Best places to go surfing?
Puerto Escondido is in the Mexican state of Oaxaca (pronounced woh-hah-kah), el corazon de México (the heart of Mexico). Situated in the extreme southern portion of Mexico, Puerto Escondido is home to a giant submarine canyon that makes it the recipient of macking surf year-round. Because Puerto is at the base of the Sierra Madre mountains, the winds that come out of the mountains every morning are offshore and last until about 11:00 a.m. The climate and terrain is straight out of the movie Romancing The Stone, which was filmed in nearby Puerto Vallarta. In the summer months, daytime temperatures can reach over 90 degrees Fahrenheit; combine that with the 90-plus-percent humidity, and it’s simply blazing.
To put it plainly: The waves around Puerto Escondido get freakin’ huge. The beach known as Playa Zicatela has several peaks strewn along it. Carmelita’s is a right located at the north end of the beach that features a gut-wrenching tube. Directly in front of Bungalow Zicatela is a nice area with peaks all over the place and plenty of señoritas on the beach watching the action. Down past Mexpipe Surf Shop is the mythical Far Bar, a left that doesn’t break as often as the rest of the area, but when it does, look for a big left tube that breaks boards and bodies with alarming frequency. At the southern end of the beach is La Punta, a rippable left point that is perfect for when the beachbreak gets too much to handle. Do yourself a favor when surfing the beachbreak: don’t paddle from peak to peak. Be patient and wait for waves that don’t close out, the payoff is worth the wait.
