone but we didn’t care if they left us behind! This place is epic!

It hadn’t mattered that we missed checkout time, no one minded and we were able to shower and prepare ourselves for the flight home.  Bags packed and boards wrapped in bubble wrap we loaded our gear into the 4x4.  One last stop at the restaurant for a Moroccan interpretation of a cheeseburger and a few refreshing sprites before we were good to go.  The airport was pretty boring but we made up for it on the plane by getting drunk and generally disturbing the peace.  We got back at around 5 am and I was only capable of getting into bed.

It was nice to sleep in a proper bed although when I woke up it was far too cold for boardies, the sun wasn’t shining and there isn’t a scary point break called Boilers 5 minutes down the road!  So it’s back to 5/3 suits booties and brain freeze.  Better start saving for the next trip!