Your BEST surf trip, EVER!

[Oakleys_N_Zinka]

My wife and I bounced down Mainland Mexico in 2007 for 5 months, it was pretty cool. Surf during swells, go to all the cultural landmarks in between. I pretty much got to go just about everywhere in Mexico I've ever wanted to go. I try to go to Baja every year or so and that's always the best surf trip once you're south of El Rosario. I really don't feel the need to ever go to Indo or whatever, I'm kind of obsessed with Mexico.

 

[SharkBoy]

Vancouver Island to panama, just because I was on vacay mode for the entire duration and scored great waves and had some crazy adventures.


Argentina to Florianopolis brazil. Not 100% surf trip but I got surpisingly lucky and growing up on the east coast of the USA, the waves were phenomenal.

Best waves:
3 trips to the maldives, one in which I surfed my step up 6'6 a full week. Maldives is mellow compared to indo but scored a solid 6-8ft swell that left most the boat tourists too scared so me an aussie mates had it to ourselves.

3 trips to portugal, way underrated.

Most exotic surf trip, probably Faroe Islands, norway or Iceland.

Best single wave, Mundacca. Luke Egan and Occy were out, only got one wave but it was the best and only 5 barrel wave of my life.

Fark, too many to choose from.

 

[manbearpig]

Vancouver Island to panama, just because I was on vacay mode for the entire duration and scored great waves and had some crazy adventures.


Argentina to Florianopolis brazil. Not 100% surf trip but I got surpisingly lucky and growing up on the east coast of the USA, the waves were phenomenal.

Best waves:
3 trips to the maldives, one in which I surfed my step up 6'6 a full week. Maldives is mellow compared to indo but scored a solid 6-8ft swell that left most the boat tourists too scared so me an aussie mates had it to ourselves.

3 trips to portugal, way underrated.

Most exotic surf trip, probably Faroe Islands, norway or Iceland.

Best single wave, Mundacca. Luke Egan and Occy were out, only got one wave but it was the best and only 5 barrel wave of my life.

Fark, too many to choose from.

Faroe Islands and Argentina, two spots on my bucket list. You’ve done some epic trips.

 

[One-Off]

scored 4 - 6 ft perfect teahupou early season no crowds was nuts

scoring in indo for last 25 summers but that tahiti trip was insane

the beauty was mindblowing

View attachment 89237

Dean?

 

[Aruka]

Vancouver Island to panama, just because I was on vacay mode for the entire duration and scored great waves and had some crazy adventures.


Argentina to Florianopolis brazil. Not 100% surf trip but I got surpisingly lucky and growing up on the east coast of the USA, the waves were phenomenal.

Best waves:
3 trips to the maldives, one in which I surfed my step up 6'6 a full week. Maldives is mellow compared to indo but scored a solid 6-8ft swell that left most the boat tourists too scared so me an aussie mates had it to ourselves.

3 trips to portugal, way underrated.

Most exotic surf trip, probably Faroe Islands, norway or Iceland.

Best single wave, Mundacca. Luke Egan and Occy were out, only got one wave but it was the best and only 5 barrel wave of my life.

Fark, too many to choose from.

Man, well done. I need a good trip once this all settles down. Had planned to do Nica for the first time this month but that ain't happening obviously. I wanna do a really big trip though like a couple months in Aus and NZ but I also haven't done Indo and that seems like something every surfer should do in their life.

 

[20W-50 and blood]

Here's a closer shot from the same day as the lineup shot. Not me, one of the locals. Best days of surf I've ever experienced.

yeah.....i'd cluck my soul for that. wouldn't even need warm water.

 

[Oceanslide]

View attachment 89236
No more disco light.

You fellas would have loved it here all week.

xoxoxo

Lmao! Card games wouldn’t be the same! We’re booked for late June...if we’re allowed to fly by then.

 

[HatterasGlass]

1991 was a trip.

 

[GromsDad]

1991 was a trip.

View attachment 89288

I believe 1995 was too. Could have been 94? Just remember one in the mid 90s where it was endless surf from the last week of July until early October.

 

[HatterasGlass]

I believe 1995 was too. Could have been 94? Just remember one in the mid 90s where it was endless surf from the last week of July until early October.

It was 1991 for me.
Watching the normally (10 years) ruler-flat Chesapeake Bay fire up every day after school for a week was amazing.

 

[Mr Doof]

Difficult to say which was best.

So, how about a short list, in no specific order?

