Offshore barrels everyday

The first 6 days in Puerto we were treated to some ridiculous surf. 7-10ft and offshore everyday - by far the best waves of the central american tour so far. From the right & left crunching barrels of Mex Pipe to the playground of a point break that is La Punta, we clocked about 30 hours in the water - average of 2 sessions a day. Towards the end of the week, we started waking up with aching bodies from so much water time. But all it took was the sight of one massive barrel sneezing off into the channel and we'd be out there.

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Busing to burritos

Antigua to Guatermala City to Tapachula to Puerto Escondito, Mexico - 26 hours of bus travel. Greeted with the beginning of a new 7ft swell building to 10ft in the next 2 days. Offshore winds, Zigatella Beach right on our doorstep, burritos and 1 litre Corona longnecks. Was 26 hours of straight travel worth it? Shit yeah.

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Last Outers session

Our last few days in Popoyo were met with constant offshore winds and about 5-6ft of swell. Inner reef was breaking a little fat with the west swell - a more south west to south swell and it has a much more hollow shape breaking left and right. JL still did his part in carving up some chocolate brown walls.

200 metres away, Outer reef continued to pump - pretty much heavy as the last 5 days. With alot more water on the reef at high tide, it was much more makable. In saying that, the wave was still 4ft below sea level and with barrels sizey enough to slot a couple of cars inside. Not a bad wave to split between 3-4 people for the whole session.

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Last Outers session

Our last few days in Popoyo were met with constant offshore winds and about 5-6ft of swell. Inner reef was breaking a little fat with the west swell - a more south west to south swell and it has a much more hollow shape breaking left and right. JL still did his part in carving up some chocolate brown walls.

200 metres away, Outer reef continued to pump - pretty much heavy as the last 5 days. With alot more water on the reef at high tide, it was much more makable. In saying that, the wave was still 4ft below sea level and with barrels sizey enough to slot a couple of cars inside. Not a bad wave to split between 3-4 people for the whole session.

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Getting down to closeout town

Taylor working on his skills in some claustrophobic barrels at Popoyo beachie.

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Heavy to sketchy Outer reef

Very ordinary photos, these pics do the wave no justice. It’s day 2 of the new swell and Outer Reef is breaking about 8 foot on the mid tide. An angry angry wave. Getting out there, it was just me and 2 Portuguese boogers. 

Hands down one of the craziest sessions I’ve had in a long time. The swell would hit this jagged rock platform sucking about half the wave below sea level. Erupting with a deafening roar, the first section would close out, giving way to the next peak which would draw so hard off the bottom of the reef the water looked like pure glass. Paddling your arse off, it would still be a late drop into a square shaped barrel you could easily fit 2 cars into. No need to stall here. If you wanted to keep the skin on your body, you need to race the hell out of this monster until the spray of water on your head gained intensity and a form ball spat you out into the channel at warp speed. Out there for about 2 hours, I locked into 7 or 8 ridiculous barrels and got hammered once - learned my lesson bigtime. Outers at this size, stick with the bigger sets and waves at the end of the set. I got one of the smaller waves, still a solid size, such a nice shape. Coming out of the barrel and onto what I thought was the channel, a raised my head to see a massive wide one building out the back. One of the Portuguese lads dropped in, lining the wave up sweet, but I had no chance of getting under or around before it broke. Bailing my board I dove deep, tunneling for the bottom, but still got dominated by the mountain of water as it hit me. By the time I’d weathered the onslaught, I was up on dry reef, but escaping with only 1 cut on my leg. Drifting into the shallows while the rest of the set broke, I got my breath back and paddled back out - just in time to watch Portugal number 2 drop in late, lose control and get swallowed into the reef. Tough break son.

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Popoyo afternoon glass

Winds were pretty onshore all morning making the first couple of surfs for the day more of a chore than a treat. But come afternoon, the water glassed off and some fun barrels showed face down the beach. We surfed until dark, only exiting the water when we couldn’t see our own hands any more.

Back at the Popoyo Loco, a pescado fiesta was in the works. The lads had bought a heap of fish, the girls up the road crafted up rice, salsa & salad and Grande Tona cervezas & Flora de Cana rum were on the chill.

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Santa Teresa search

After 7 hours - 2 buses, 1 taxi, 1 ferry and 1 fuck up by Big Shoulders Lawrence we made it to Santa Teresa on the Nicola Peninsular. This little surf village stretches about 5km along one dirt road from Mal Pais, through Playa Carmen to Playa Santa Teresa. Like many of the breaks in Costa, Playa Carmen and Playa Santa Teresa are long beach breaks with peaks the whole way up each beach. We got there on the end of the swell so had a couple of days of heaving barrels/ closeouts and a couple days of beach break slush.

Other than the beachies there's a point break the lads hit up about a 40mins drive near Montezuma - the word post session was full of potential, but as it was lacking swell, the drive seemed like a waste of time. I missed the ride to the point by 5mins, which I was pretty pissed about. As a consolation, I solo checked out Playa Carmen, which to no surprise was a mess. Then to the south of Carmen, about 2 headlands away, I saw the faint makings of barrels breaking in front of a rock shelf. With ordinary surf everywhere else and nothing else to do, I set out on the trek to this mystery reef. 50 mins through my search I arrived at this rock platform that extended about 50 m from the headland. I hit the jackpot as the first set that rolled through unveiled a barrel breaking hard onto a rock ledge - about 5ft and drawing so much water it was about 2 foot below sea level. Other than a couple of fishing boats, I was the only one out. Shit yeah. Couple hours later right on sunset, I got out and made the trek back - I was at about 95% and alot more stoked on my session than the lads were on theirs.

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Almond tows

South Hermosa picks up alot more swell, and a spot called Almond Tree (which is conveniently out the front of an almond tree) is a sure bet if the winds are good. A few locals and seppos were out towing into some monster barrels.

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Almond tows

South Hermosa picks up alot more swell, and a spot called Almond Tree (which is conveniently out the front of an almond tree) is a sure bet if the winds are good. A few locals and seppos were out towing into some monster barrels.

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Chocolate barrels

You could count on a 2 hour downpour of rain every afternoon as the wet season unleashed on Hermosa. This maintained the waters lovely poo brown colour and texture. The storms also added a new element to the line up. Not only did you have to race sections of the 6-7 foot waves to make the barrel, but you also needed to navigate around and over 10 foot logs that were also trying their hand at surfing.

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