Visions of Popoyo

Along 1 dirt road rivaling the Kokoda trail is the tiny surf village of Popoyo. Virtually untouched apart from a few surf camps, restaurants, a ding repair shop and a bunch of houses on the hill, Popoyo has such a laid back vibe with incredible surf only metres away from where you sleep.

There are a massive selection of waves in the surrounding area from:

• Playa Popoyo - 1km of beach breaks right on your doorstep
• Popoyo reefs - A fun left and right at Inner reef 50m out, then a fast heavy/ sketchy/ square/ hollow barrel at Outer reef about 200m paddle. Needs 7ft+ swell
• Playa Sanata - 30mins walk south, Sanata breaks left onto a cobble stone like rock platform mixing with sand inshore to give shape to a fast barrel
• Playa Rosada - South around the headland from Santana, Rosada is a little cove that breaks as a fast left wedge at low tide and left and right peaks on high
• Playa Colorado - we didn’t make it here, but you need to take a private 4WD taxi or a boat from Giagante. From the photos some of the Brazilians showed us its a pretty awesome beachie which holds some some big swell, barreling right the whole way from the point
• Playa Astillero and Astillero reef - 20min drive north to this tiny fishing town also built around 1 dirt road. The reef and the beach break work on 7ft+ swells and are also the launch beach for any boat trips north
• Lances left - 15mins walk north from Astillero, Lances is a fast left point barreling on take off and a long inside section. Needs 7ft+ swell
• Vera Cruz (Playgrounds) - 20 min boat trip from Astillero, this reef breaks so consistently on a 6ft+ swell its unbelievable. 3 left and right peaks break as huge walls and barrel on the inside section. Every session here we spent close to 5 hours in the water.
• Panga drops/ panga left - Didn’t make it here, but hearing stories of this place, its a very hollow barrel breaking on a rock platform. North boat trip from Astillero.

Of the 20 days we spent at Popoyo equal parts were spent cruising (quality hammock time, eating huge feasts, countess fiestas, sunset sessions) and equal parts getting the heart rate up (massive surf sessions, beach fitness sessions, 6ft+ bodysurfing championships, ocean swims). We created Onshore PT - the beach fitness organisation responsible for regulating fitness when the surf is ordinary. It had an overwealming response, growing 100% in the past 3 weeks (from 1 to 2 members). Onshore PT even saved a life. One session Taylor and I were running along the beach when a frantic woman came screaming up to us that her husband had been swimming and got swept out. Jam to the rescue - tearing up the beach baywatch style, charging through surf I reached the old guy, eventually getting him to shore after about 10mins. On struggle street, it took a while to get the guy breathing properly, but in the end the old bugger pulled through, even busted out a smile.

We bunked down at at Popoyo Loco surf camp - $5 a night beds run by all round champion Paulo. Hailing from Italy, Paulo’s been running the surf camp for about 9 months. He’s the kind of bloke who drop everything to help out from local intel, cars, supplies to organising as much fish as you can eat. Popoyo Loco is an epic set up, 50m from the water, kitchen, BBQ, social area where you can paint the walls and a hammock domain. We had an awesome crew for our time there - a mix of US, Brazil, Uruguay, NZ, Germany. Everyone keen to surf hard and fiesta hard.

With such a good set up of waves, its only a matter of time before this place becomes more and more developed. Foreign buyers are already snapping up land for super cheap (some blocks without water/ electricity for $20k). In the last few years the Nicaraguan government’s realised surf tourism accounts for a major part of the countries economy, so Popoyo’s enviable future (like much of the Nicaraguan coastline) will be that of beaches in Costa Rica - Hermosa, Santa Teresa, Tamarindo. At the end of the day, Popoyo’s future is at the mercy of one piece infrastructure - something that resembles a road. Until then it will remain a sleepy little surf village.

Posted via email from PREMIUM JAM