General notes

Hazards

Just don’t put your feet down if you don’t have to. Even sandier-bottomed spots like Freights have scorpion fish and lion fish – although you’d have to be very unlucky to step on one – it’s more likely that you’ll scratch your foot on a hidden, sharp piece of coral or a (non-poisonous) rock-boring urchin.

Swell

  • Prevailing swells come from the east
    • For the most part, the south coast scoops up (and cleans up) easterly swells – so has more frequent surf than the west and north-west coast
    • The east coast takes direct impact from the prevailing easterly swells so it sees the most waves – but this means that it’s often heavier/bigger and the wind it more inclined to be onshore
  • The west coast and north-west spots will only work if there is a non-trivial northly swell. These are more random than the prevailing easterly swells (apparently if there is a big dump of snow on the north-eastern seaboard of the US, that results in north swell in Barbados)
    • The directly west spots (e.g. Batts Rock) need a straight north swell or north-westly
    • The north-west spots (e.g. Maycocks) have a tendency to work more often because their location means they can catch north swells with a bit of east in them
      • The Gibbs 1 webcam can be used as a proxy to tell if e.g. Maycocks is working on a minimum of (Surfline) 4ft + 12secs. If it’s “sucking up” and looks like this, that’s good. If it’s not – it looks like this. You might have to watch the webcam for 15/20mins though as sets can take that long to reoccur

Spots

South Coast

Freights Bay (aka Cotton House Bay)

  • Google map
  • Sandy reef break, almost a point break
  • Mostly lefts
  • Best on mid tide, still decent on a low tide, high tide only works if swell is decent or you surf the inside in front of the pagoda
  • The better the swell the more you’ll want to move towards the point (usually close to the point doesn’t have much of a line when it’s smaller)

South Point

  • Google map
  • Depending on the swell size/direction can work from low to high tide
  • Reef break
  • Mostly lefts
  • Entry
    • Both will require a little walk over the shallow reef until it’s deep enough to paddle. There are sharp rocks and (mostly non-poisonous) rock-boring urchins, so place your foot down slowly and carefully to avoid getting spiked
    • See map
      1. Use the tiny bit of beach to the left of the main entrance (looking out to sea) in front of the first house and the second coconut palm along
      2. Or, walk further down the left to the bigger stretch of beach
  • Exit:
    1. The tiny beach exit in front of the second coconut palm, BUT you should aim for the second house along when paddling/riding in and let the inside current pull you towards the tiny beach until it’s too shallow to paddle
    2. The bigger stretch of beach generally seems to be a trickier exit as the white water can be wilder here

Brandons (aka Brandens, aka Drill Hall Beach)

  • Google map
  • Depending on the swell size/direction can work on all tides. Although going right on a low tide will take you very shallow
  • Is usually bigger than other south coast spots on the same easterly/south easterly swell
  • Can have a unfriendly-to-non-locals vibe compared to other south coast spots
  • Reef break
  • Mostly left, although there is often a right you can catch if you sit on the eastern side of the main peak
  • Entry/Exit: Further down the beach towards the Hilton and then a (long-ish) paddle wide up and around to the peak

Accra (aka Sunset)

  • Righthander
  • Steep and fast
  • Take off more in front of the boardwalk and then end up more in front of Accra Beach Hotel
  • The reef is shallow here – so preferable on a not-low-to-mid tide
  • Needs similar swell conditions to Freight (east swell), but is less forgiving with the wind direction as it’s facing south – so prefers wind that is between ENE, NE or NNE
  • When it is breaking it looks like the area circled in red here on the Accra webcam

Pebbles

  • Needs east swell PLUS some form of north swell (the more easterly the north swell the stronger it needs to be)
  • If the prevailing easterly winds are gusty or strong (+15mph), it can easily become too onshore and get peaky/hard-to-takeoff
  • Shifting beach break– mostly lefts but with the occasional rights
  • The smaller it is the more likely you’ll need to surf closer to the Hilton end of the beach

West and North-west Coasts

Maycocks

  • Google map
  • Involves walking downhill through a little jungle walk
  • Needs a northern swell
  • Best at low tide
  • Reef break
  • Mostly rights
  • Entry/exit: There is a bit of beach with a more gentle slope/less urchins, but aim wide along the deeper water channel going out/coming in to avoid getting caught in the inside (see image)
  • When there is only just enough north swell to make it doable, you can sit a little further inside and towards the north end – but you’ll need to bail before the shallow reef
  • You can tell when a good set/wave is coming in by looking north – as they line up nicely out to sea before they eventually get to the takeoff point. Crappier waves without a good face don’t line up in the same way

Fryers Well (aka Hull)

  • Google map
  • Park up at the end of the road and then walk a little way down to the small bit of beach
  • Needs a northern swell
  • Can’t handle a very big swell (overhead+) as it then starts closing out
  • Long lulls between sets. When checking, make sure you wait for a set before writing it off as flat
  • Look for the boats pointing northwards– that means there is north swell in the water
  • If Maycocks is closing-out – try here
  • Best on a pushing mid-tide. Mid-tide on the drop will be more “sucky”. Low tide can be faster with a barrelling end-section but still manageable (depending on the swell size)
  • Right-hander
  • Take off is relatively gentle. Usually needs a little bit of angle to get ahead of the wave (like South Point)
  • Walls up and peels very consistently for long rides
  • There is a section that looks like it’s closing out, but can be made past with a re-entry/tap off the white-water
  • Entry/Exit: Just straight out from the beach with a little angle towards the peak which is usually in front of the house to the left of the beach (looking back to the beach)

