Tortola Surfing

Tortola surfing offers some of the best waves in the whole of the Caribbean and the island has become an increasingly popular spot for surfers to make for.  The surfing season runs more or less from mid November to mid to late April, although you can often get quality surfing in September and October thanks to passing storms and hurricanes.  

		Of course, one of the attractions about surfing here is that the water temperatures are pretty good all year – being around eighty degrees in the winter and often rising to the high eighties in the summer – a considerable attraction.
Cane Garden showing a classic winter swell.

Tortola offers excellent surfing, whatever your level of expertise – and there are one or two really good beginners’ beaches as well as some that only the really experienced should go for- and, frustratingly for surfers, few places can be relied upon to provide perfect waves all the time.  However, here’s a few of the very best spots you might want to head for.

Apple Bay has one of the most popoular surf spots on Tortola. The break here can show wave sizes of all ranges, and can handle a sizeable swell while holding up great quality lines. The bottom is a rock shelf mixed with sand, allowing for hollow sections with the right conditions. Apple Bay is a great spot to check out the surf action, if you're not ready to jump in!

Long Bay, on Beef Island, is almost certainly the best beach for kids who want to surf, or those people just getting started.  The water here is quite shallow and the bottom is quite sandy – and what rocks there are tend to be fairly soft.  There’s very little danger of a ‘rip’ at Long Bay – and it’s a really good spot for parents to watch their kids surfing from the shelter of the beach bar.  For those people who are into this kind of information, the bay is surfable from 3 to 8 feet and has a left and a right peak.  

		If Long Bay is the best for kids, then Josiah’s Bay is probably the best all-round place for Tortola surfing – offering an ever-changing wave, rideable in a range of different conditions.  Josiah’s is the favorite for many of the island’s own longboard enthusiasts.  Probably at its best when the surf is 1 to 3 feet, it is still surfable up to 8 feet but, when it’s that high, there can be quite tricky rip tides and it’s quite tough to paddle out in.  With some really good beach bars, Josiah’s Bay is a great family place to watch surfing at the weekends.
Me heading to Naomi's for lunch after a surf session at Josiah's Bay.

Josiah's is one of my favorite spots. The surf doesn't have to be 'huge' here to have a great time! No reefs or rock shelves here to worry about..it's all sand bottom at Josiah's.

Really exciting surfing is often found at Cane Garden Bay – under the right circumstances it is one of the best spots in the whole Caribbean.  Because of the rocks and the reef, most regulars of Cane Garden will have a collection of impressive scars to display but many people think it’s worth it to ride the 6 or 7 foot swell here – it can offer a 200 yard ride at times.  Needless to say, this is not the place to take your kids for their first try out!

Cooten Bay, just to the west of Josiah’s, is also a fairly punchy ride; it’s a left and can also be quite a long ride, but again the reef can be quite menacing, especially when the surf is fairly small.  Cooten is only accessible by boat.

Finally, you can’t talk about Tortola surfing without talking about Bomba’s.   Bomba’s Beach Shack is at Apple Bay – Capoon’s Bay to locals – and is still the place where the surfers hang out in the biggest numbers.  Average surf is from 2 to 4 feet, although you can still surf when it’s less and, if you’re really good, when it reaches up to 10 feet.  Aficionados say the beach is at its best when the wind blows south east, but, with both a right and left break, and the sounds of reggae drifting across the surf, this is a place to make sure you go – to see and be seen!

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