Holiday In Essaouira – Surfing

2 OCTOBER 2015 17:22

My first holiday in Morocco, before I became involved with Naturally Morocco, was with a small group of friends wanting a relaxing get-away.

Naturally Morocco came up in our search and they suggested Essaouira as a possible destination and soon enough we were staying in a riad there.

Water Sports in Essaouira

The main draws for us were the autumnal weather – warm and sunny – and the possibility of mucking around in the day time on the beach but with an interesting medina nearby.

Essaouira beach is a vast expense of (almost) golden sand stretching from very near the medina south towards an area very few people use. Just offshore lies a large island, which protects most of the beach from the worst of the Atlantic weather – making it a great beach to have fun on.

Our vague aim was to learn to kite-surf, a cool looking sport that had just started to take off, and which a number of the companies on the beach offered.

On Naturally Morocco’s advice we didn’t pre-book our kit. This was away from the peak summer and, as we soon found out, weather is not something you can count on.

No Wind but The Surf Is Up In Essaouira

Kite surfing needs wind and , according to the weather charts, there should have been enough to learn, but the weather that time didn’t realise that – it was virtually a flat calm for the whole of our stay.

Talking to the beach sports companies we found a lovely local manager who persuaded us to hire surf boards for our stay (at an excellent rate) with the promise that if any wind came along he would change us to kite surfing lessons for free.

So we surfing novices spent several sessions on the water, small surf (just a couple of foot high, probably due to the protection afforded by the island) but clean and pealing nicely so we progressed well. The surf shop tempted us into a little trip to a nearby beach with bigger surf, but that was a little beyond our abilities so we swiftly headed back.

A couple of times a little breeze came in and we launched a kite on the beach and did some basic practice, all great fun and gave us a good thirst and appetite.

Essaouria Medina

The medina of Essaouria is lovely. It has a great range of accommodation (we were on the cheaper end, but still our riad was excellent) and restaurants, and is generally a lovely place to wander around. It is quite small and does have a number of shops focussed on tourists, but it has a relaxing feel ideal for a few days away.

It was an excellent choice for us, and I have been back several times since.

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Holiday In Essaouira – Surfing