Surfing in Morocco in March

March is the month regulars aim for, and the reason is a gap between two figures. The swell keeps its winter period, the interval between waves that says how far they have travelled and how much push they carry, while its size drops from over two metres to 1.8 m. Crowds and prices, meanwhile, fall a full step, from high to medium. Most of February's surf, without the queue.

The day counts hold up better than you would guess. Counting the clean days, those with a rideable swell and a wind that leaves it smooth, Anchor Point, Banana Beach and La Baie at Imsouane each give four in a week, as in February. It is the exposed points that thin out: Killer Point, Boilers and Cathedral Point drop to two, while Hash Point holds three. For someone learning, the smaller swell is good news. The sandbars stop turning into walls on the bigger days, and for the first time since October a first lesson rarely meets a wave too heavy.

For the traveller that means a camp at medium prices where January charged the top rate, fewer people on each set at Anchor Point, and the same 18°C sea as in winter, so the wetsuit does not change: a 3/2 for a lesson, a 4/3 for a long session. It is still a three-hour flight from much of Europe, and the two coasts at their peak this month are long-haul.

The weather turns with it. The sun climbs to eight and a half hours a day, the air to 23°C, and the three rainy days of March are the last real rain until autumn. A week in March is long mornings on the points or the sand, lunch in the sun rather than in a jacket, and a village with room in it again. If you want the Taghazout points and can choose your month, choose this one before you choose January.

For someone who already surfs, March at Taghazout is January's swell with a shorter queue. Anchor Point is clean four days out of seven, the same as February, and Hash Point three; the long winter period is intact and only the size has come down, which suits the points better than it hurts them. The exposed breaks are where March shows: Killer Point, Boilers and Cathedral Point drop to two days, because the wind gets at them more often as the season turns.

The crowd is where the month pays off. Numbers drop from high to medium in March, and at a wave that fills as soon as it turns on, that means more waves each session and not just more space. Panoramas becomes worth a look again at the south end of the village: sand at the beach end, reef further out, breaking both left and right, fast and sectiony at low tide and easier as the water fills in. The entry is over rocks at low tide, exactly when it is at its best. Surf the morning offshore at Anchor Point or Hash Point, and keep Panoramas for the rising tide when the points fill up. At 18°C a 4/3 keeps a three-hour session comfortable, and the air at 23°C does the rest.

Sleep in Taghazout, where the points are ten minutes apart by shuttle and Hash Point is a walk from most camps. Beds run from 21 € to 110 € a night, and prices across the coast sit a step below February. If your target is Killer Point or Boilers rather than Anchor Point, March is the wrong month: both are at their best in December, when they give three and four days. If your target is Anchor Point without its winter crowd, March is the best month of the year for it, and the long evenings of a village with room in it again come with the bargain.