We’re in a pandemic. I never thought I would witness such an event in my life that would bring the entire human race to a standstill. For me, the result has been a flood of blurred procrastinations and daydreams. The encouraging “2020 is gonna be your year, man” is now all but a faint memory from a time when we all quipped about coronavirus and went about our lives.
All of this brings on the recollection of recent times, sitting in a quaint cafe somewhere along the coast of southern Morocco, reminiscing on the day’s surf sessions, the smell of tagines filling the air, all the while a dark viral enemy was on a path to devour everything.
My connection with the North African country runs pretty deep growing up in Casablanca in the late 1990s, summers tagging along with my father on study abroad programs, university students learning Arabic, partying it up like a spoiled playboy on the Riviera, and endless surf trips exploring the Barbary Coast. Some of the greatest stories in my life happened in that country, which would read like the beginning of an espionage novel with a mix of perfect right-hand point breaks and shady characters.
These images were captured in January 2020, when the surf season was in full swing in the southern towns of Tamraght and Taghazout. The WQS was holding a contest at the famous Anchor Point and I got to link up with my good friend Ayoub to go shoot some of the pros in town. It was a week of insane surfing, funny moments, and watching some of these guys experience the country for the first time. It brought back memories of when I first came to this part of the region, pre-Taylor Steele’s Sipping Jetstreams, and discovering my own love for it all. Even though the place has changed dramatically from two small fishing villages into a surf metropolis, Morocco still holds a sense of mystery and enchantment.
For now, we’re on lockdown. Stuck in the same boat reminiscing on past times with friends and loved ones in such exquisite places, and looking back on our favorite pre-pandemic moments. We can only hope that the light will shine on the horizon and that the worst is slowly coming to an end so we can get back to living these wondrous moments again. But until then, as the locals would say, inshallah…
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