The Moroccan season gets sold as "October to April". That is true and explains nothing: it does not say why May beats January for a beginner, or why August is the worst trade in the calendar.
The year has four stretches, and two figures separate them.
The two figures
Height tells you the size. Period tells you where it came from. Above 12 seconds these are North Atlantic groundswells that wake the points up. At 8 seconds it is local windswell that leaves the same points asleep at the same height.
Which is why 1.0 m in May and 1.0 m in December are not the same week.
The four stretches
November to February: the points
2.2 m at 12.5 seconds, the year's maximum, and workable wind 57 % of the time. Anchor Point, Killer Point, Boilers and La Source all run, often together. The water drops to 17 °C in February, its floor.
The price: crowds and rates at their peak, six to eight weeks' notice, and 49 mm of rain in December. For an experienced surfer this is the season. For a beginner it is the season of sandbars, not of points.
March and October: the compromise
1.8 to 2.0 m, nearly the same wave, one category less of crowd and price. October has 21 °C water and 26 °C air, March longer days and an emptied coast.
This is the stretch the regulars aim for, and the only one where nothing important is given up.
April and May: the learning window
The swell falls to 1.4 then 1.0 m, the period to 11 then 8 seconds, and the sandbars become teaching waves again. Nine hours of sun a day in May, the yearly maximum, and prices at the floor.
If one week a year is all you get and nobody in the group has surfed, it belongs here.
June to September: summer, and its trap
June and July fall to 0.7 m at 8 seconds, the annual minimum. September climbs back to 1.5 m at 11 seconds and becomes the first month of the return.
Between them sits the trap: July and August have June's swell and January's prices, because Moroccan and European school holidays overlap. The same wave costs half as much in May, on an empty beach.
In one table
| Stretch | Swell | Period | Crowds | For whom |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Nov – Feb | 2.2 m | 12.5 s | high | advanced, expert |
| March, Oct | 1.8 – 2.0 m | 11 – 12.5 s | medium | intermediate and up |
| Apr – May | 1.4 – 1.0 m | 11 – 8 s | low | beginner |
| Jun – Sep | 0.7 – 1.5 m | 8 – 11 s | variable | beginner, except September |
What the season does not change
It closes no month to beginners. Devil's Rock and Imsouane bay stay rideable all year, because they are sand and sheltered. What the month changes is the size of the waves and therefore the choice of break, not access to the water.
And it never really changes the wetsuit: 17 to 22 °C across twelve months, a 3/2 mm does it, a 4/3 mm makes February comfortable.
Frequently asked
Which month if I only pick one?
October. Nearly November's swell, medium prices, 21 °C water.
And if I am a beginner?
April, without hesitating. May if budget matters.
Is the rainy season a problem?
Barely. The wettest month is December at 49 mm over four days. What winter really costs is sunlight: 7.2 hours a day in December against 9.6 in May.
The twelve months one by one are in the seasons guide.
