Punta Roca

Surf Guide

The rough-and-tumble fishing town of La Libertad, home of Punta Roca, was the first place in El Salvador that intrepid 1970s surfers Kevin Naughton and Craig Peterson visited on their famous "Centro America" journey. By then, these guys had seen their fair shake of perfect, empty surf -- but Punta Roca, she was something altogether different. Like Noosa when small, like J-Bay when pumping, Punta Roca was a geographically flawless cobblestone right point that sculpted steep walls and multiple barrel sections for nearly a half-mile. Just before leaving town, Naughton and Peterson gave the wave its name, sent some photos and a story to Surfer magazine, took off for Mexico, and forgot about it. Not too long after, the crowds came -- they haven't stopped since. There are a few reasons for Punta Roca's enduring popularity, despite the constant threat of theft from local thugs and drug-addicts: 1) La Libertad has always had plenty of motels/hotels to bunk up in; 2) the place is just an hour's drive from the airport; 3) the wave itself offers such a tremendous variety of sections that it works for a wide range of skill levels. At the top of the point -- near the famously dangerous graveyard -- is where you'll see the line-up's alpha surfers getting round, driving tubes. Down the line a bit you'll see those same surfers cracking groomed, inviting lips. On down the point, there are more barrel sections and inviting turn sections, though it gets less perfect towards the tail end, which is called La Paz. The main thing you should be aware of before arriving at and surfing Punta Roca is that you will be hassled. Surfing is a generation in now and the young local guys surf extremely well and enjoy flexing their local status. El Salvador, now fifteen years removed from a bloody civil war, is relatively safe and quickly becoming a hot tourist destination in Central America--almost every foreign surfer that makes his/her way to El Salvador will at some point in their trip surf Punta Roca. So, yes, it becomes a zoo at the first indication of swell. But most who have braved Punta Roca will tell you that just one good wave at this famed and fabled right pointbreak, and you'll be smiling for a long time to come.