WanderSurf

United States of America

The U.S. is a major destination for surf travelers as well as being home to many surfers. Hawaii is part of the U.S. and is where surfing came from. One of the first places that surfing came was the mainland U.S.- Santa Cruz, California to be exact.

While surfing is mostly associated with California in popular culture, there are also large surfing populations up and down the East Coast, the states along the Gulf of Mexico, the states that border the Great Lakes, the Pacific Northwest, and even some surfers in Alaska. There is a lot of coastline for surfers in the U.S. Some places are easier to be a surfer than others, but they all have their pros and cons.

Southern California is crowded with very good surfers while Central California is getting more so, but like Northern California also has large shark populations. The Pacific Northwest is cold, sharky, and has rough unforgiving surf just like Northern California. Alaska is cold with bears on the beach instead of bikini clad women. Florida is inconsistent and sharky. The rest of the east coast is very cold for a good part of the year, and can have long flat spells. The Gulf Coast is also inconsistent. The Great Lakes are cold and inconsistent.

Even though there are some cons, there are a lot more pros. All of these areas get great waves, some more often than others. Some areas have mostly warm or cool and comfortable water. Some areas have good consistent, uncrowded surf. Some areas have great reefs and points, great sand bottom barrels with plenty of peaks all around, empty cobble stone point breaks, beautiful scenery, and exciting cultural centers nearby.

The pros far outweigh the cons in all of these areas and all are worth a visit whether you surf or not, just don’t step on anyone’s toes and everything should be ok. Of course there are some places the locals are more dangerous than the sharks or just getting to and from the beach is more dangerous than anything in the water.