I found the whole west coast to have very heavy surf, even the beachies break over rocks. The vast differences between the east and west coasts I think can only be seen when you are driving. Each town we would look for a suitable surfing location for all the levels of our crew and most of the time, at these remote WA surf spots there was only one option. For example, Red Bluff at Quabba Station only has one wave, a ridiculously long barrelling left hander where the local surfers either learn to rip it or don’t surf at all. My one paddle out at Redbluff was more a recon than anything else and I duly ended up on the reef, cut my hand and feet to ribbons and found myself 400m out from shore dripping blood into a wild ocean and no one else around. I paddled in faster than a Jesus lizard to lick my wounds.
After patching myself up and talking to a local desert dwelling surfer it seems that the wave is more dangerous when it’s smaller as it breaks closer to the reef. We live and learn; always get the facts off of a local before entering the line up in these remote parts. After Quobba we didn’t surf again until Exmouth, where we swam with dolphins and whale sharks and ended up getting the some ridiculously clean long waves.
We had a huge turtle swimming about in the channel, after every wave there he was, just doing his thing. There’s something about surfing in a marine park, with the wildlife and the clean water, this was the best stop on our lap so far.
