Surfing Cameroon

 Limbe, Cameroon
1 June 2011

After a late night arrival in Yaounde last night (took us 14 hours to fly from N'Djamena to Yaounde on 5 different segments) we got up early in the morning and drove back to Douala.  We had stopped there earlier yesterday on our aerial tour of the region but we had stupidly believed our travel agent that we couldn't get a rental car to Yaounde so it was better to keep on flying.  The drive wasn't too bad, we just had to keep dodging logging trucks carrying massive dead trees- many more than five feet in diameter.  We spent a couple hours in Douala but it wasn't too impressive for being the biggest city in Cameroon.  Actually most of the time we spent in Douala was stuck in traffic.

From Douala we headed towards Mt Cameroon and the black sand beaches of Limbe.  Light rain and low clouds obscured the view of the mountain and prevented us from climbing it.  However, we went to the beach and I was able to rent an old broken Bic 9' longboard for 5,000 CFA.  Out in the warm silvery water I discovered the board was broken in two places, which made it easier to duck-dive and more comfortable to paddle (first break was near my head and the second was under my ribs).  The waves were knee to thigh high and rising and I was able to catch as many as I wanted.  I couldn't do anything aggressive with the broken board, but it was nice to get up and cruise with a couple slow turns.

Limbe night life is non-existent besides the few college/youth groups doing research or service projects.  We ended up at a house that was converted into a restaurant at dinner time.  When it came time to order we were asked if we wanted fish, chicken, or beef- the only options of the day.  The fish was great and I was still totally relaxed from the first good surf session in what seems like ages.  Chad was cool, but all that sand and no waves (and almost no water, even in Lake Chad).