Venture west from the coast of Angola for about 1,600 kilometres, deep into the southern Atlantic, and you should stumble across Ascension Island. Alternatively you could jump on a boat east from northern Brazil for roughly the same distance and chances are you’ll wash up on the same little sun kissed rock. Suffice to say, Ascension Island is in the middle of nowhere.
Being only 91 km squared, every part of Ascension Island is fairly accessible – compare this to the UK’s 243,000 square kilometres and you’ll get an idea of compact nature of the place. Though if it’s adventure you’re after having your own vehicle is a necessity – ideally this would be something that feels well at home off road.
The fact that the Island is very, very small indeed also means visiting all 360° of its coastline is manageable, even in one day. This along with the huge open expanse of Ocean stretching out in every direction from the Island make surfing Ascension quite promising prospect.
Ascension Island’s best surf spots are to be found in a bay a few miles north of the capital, Georgetown. When it works this spot isn’t for the faint hearted, it holds a big powerful wave up to double overhead and then starts closing out and dumping. Along with this there’s a current that drags hapless surfers right down the coast through a varied selection of jagged rocks all the way to Georgetown.
In general Surfing Ascension Island would be reserved for very experienced surfers. There’s a lot to go wrong on its jagged, swell battered coasts and not many people around to help if it does.
Overall the conditions don’t make surfing Ascension Island a ‘must do’ experience – but if you happen to be on some manner of transatlantic voyage and Ascension is a scheduled stop, make some room for your board.
