Cheap surf vacations in El Salvador. World class waves

N. Wigston · 12-17-2006

My brother has been living and surfing in El Salvador for about 3 years now. He's been surfing all up and down latin america, and in Australia and claims that El Salvador has the best surf and least crowded waves. He and a buddy have started a surf tours company. Check their website for info and incredible pictures.

http://www.sunzal.com

His friend, Vaquero, is probably the best surfer I have ever seen. I've watched a lot of surf videos and seen a lot of surfers, and this guy tops them all.
We went down to visit last february and got to surf on an amazing point break that was perfect everyday we were there for ten days. All the locals were saying how crappy it was too. I can't imagine what it is like when it gets good! Anyway, if you are looking for an affordable place to go for a surf trip this winter, this is the place. Great food, great people, and epic surf. You can go spearfishing too for cheap.
The town they live in has four breaks right there within a five minute walk along the beach. The hotel is right on the beach and has great food and beer for cheap. Oh and by the way, the locals are super friendly and won't harass kayakers for surfing there. You may get poked fun of a bit, but just be courteous and they won't care.

Nick Wigston

Ture · 12-18-2006

Cool, thanks.

I would like to check this place out some day. The photo of La Bocana is sick:

http://www.sunzal.com/gallery.htm

It is in the 2nd row of photos, last one on the right. It is a jacking right. You can tell this is a rivermouth from the tea-colored water.

Do you think it would be cool to travel with the family (a wife and 4 year old) or would that be sketchy? I used to surf in Costa Rica a lot in the early 90s and heard a few wild wild west stories about Nicaragua and El Salvador. But... Costa Rica is so crowded now I'd like to try something else. If it's a little sketchy I'd just go alone but I'd prefer to bring the family....what do you think?

N. Wigston · 12-18-2006

The country has come a long way in the last few years. I went with a buddy and our two girlfreinds. Mine is now my wife. (We got engaged on the beach by the point break in el salvador). As far as safety goes, I felt safe the whole time. There were people with kids, but not many. The local 4 year olds are already better sufers than me and they just run around doing whatever they want. Send my brother an email: adrian@coralsunrise.com and ask him what he thinks about bringing young children. he will be very honest with you. The only issue we had was the girls getting the revenge, but It's no different than most other latin american countries. Get some cippro before you go.
There are areas that are sketchy, but we just didn't go to these places. La Libertad has a bad reputation, but it is fine during the day. No reason to go there anyway. I would just stay in sunzal. Everyone there is super friendly. The hotel has 24 hour security and is gated at night.
Nick

AQS · 12-18-2006

I was down that way this past April for 10 days. I second what Nick said, great waves (tons of right points!), easy access and really cool people. Just use common sense and you will be fine as far safety goes. I talked with several guides down there and it sounds like there could be some epic rivers in the interior as well. Just a bit more sketchy and more difficult access once you get away from the coast.

-Sean

N. Wigston · 12-19-2006

yeah Sean. I found a sick creek that I want to go back to hit up. We did some clif jumping, but there were clean runnable water falls. No water in february though. The El Imposible national park looks promising too. Rainforest and volcanoes and lots of rivers. Close to Guatemala. I think october or november would be the time to go. I own property down there now, so if anyone wants to rally some boating in the fall, I'm down. The trouble is, if you go when the paddling is good, the waves are like 12 feet tall and tube out. So if you're a really good surfer it would be great, but I would get spanked.
Nick

brandf · 12-19-2006

Nick-

Classic. The world is a small place. We were down there last fall working on a project and surf/hacking. We met your brother at Sunzal. If he's been there for 3 years, he's a smart man! That's the good life.

I agree with everything nick said. El Sal is rad. Definitely stay at Sunzal, it's way nicer. I've stayed there and in La Libertad and the sketch factor goes up considerably in town when the sun goes down.

Frank

N. Wigston · 12-20-2006

yeah, I don't think he's ever coming back. did you guys scout some shit? I want to go explore some rivers down there. It's hard to find people that want to go bushwack through the jungle in central america. sounds like the perfect vacation to me.

brandf · 12-20-2006

No, we were filming in La Libertad the whole time. I haven't scouted any of the rivers, but definitely was wondering. One of the trips down there was during the rainy season. I've never seen so much water come out of the sky at one time. It went from a totally calm evening to holy-shit-build-an-ark in about 20 seconds. There's got to be tons of potential down there.

We're heading back down for a month in April or August/Sept. Not sure yet. maybe we should sync up.

Frank