Xtina wrote: OK, I got a long labor day weekend and am thinking about going down to Itacaré in Bahia, Brazil for at least a week … Sept 1 – 7. (yes, there’s a surfcamp there: http://www.easydrop.com/English/itacare.htm) Kiko, what do you think, safe place for women? Cheap? Sharky? apparently there are a lot of beach breaks there, and September looks slightly rainy, warm, and the beginning of diminishing wave heights (read: uncrowded?). Myriam, look good to you? Any other wahines?
From: JPA
Date: Fri Aug 20, 1999
Subject: Re: surf trip for kookettes – let’s go to BRAZIL
Wow Christina, I am so jealous.
I think you’re gonna love it up there. It’s in the Northeast of Brazil, which is a whole different country from the area I am from (I am from the South, which is the most industrialized and developed area in Brazil).
Bahia is beautiful, the people are super friendly and it’s definitely safe for women and tourists in general. Just watch your stuff and beware of pickpockets in some areas in Salvador, the state capital (which is a really cool place to visit, a nice historical town with a lot of culture and music going on), and you’ll be fine. In Itacare there are no safety concerns at all, except for the lethal Brazilian bikinis … (Ok, now i have to think about baseball).
There are lots of foreign tourists in that area, although you’ll be going there in the off-season. The waves are not the best in Brazil, but enough for a surf school. Itacare can get pretty good occasionally, and you should get decent surf at that time of the year (early spring in Brazil, hmm, lots of swell…). It is not a sharky area (sharks are not a concern at all in Brazil, except in a couple of places way up North where the surf is crappy most of the time anyway). It will be uncrowded for the most part (maybe a little crowded on weekends) but the locals are really friendly and don’t know the word localism yet.
Plus it’s a tropical area (down south we are in the subtropical zone which is a lot colder), so you have palm trees, coral reefs, great music, 80F year round… Damn, I am almost going with you!
So, I say, you go girl, take a lot of pictures, drink some coconut water and sugar cane juice for me, make sure you have a caipirinha, have fun and come back shredding and full of Axe’ (Bahia’s version of Aloha)
Now you made me homesick…
Axe’ Baba’
Kiko
Subject: Brazil surfing
Date: 1999/03/23
Author: SurffOhio
Apparently our Mr. Dave H. hails from one of the best countries in the world to surf at. What gives, Dave? I’d like to hear more about it. I’d expecially like to know if you have heard of a spot called Jeriquacaza (sp?). I saw it on the Travel Channel this evening. I believe they rated it as the number one surfing beach in the world.
Dr. Beach did a rating on surfing beaches and came up with the following in order of quality: I’m sorry, but I just spelled them as they sounded.
- Jeriquacaza, Brazil
- Leveque, West coast of Australia
- Nemberala, Indonesia
- Bori Kai, Philippines
- Kadavi, Fiji.
