Can anyone recommend a cheap surf trip? I’m talking about flying (from Chicago), cheap tickets, staying somewhere cheap (with good surf nearby), cheap food, etc. True budget travel. Anywhere relatively warm. Any good sites online that I can find info? Any help is greatly appreciated!
baja norte, is fun thats dirt cheap. waters cold though.
Panama, Costa rica, Nicaragua , Puerto Rico, all inexpensive great places. Just best to go with someone who’s been there or get on a guided trip! http://www.soulsurfertv.com
good god man, you’ve got to leave chi-town forever. the winters suck!
orange county to lihue aloha air direct 250.00round trip ? cheap? earl rents cars 100.00 a week? sleep at the beach house two nights 1st and last sleep in car or at your aunts house how cheap is cheap 10.00$? try detroit with a heater or fla you can drive …ambrose… ready to help
If you rae leaving Chicago in winter, pretty much anyplace is going to be warmer, cheapre, and have better surf…or at least more reliable surf. South Padre Island in Texas, or any other gulf Coast breaks; Fla; Southern California although the cheap part can be a bit tricky (it will depend on your definition of cheap and just exactly when you travel).
Mainland mexico, the pacific side of course, has some amazing deals. There are places that rent what are called “Surfer’s Rooms” for less then 30 bucks a night and if you fly into ixtapa/zihua you can take a taxi most anywhere instead of renting a car, thought that would be ideal. There are surf resorts all over the coast and most offer boat trips to boat only breaks and saladita(sp) which is known as the wave machine for it’s variety of breaks that are always on for around 30 bucks a trip. The other place i’d check would be peurto rico right now, even barbados would be fun, soup bowls is supposed to be unreal. The neat thing about barbados is that the island is so small you are almost guaranteed surf anywhere as it only takes 45min to drive around the entire island. So get the wind and swell direction and head out. Hrmmm… other choices, in the summer time the south shore in HI would be a blast or even head out to malibu or soCal to take that all in.
If you’re looking to go real soon, avoid the gulf coast. although this is the surf season, you can’t just fly in and expect surf. one day it’s going off, the next few there’s nothing, and a week long trip might only yield 1 day of surf. don’t get me wrong, we get alot of waves, and january was a good month for the texas coast, but to surf the gulf you gotta live on the gulf. a word for the wise.
what i would advise is contact tami at tico travel or first look check out the wings and wheels surf package on tico tavel website. i have been going to costa for about 5 yrs. now and look forwad to every year! purda vida
Skip the town surf, it’s been flat for weeks. May is best in town. Country on the other hand, has beeen cranking for weeks though making boards, the house, three cars, two yards, two kids, etc has kept my dry for TOO DAMN LONG.
if you can hold out till may, definitely go surf waikiki. lots of breaks and good surf every day. well worth it. plus, may is only month for hawaii that has fewer tourists. i also believe there’s non-stop flights (about 9 hours) out of o’hare right to honolulu (try united??). i know where you can rent longboards for $10.00/day(7 day minimum) and they’ve got a big selection - you get to keep the board with you the whole time. you’ll also have extra cash by not shipping your own board. interested?
Waikki is probably the best and most reasonable bet. It’s by no means a tropical paradise, in fact it more resembles miami beach then the lush coastline of kaui, however, the surf is fantastic and water is warm. Amenities are a pleanty and, like gcoast said, renting boards is never a problem from what I’ve been told.
"Texas is a long way from Hawaii but no one can question the “stoke” level of Lone Star surfers. This especially is true for the Houston-area devotee. He – or, increasingly, she – is willing to sidestep professional or social commitments for a one-hour drive after the taunting gamble of ridable waves. Not “stand-up tubes,” not “square-box barrels,” just “rideable waves.” That’s stoke. And, in growing numbers, local surfers are paddling out during the worst of winter. Prospects of 55-degree water and 50-degree air under heavy overcast and gusting wind mean little to the board-racked lemmings racing south amid flurries of cancelled appointments – Hey, it’s shoulder-high and offshore! " This clip from the Houston Chronicle article which is linked from the front page here…it sounds like the Texans are holding out!