When you study the world and go deep into researching places that have the rare trifecta of warm water, world class waves, and no crowds, your list will have a common thread — it ain’t going to be easy.
No direct flights, cute Airbnb’s, or açai bowls. You’ll be lucky to have clean running water and reliable electricity. Bonus points if you don’t have to bribe your way out of a situation. That’s just on land. What lurks below the surface of the water is a whole ‘nother story.
But great explorers know that with big risk can (potentially) come big rewards. Two of the most OG surf explorers on the east side of the Atlantic, Kepa Acero and Natxo Gonzalez, teamed up with Miguel Blanco for an extreme journey to Africa that most surfers wouldn’t stomach.
First of all, almost everyone got sick. As Miguel tells it, “the place was super roots. We were in the middle of nowhere sleeping in a wooden shack. No toilets, no infrastructure for basic needs. We struggled for sure because we were all getting sick at different times. For me it was at the end. For John Aspuru (our filmer) he got it in the middle. Natxo got sick right away at the beginning.”
Miguel laughs and added, “Only Kepa didn’t sick. He may have saved himself by sleeping outside. He slept outside the entire trip with snakes, scorpions, spiders and everything. The guy is nuts, in the best way. True traveler and OG explorer. He’s been so many places I guess he’s just used to it.”
Natxo, who joined the trip at the last minute once he knew Kepa and Miguel were going deep for uncrowded surf, said, “Man, that trip was special. We scored amazing waves all to ourselves. It was sick. Yes, we also got very sick. But, that wasn’t the only challenge. It was super hard to film and shoot, too. The channels there were very rough and the boat captain insisted on anchoring, which made it really hard for Jon to get any clean shots during some of the best sessions.”
Jon Aspuru
As for the best session of the trip, “Jon decided to swim out to not miss any shots. He had charged up his battery all night on the generator and then put his camera in the housing, stoked to get up close. Once he finally got into position, he realized the battery was almost dead — the generator didn’t have enough power. All he got was my first wave when I had this beautiful tube where I put my hand along the top of the wave. After that, no more shots. Just for the memories.”
If you’re the type that doesn’t mind sleeping with snakes and scorpions, or getting severely sick whil chasing the dream, this spot may be for you. Good luck finding it and then getting there. Happy hunting.
Jon Aspuru