Surfing Waves

just back from the pub after a long chat with a couple of mates about surfspots around the world. rekindled the travel bug in me and was just wondering if anyone has any recommendations for a surf destinations for a an noob/intermediate surfer?
looking for clean consistent head height waves ideally. prefer beaches but am planning on trying reefs during the summer on smaller days. fairly strong paddler (getting stronger all the time - swim a couple of times a week). getting into longboarding and am nearly able to "trim" the board(not sure if thats the right word) consistently.

jeez - just read over that last part and sounds like a lonely hearts ad except for waves.

apologies for the rambling but its late and i'm pretty well on.

recommendations or not post your fave surf destination. be good to here where people have been (KS another chance to plug Costa Rica)

more apologies if this is already a thread somewhere else but am a bit of a computer capper hence the lack of pics... which will be following when my beautiful lady chick shows me how to do it.

also anyone in eire wants to go for a surf on these aforementioned (big word for a drunk) reefs durin the summer to make sure i don't kill myself, supervision would be mucho appreciated. gonna go with the mates otherwise and they're a$$holes and would love nothin more than to see me take a hammering.. well in control of my board at this stage so can't see myself being much of a danger to anyone else.

This is becoming a novel so gonna stop......

New Zealand, New Zealand, New Zealand. Beautiful, uncrowded, loads of amazing little spots to discover.

^^^what Libby said. Or Costa Rica or France in the summer.

libby - what sort of cost am i looking at for nz. still gathering ideas at the mo. aside from airfares. expensive to live there etc. wothwhile renting a camper maybe?
hang 11 - France get good waves in the summer? Only been surfin one season so only goin on what i can see at the minute but looks very much like the surf dies a lot here during the summer. could be just a bad couple of weeks tho.
forgot to add in last post but is there anywhere i should avoid in respect of ability or otherwise? reaad the thread about morro negrito already and it got me thinkin.

I was thinking NZ but i went to the south island and I think libby is referring to the north island. Either way NZ!!

when are you thinking of going? fuerteventura has some pretty sick waves, been there a few times and love it! a few beachies, some mellow reefs, excellent points, heavy slabs, a mixed bag of sweet spots! plus it's so cheap out of season! round november time you get good swells warm water and buckets of sunshine and hardly any tourists!

went to new zealand a few weeks ago visiting some friends, only for 3 weeks, the days when there were waves, they were sweet, untold points beachies and reefs but there were no good size swells which kinda sucked although, we scored some awesome clean waves in the first week, going back there in jan for 3 months on my rtw trip so fingers crossed for then! definately reccomend it though! the most crowded waves had no more than 10 people!!! prett sweet eh

thinkin of headin round sept. oct.... never even though of fuertaventura. good friend's parents own an apartment there so could be an option. if money allows i would't mind goin further afield tho.
travelled a lot a few years ago peru thailand nepal... love a good culture shock!

garbarrage wrote:hang 11 - France get good waves in the summer?

Yes - it goes off, anywhere on the West Coast. Probably best to avoid August, because everyone goes on holiday and it gets busy, but IMO it's one of the best places to head for summer waves.

NZ rocks too. Before emigrating I did a couple of 6 month trips around the country.

The best way to go is buy a cheap van, you can free camp a lot of the time, and get off looking for waves. On the North Island, Gisborne and East Cape and Taranaki would all be great places to head to with real good waves, on the South Island, Dunedin would be the best place to head for surfing, but there's good spots all over the place.

cheers guys for the ideas. at thr mo the france thing looks like the most doable moneywise. might do a road trip type deal. just head south. had an offer today of a place to stay in Morocco. One of my neighbours is from there and is moving back at the end of this month. might attempt a drive down there through France and portugal. either way i'll keep you posted!

Keep New Zealand in your radar. Yes, it takes mo' money but it's worth it. Refer to this other post in this forum for pictures of NZ. And take a look at this very cool book by NZ surfing photographer Logan Murray.

^^defo keep NZ on the radar. looks pure class. just that i work in construction and things are going downhill fast over here. have a few irons in the fire so might still come good, but prefer to err on the side of caution for the minute... a less temporary move might become an option.

cool pics by the way!! you've a good eye.

Hubby and I just got back from Costa Rica. I wanted to move there (and this is coming from someone living in Hawaii), except not sure what we'd do in terms of work and wages there. Drove from Liberia to Tamarindo, then hit Nosara, Jaco/Hermosa, and Manuel Antonio. Lots of very fun waves and not very crowded since we went at the tail end of the busy season. But seriously, surfed some really excellent beach break at Playa Guiones and fun reef at Playa Esterillos. Head high and bigger, but easy to surf waves. Might go to NZ this November since the hubby has family out there. Not looking forward to wearing a wetsuit, tho.

smallwavegrovellerchick wrote: Might go to NZ this November since the hubby has family out there. Not looking forward to wearing a wetsuit, tho.

You won't need wetsuit in NZ in November, it'll be summer there. It's in Southern Hemisphere.

indahvoo wrote:

smallwavegrovellerchick wrote: Might go to NZ this November since the hubby has family out there. Not looking forward to wearing a wetsuit, tho.

You won't need wetsuit in NZ in November, it'll be summer there. It's in Southern Hemisphere.

You will, with the possible exception of the far north of the north island.

It's minimum 3/2 and maybe still 4/3 on the South Island at that time of year.