1 Kauai (both north and south on two or three different trips)
2 Canada in the mid 90s
3 Mainland Mexico in late 80s
4 Baja Californin throughout 90s
5 Oregon in mid 00s
6 Day trips to Santa Cruz every winter for at least 1-3 big swells
7 Scotland/Wales/England in early 90s

PS
Worst trips for surf would be repeats of #4 and a few visits to friends in Southern California for 4th of July.

 

[b.r.]

1. one month in mainland colima and michoacan, barrels and more barrels, rivermouth lefts, banditos killed a guy from I.B at Ticla one night after we left back to tecoman for the night, that was heavy the next day his body was laying there under the palapa,
2. spent one month at pavones with my best friend and a massive swell to top it off, had that wave dialed in, better than anything i saw living there for a year prior working as a teacher
3. 10 days out at the end of the garden isle staying with my friend, november, 3 big swells in a row, last time i got double barrels on a wave
4. jumping on my INT into my pool during the beach closures.. yewwww

 

[Subway]

I believe 1995 was too. Could have been 94? Just remember one in the mid 90s where it was endless surf from the last week of July until early October.

the hurricane Emily year? 1993. epic. my first time really, really surfing big (triple overhead to a 14 year old) outer bar waves.

 

[mundus]

Pretty sure it was 95, was lifeguarding at the time.

 

[GromsDad]

Pretty sure it was 95, was lifeguarding at the time.

That would be correct. I looked it up. It was without a doubt the summer of 1995. According to Wikipedia it was the 3rd most active season on record. It was an incredible season for NJ that is for sure. There was one storm in particular Felix that year that was a big slow mover that eventually turned and looped back on itself. It was just one swell after another.

Check out this graphic showing the dates of the storms. We will probably never see another season like this in our lifetimes.....or at least my surfing life. Note how the dates of the storms line up and in some cases overlap. Such an epic year.:

Here is the map from that season:

 

[mundus]

That would be correct. I looked it up. It was without a doubt the summer of 1995. According to Wikipedia it was the 3rd most active season on record. It was an incredible season for NJ that is for sure. There was one storm in particular Felix that year that was a big slow mover that eventually turned and looped back on itself. It was just one swell after another.

Check out this graphic showing the dates of the storms. We will probably never see another season like this in our lifetimes.....or at least my surfing life. Note how the dates of the storms line up and in some cases overlap. Such an epic year.:

Here is the map from that season:

Yep, head high or better for 2.5 months in NJ, probably never happen again.

 

[grendel95]

Love this thread, good to read the stories of you guys scoring and bringing up good memories!

1997 first trip to Costa Rica without the parents, ton of fun waves and a ton of adventure beating up a cheap rental car.

The most memorable part of the trip was the Costa Rica national fair and a wild sideshow attraction called "La HorroRosa."

We'd gorged ourselves on fair food and Imperials and came upon a dark tent with folks inside screaming. I asked our host, Frederico, what it was and he told me, "It's a woman in a cage that becomes a monster!" He told us he'd only been into see "her" once as a kid and got so scared he crawled out of the tent. We got in line and once inside the tent we were packed in tightly around a small fenced area within with a small jail cell at the rear. A couple handlers led a bikini clad girl into the cell (lots of whistling) and secure the exit flap. I don't know how they did it but the girl began to grow hair on her face and all of a sudden the lights flashed and a guy in a gorilla suit comes roaring out of the cell.

The monster is loosely grabbing for the crowd packed into the tent, everyone is playfully jostling to get out of reach. Frederico has a flashback of terror and pops the monster in the face. There was a collective gasp and the reeling "monster" goes into a rage. Everyone in the tent is now hollering and shoving to escape the monster now throwing wild hay makers at everyone.

Somehow Federico and his shoulder length hair end up in the monster's grasp. I can still see Fredericos bulging eye's and scream as that guy in the monster suit yanked down on his hair. The tent erupted in laughter and folks were crying as the monster was changed back into the bikini gal.

 

[Leaverite]

Faroe Islands and Argentina, two spots on my bucket list. You’ve done some epic trips.

Very good friend did the New Hebrides off of Scotland. That is on bucket list.

 

[manbearpig]

Very good friend did the New Hebrides off of Scotland. That is on bucket list.

Scotland is probably my trip this fall. I was supposed to go in March.

 

[VonMeister]

South Africa for just the sheer rawness of the surf...like Western Oz on steroids.

Maldives because I was able to surf my brains out while my wife was perfectly content living the resort life.

For surf though, when I lived in Singapore I was invited to tag along with a couple neighbors for a trip for two weeks in Nias and Simeulue. Surf was unbelievable the whole time.

One for the bucket list is Tavarua. Never been and I don't know why.