Sandy Lane

  • More likely to work on smaller north swells (or north swells with a bit of east in them) than the majority of West Coast spots
  • Gets very busy with local rippers when it’s on
  • It’s a long walk
    • Park by One Sandy Lane, walk down the cut-through (“gap”) to the beach and walk right for ~7mins along the beach until you get to the beach in front of the Sandy Lane Hotel. When there is no sand you might have to do some paddling. Watch out for boils/big rocks just under the surface
  • On smaller days the peak is perpendicular to the corner of where the rocks meet the beach. On bigger days it swings out into the middle of the bay more
  • It’s a fast wave which properly walls-up — much more of a shortboard wave
  • It’s a Left, but it bends into the bay in such a way that you’d be mistaken for thinking you should go right — and if you’re in the line-up watching someone take a wave it almost looks as though they are heading straight to the beach — but they are in fact surfing left
  • Not much room on the peak for a crowd and you have to be precise, as you can’t take off from the shoulder

Batts Rock

  • More likely to work on smaller north swells (or north swells with a bit of east in them) than the majority of West Coast spots
  • Works on low and mid tides
  • A-frame which often has a ‘wedge’ in it
    • The wedge can make it weird but also kind of fun
    • The wedge will come from the north
    • Surfing right on the a-frame will take you over a much shallower bit of reef juting out
    • It’s a relatively fat/slopey wave overall unless you get a wedge – and then it can be suddenly steep/slabby
  • Entry/exit to the right (looking out to sea), close to the buoys
    • When exiting, don’t try and catch a wave right to shore as the beach can be quite steep – paddle in instead

Paradise Beach [Observation only]

  • Park at Batts Rock and left down the beach (past La Cabane and beyond) to get to it
  • When Batts is too big apparently Paradise Beach can work
    • I observed it on a morning when Batts was chest-to-shoulder high on sets, 12secs, straight north swell (and busy!) and it still didn’t seem to be breaking
  • There are definitely some very shallow sections or rock/reef there – so not sure how hazardous those are
  • Don’t yet know how to enter/exit or how it breaks

Jordans [Observation only]

  • I observed it on a morning when Batts was chest-to-shoulder high on sets, 12secs, straight north swell (and busy!) and Jordans didn’t even seem to be breaking!
  • I heard reports of it working on a day when there was more westerly direction in the north swell at an angle of 350° (10° west of true-north!) and ~5ft, 13secs on Surfline.

East Coast

Soup Bowl

Warning: This is my interpretation of surfing soup on almost exclusively “small” (waist to shoulder high) low-wind days. Which is not the norm for this break. I may detail things below that could be hazardous on a bigger/average day!

  • Entry somewhere between the river-mouth and in front of the shower
  • There is often a strong longshore current on entry — especially on low tides
  • Stay in the rip/channel out to sea, paddling slightly towards the peak on the right (looking to sea), but stay in the channel to avoid rogue, big sets
  • On smaller days there are two peaks: The main, south one and a north peak nearer the channel that can crop up. The later is my preference otherwise you have to try and make it past that south peak section if you go from the main peak
  • Taking off at the peak needs to be precise as the shoulder is usually too soft — this usually requires a bottom turn and not an angled take-off
  • Look out for big sets and you can race to the channel to avoid them if needs be
  • Missing your wave at the peak or messing it up and ending up inside of the peak SUCKS — cos paddling across to the channel means your likely in someone else’s line and the power of soup means even a thigh high breaking wave will work you. I have no idea how pros deal with massive white water there
  • Exit by aiming for the river mouth and not directly into the beach

Parlour

  • Annotated map
  • For Intermediates – the wind needs to be very low (minus 10mph including gusts), cross-shore at least (if not offshore) and not too big a swell
  • Lower-to-mid tides (when it’s not big)
  • Park on the main road through Bathsheba near the pink church or the little bridge
  • Entry
    • From the beach out to sea: Get in between ‘parlour rock’ and the smaller boulder to the left of it – there is a channel here
    • Paddle out in as shallow water as possible to avoid urchins
    • Go straight out to see through the channel and then paddle left to the breaks once you’ve made it out back (NOT diagonally)
  • Exit
    • Aim to the left (looking back at the beach) of parlour rock and/or the last smaller boulder on the beach in front of the pink church. Or, anywhere on the wider past of the beach. Just NOT back in front of parlour rock or to the right of it (looking back at the beach) where you got in
  • Three peaks going left to right when viewed from the beach:
    1. Left-most
      • This was described to me as an ‘open water’ wave – so not consistently breaking in one direction (reef or point break), not peaks all over the place (beach break) and not quite an A-frame (consistently breaking left and right). So, you basically judge the direction at the last minute
      • Going right is fatter/softer to get in– but longer and more rewarding
      • Going left is easier to get in/steeper– but shorter/more critical
      • Catching a long right can take you past parlour rock towards ‘High Rock’ (the next peak along in front of the highest boulder that juts out
    2. Centre
      • A-frame
    3. Right-most
      • Don’t really know/didn’t go near it as it’s right over the far end of the bay in front of Bathsheba park