Surfing on our Belize Island
Lucy | November 15, 2011
We are so lucky! Our island, Long Caye at Glover’s Reef, enjoys the only breaking surf in Belize that is both accessible and not breaking over live coral. As a result, we have the only Belize surf center.
There are other Belize locations where the swells break on the barrier reefs and atolls, and there are even a couple of nicely formed point breaks at channels through the reef, but all are either breaking on live coral, or are a long boat ride from dry land.
The swells break on the end of our reef as it opens to form the channel between Long Caye and a neighboring island, and peel off to the right in long, running breaks that can go for several hundred yards. Our point break is almost always active where our channel intercepts trade wind-driven swells. The bottom topography under this break is eroded coral rubble, with no live or sharp coral faces, creating a safe (but hard) bottom surface for the inevitable wipe-outs and swims.
Surfing at our island is great for intermediate and advanced surfers alike, our break is not ideal for beginners, and therefore not for beginning surfers. This break is on a reef of broken coral rubble, not sand. Since beginners often fall, this could result in a serious injury. Hard bottoms are not recommended for beginners.
But no worries, if you are a beginning surfer you start out first on our surf kayaks and paddleboards. You can work your way up to a surfboard!
Surfers may also bring their own board, which we will gladly carry out to the island from our base in Belize City One can ride a variety of boards on the break, everything from long boards and fun shapes on mellower days (or for the less experienced) and our wave is also great for the modern fish shapes on bigger days. True short board thrusters occur on bigger days for those in the know. A fish is probably the all-around best bet as it works in most size waves, including smaller, mushier days. Another good option would be the new hybrid “mini-tanker” boards with higher volume/less length in the 6-7 ft range. Our wave is not a consistent short board break but it is a very consistent long board break; any board over 7’ is going to perform well on our wave.
A list of our surf boards:
-6’10″ Epoxy Fish by Yancy Spencer
-6’10″ Funboard by Blue Surfboards
-7’6″ MBB Model Thruster by Channel Islands
-7’10″ Funboard shape by Blue Surfboards
-9’0″ Performance Epoxy Longboard by Colbalt
-9’2″ Squash Tail Epoxy Longboard by Colbalt
-9’0″ beginner hard-bottom foam board
If you want world-class, immaculately groomed long fetch overhead barrels – you should consider a destination such as Tavarua or the Mentawais. However, if you’re a surfer planning to go to Glover’s for the reefs and kayaking, windsurfing, etc. – you also might be rewarded with some very fun, VERY uncrowded tropical surf.
