The waves were beautiful, about waist high with occasional chest high sets. The outside larger waves were green, but inside they were black with shredded kelp. The closer you got the shore the thicker it was, to the point where it felt like i was pulling myself through a field of waist high grass. Still the conditions were pretty clean and if you took off in front of Chez Fatou you could make the section and ride it in to the tiny sand patch beach.
Its amazing how much better i felt surfing. I was able to relax and try to figure out the breaks because for the most part of the two hour session it was just me and another local surfer, "Happy," in the water. Turns out that Happy is a local surf guide who works at the shop at the Secret Spot and he offered to take me around the area to all the breaks for 10,000 CFA per day. He said he even has access to a boat to get to some of the outer breaks.
At 3pm a group of 20 young kids walked up the beach with their surfboards and bodyboards and swarmed the breaks. The kids were pretty good with a couple doing aerials near the shore break.
I wore my Vibram 5 Fingers in the water and they worked great! I used my regular pair that i use for running or walking around and they worked fine in the water too. I just strapped them down a little tighter and they stuck to the board well and protected my feet when i got too close to the rocks. The only time i felt an urchin was when it hit the top side of my big toe, but the spines did not penetrate the fabric! I may look like a dork using my 5 Fingers in the water but i love them and they did a great job protecting my feet.
Good! You are surfing smarter, not hurter.
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