As soon as I pull out of Dakhla airport, my rental car begins to rattle from the howling. It is the wind. I tighten my grip on the steering wheel and in my jet-lagged state try to make sense of the otherworldly landscape. The monotone desert scenery, mountainous sand dunes, and domed, rammed-earth homes straight out of Star Wars transport me to a science fiction film. Bright yellow traffic signs caution me to watch for surfers crossing the road, but I’m more concerned about the herds of rogue camels lingering along the highway.
The dunes finally give way to reveal the sea, where electric blue, lime green, and tangerine kites look like exotic birds skimming across the surface of the ocean. The kites dance playfully in the waves, at one with the wind. These fabled winds and waves are what lured me halfway around the world from my home in Colorado to Dakhla, Morocco. This 30-mile-long spit of sand nestled between the Atlantic Ocean and the Western Sahara Desert has that rare combination of uncrowded waves, mirror-flat lagoons, steady gusts, plus bright sun and mild temperatures all year round. Countless friends have told me it is one of the greatest spots on the planet for a myriad of watersports.
Each year, the world’s most renowned kite surfers descend in Dakhla to compete in the GKA Kite World Tour held at the vaunted right-hand point break known as West Point. Last March, Dakhla hosted the inaugural Wingfoil Racing World Cup. Over the years, surfing legends such as Mick Fanning, Joel Parkinson, and Billy Kemper have all pilgrimaged here to ride Lassarga, Morocco’s longest right-hand point break. This revered wave wraps around a sandy point at the end of the peninsula to deliver two-minute rides when conditions align. According to local legend, big wave hunter Jérôme Sahyoung, one of Morocco’s most influential surfers, discovered this spot and now co-owns Ocean Vagabond, an eco-surf hotel built on the nearly mile-long beach in front of Lassarga’s break. “I surfed around the world and the quality of this wave is incomparable,” local surf coach Kamal Nady told me.
Dakhla is the kingdom of rights. It offers up multiple surf breaks to satisfy all levels of riders, from beginner-friendly Arich beach, located in a bay nearly 40 miles north of the city, to Foum Labouir, a hollow, fast wave with several peaks and sections close to the city, as well as N’Tireft, a longboarder’s dream right tucked beneath the cliffs of a nearby fishing village. It is late September when I arrive, and the winter swells have just started to wake up. I spend a few mornings surfing, but most of my trip is spent kiting and progressing to wing foiling. Dakhla is paradise for windsports enthusiasts. The predominant northeast winds blow year-round, but are strongest between April and September when it can gust up to thirty-five knots.
Since being discovered by windsurfers in the late 1990s, the scene here along the shore has exploded, with dozens of camps and academies popping up in this desert oasis, such as Dakhla Evasion, West Point Dakhla, and New Spirit Dakhla. The latter was founded by Moroccan kitesurfing pioneer and former world kitesurfing champion Soufiane Hamaini, and just recently completed a renovation overseen by KBC World, the international kitesurf and wingfoil school network. Each August New Spirit Dakhla hosts the ultimate downwind challenge: a 300+ mile, multi-day adventure along the wild Atlantic coast from the Dakhla lagoon to the Mauritanian border (Lagouira).
A magnet for wind chasers, this region is one of the safest spots in the world to pick up wing foiling or kiting, and you won’t find a better place for progression. The lagoon, which spans an area twenty-five miles long and eleven miles wide, is a giant aquatic playground. The “main spot” stretches one and a half miles from the northern tip of the lagoon and is considered a beginner’s haven with unruffled, knee-deep water and forgiving sand beaches. The deeper water and offshore winds of Dakhla’s storied Speed Spot, located in the lagoon’s northeast pocket, draws freestyle daredevils throwing big airs from around the world. In addition, there are plenty of waves along the western coast.
“It’s a dream place to travel if you love watersports,” shared eight-time wingfoil world champion, Nia Suardiaz. “You have variety, super quick access from the hotels, amazing food, friendly people, really nice sunsets.”
The wind here is addictive. Many who come for a visit, like Jérôme Schanker, choose to stay. In 2013, Schanker, who at the time was a financial broker in London, spent a week windsurfing and camping on the beach in Dakhla and fell in love with the destination. Any vacation he had, he’d return and eventually he scouted a ten hectare plot of land that spilled down to an empty beach fronting Dakhla Bay. In 2018, he opened La Tour d’Eole, a forty-five room resort whose name is a nod to the Greek god of the winds. More polished than Dakhla’s other hotel offerings, this resort has a dedicated ocean academy developed in partnership with three-time world kiteboard champion, Bruna Kajiya, and is fully equipped with the latest Duotone gear. There’s a spa with a hammam, a yoga deck and pool, and an on-site garden for all the healthy and nutritious meals.
“I’ve traveled seventeen years chasing the wind. La Tour d’Eole is hands down the best kite hotel,” raved Christophe Segret, a kiteboarding instructor who goes by “Kiteyogi Misterkrys.” I met Segret on my first night over a dinner of oysters plucked straight from the nearby lagoons and a spicy seafood tagine. Like me, he was at La Tour to learn to wing foil. “It’s unlike any other feeling I’ve experienced,” he explained. “I no longer kite. All I can think of is recreating that sensation of flying that comes from wing foiling.”
Over four memorable days, I spent my mornings and afternoons in the care of Pietro Milito, a tanned, blond Italian originally from Salerno. “I love my home, but there’s just no wind there,” he tells me on my first morning as we boat out to the lagoon nicknamed “The Pool.” I mastered the basic techniques of wing foiling in the knee-high waters and eventually progressed to the waves on the ocean side, always with a safety boat nearby in case I needed assistance. I dream of returning when I’m proficient enough to tackle the six-mile downwinder to Dakhla’s famous White Dune, a 26-foot tower of talcum sand rising from the sea.
Other than windsports, there isn’t much to do in Dakhla, lamented Milito. There is not much of a nightlife scene or a buzzy downtown vibe. “Dakhla city is booming with construction but along the lagoon it’s been preserved,” said Jaafar El Mekkaoui, the manager of Ocean Vagabond. “There’s a bit of a gypsy spirit here. You’re surfing alongside these handcrafted fishing boats. The local fishermen were really the first surfers here. We live alongside them and they often bring us fresh fish.”
Dakhla native Yassine Sahir, who runs a mobile surf camp, Yas Surf, directed me to an ocean-to-table meal at Talhamar, an exceptional, low-frills restaurant with a terrace overlooking the sea and sand. My lunch here was a highlight — pristine oysters, mussels, lobster and a fish tagine. I capped my trip with a sunset camel ride, because when in the Sahara, why not? Weeks later, back home, I’m dreaming of the soundtrack of the wind and still cleaning sand out of my ears.
