Piura, Peru
Cabo Blanco is a fishing village on the edge of the arid desert landscape in far northeast Peru. It is also home to one of South American’s best left hand waves. That’s a big call in a continent loaded with classic point breaks and continual south swell, but Cabo Blanco’s reputation is well deserved.
The take-off at Cabo Blanco is dramatic. It drains the rocky reef of water and starts barrelling mega fast, and mega shallow, only meters from shore. It continues in this hollow, fast, fashion winding along the shoreline and forcing surfers to find speed they didn’t know they had. If all goes well, surfers burst onto the safety of the shoulder, having just made a barrel at the Peruvian Pipeline.
Uncharacteristically for Peru, Cabo Blanco works on a north swell. If Cabo Blanco breaks it will be between November and March. Ocean currents deposit and remove sand essential to the break’s workings, consequently early in the season is the best time to score it. It’s surfable all tides and offshore in a southerly wind.
When Cabo Blanco is working news travels fast. The wave quickly draws a crowd of Peruvian pro’s and seasoned wavehunters, keen to test themselves and claim of Cabo Blanco’s famous tubes.
The wave breaks at the outer entrance to a bay. It is a relatively straight forward affair to drive to the village of Cabo Blanco and walk out the point. The town of Cabo Blanco is an industrial port and fishing harbour, it’s not very pretty, but easy to find basic accommodation in town.
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