Water sits between 16 and 23 °C depending on the season — here is what to wear, and why you do not need to bring one.
Short answer: you do not need to bring one. We provide wetsuits for every lesson and every camp, in every size.
Longer answer, for anyone travelling with their own gear or just wondering how cold it actually is: here is what the water does through the year and what to wear in it.
How cold is it really?
The Atlantic along this coast runs between roughly 16 and 23 °C depending on the season and where you are.
It is never tropical. You will always wear a wetsuit. But it is also considerably warmer than northern Europe, which is why the season here runs all year.
Agadir coast — Taghazout and Tamraght: 17 to 22 °C, the warmest of our locations, peaking in late summer.
Essaouira: 16 to 20 °C, cooler because of the exposure and the wind. Bring a degree more warmth than you would for Taghazout.
Dakhla: similar range, but the wind is the bigger factor — it is what makes you cold, not the water.
What to wear, month by month
June to October — A 2 mm shorty is enough for most people in the middle of the day. If you are surfing at dawn, or the wind is up, a 3/2 full suit is more comfortable.
April, May and November — A 3/2 full suit. This is the workhorse of Moroccan surfing and if you only own one wetsuit, own this.
December to March — A 4/3. The water is at its coldest and the sessions are at their longest, since this is peak swell season. Some people add boots in the coldest weeks; most do not.
The wind changes everything
This is what people get wrong. You do not get cold in Morocco because of the water temperature. You get cold because the wind hits a wet wetsuit.
That is why a 3/2 can feel perfectly warm at 8 am in Taghazout and inadequate at 4 pm in Essaouira on the same day, in the same water. If you kite in Essaouira or Dakhla, where the wind is the whole point, err warmer than the water temperature suggests.
Kitesurf-specific
Beyond the suit, everything else is included: helmet, impact vest and harness on every lesson.
Two things worth adding yourself:
- A hat and something warm for after. The end of a kite session in Dakhla is cold in a way the middle of it is not.
- Sun protection. More relevant here than warmth for most of the year. Reef-safe sunscreen, and reapply it — you are in the sun for hours with water reflecting up at you.
Should you bring your own?
No, unless you already own one you love. Ours are provided, maintained and sized to you, and a wetsuit takes up a lot of a luggage allowance.
If you do bring one, bring the right thickness for your month from the list above, and be prepared to hang it somewhere it will not dry properly. That is the real argument for using ours.
What to actually pack
Swimwear to go under the suit. A towel. Reef-safe sunscreen. Flip-flops. A rash vest for warm months. Something genuinely warm for the evenings, in every month, in every location.
That is it. Boards, suits, leashes, kites, harnesses and safety gear are all included in our lessons and camps.