Solas Surf

The camp

From the upstairs deck, The Rock breaks just to the right of the villa. Solas is a single house on Kabalana beach: private gardens, a pool, lounges facing the water and a yoga shala at the edge of the sand. There are no dorms and no shared beds. Every room has its own bathroom and air conditioning, a big deck over the beach upstairs, a door onto the garden downstairs.

The Rock is the wave Ahangama grew up around, a reef peak a few hundred metres out that runs left and right, so it spreads a crowd rather than lining it up. In January, count on five days in a week when swell and wind line up. Underneath is reef with urchins, and from the sand you see a line rather than a wave, which makes it an intermediate's break. Sleeping opposite is what changes that. You look at it every morning before the two-hour lesson, and by the end of the week you can tell a small day when you see one.

Vegetables come from the house garden, and the week's five dinners are three courses each, with a different theme every night. Yoga follows the light, hatha or vinyasa in the morning and yin as the sun goes down. The house is quiet, and the village rooftops are close if you want a night out.

Prices are in US dollars and before tax. Best for a couple, or for anybody already on their feet who wants a quiet week facing the reef.