I’m over a month here in Rabat now. I’ve seen Hassan Tower, the Mausoleum of Mohammed V, and even went to a Jazz Festival. To try something new my classmate Caoimhe and I decided to go surfing in Rabat. We asked for recommendations and did some research online which led to us getting in touch with Medina Surfing Association about trying it out!

I’ve never surfed in my life so I was really excited and even a little nervous before we hit the road for our 10:00 am lesson. We chose at Medina Surfing Association which is part hostel- part surf school I passed by it before when wandering through the Medina and it had great reviews online.

We went inside to have a look before changing into our wet-suits which they provided for us and chatted to some of the people currently staying the the hostel. The instructors spoke English, French and Darija so I didn’t have to worry about trying to surf and speak French! It was a really nice and relaxed atmosphere and we met others who would be joining us for a beginners lesson, two other more experienced surfers headed out on their own.

We suited up, grabbed our surfboards and the four of us led by our instructor Issam, ventured down to the beach, Plage de Rabat. Issam led the four of us through a short warm-up. He drew a pretend surfboard in the sand to show us how we show lay down on the board and the hard part of standing up.

We soon mastered pretending to paddle and standing up on dry land so we headed into the water. Despite being the Atlantic I found the water to be warm. The beach itself was quite nice and quiet, there were only a few others on it playing football. Although some Moroccan friends have told me it can get a lot busier in Summer!

Neither of us had been surfing before but somehow Caoimhe did it on the very first try. Our instructor was suitably impressed. How hard can surfing be really? I found out it can be very hard. If I had go-pro footage it would look more like snorkeling than surfing. The feature image for this post is a random stock image, I didn’t risk taking my phone with me just for some surfing snaps! Our instructor Issam gave us a few pointers and we had a great time with him- laughing when we fell (a lot) and cheering when we succeeded.

Afterwards we carried back our surfboards to the hostel although the journey back from the beach seemed a lot longer with our tired arms carrying the surfboards! We showered, thanked our instructor and went out to find lunch!

The whole experience was really fun. But its is even more fun when you actually manage to ride the wave to shore. We paid 250 dh for a two hour beginners lesson which is about 25 euro- a bargain really! I had a great time and I’m looking forward to when I go again! If you’re looking to go surfing in Rabat, even if you’re a first timer like me. I’d highly recommend booking with the Medina Surfing Association- its not as intimidating as it sounds! You can get in touch with them and book with them on via their blog here.

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-The Student Explorer