Dakhla — Lassarga Lagoon

At the southern tip of the Lassarga peninsula, where a thin spit of sand separates the Atlantic from the great Dakhla lagoon, two stretches of water sit side by side. On the ocean side, waves peeling to the right; on the inner side, a flat, shallow lagoon you can stand up in far from shore. It’s this lagoon side, at the southern entrance to the water, that makes one of the finest learning grounds on the Atlantic Sahara: glassy water, sandy bottom, near-daily trade wind.

Lassarga is the tip of the Rio de Oro peninsula, where a narrow strip of sand separates the Atlantic Ocean from the Dakhla lagoon. At that exact point, two worlds face off. On the inner side, the lagoon: ‘a side-on, flat and shallow lagoon (a dream learning spot)’, a vast expanse of glassy water over a soft sandy bottom where you can stand up to 300 metres from shore. On the outer side, the ocean and its waves peeling to the right. This card is about the lagoon — the other shore is a spot of its own. The wind is the North / North-East trade, rare in its regularity: more than 300 windy days a year, 18-25 knots, sustained by the Azores high. On the lagoon, most sources describe it as side-shore to side-onshore — it runs along or pushes towards the shore, without sucking you out to sea: that’s what makes it a beloved learning and freestyle spot, flat water all year. But the lagoon winds about and its exact orientation isn’t calibrated: one source even reports a side-off wind in places. The real relief here is the water itself: the tide makes the lagoon breathe. At high tide you stand far from shore; at low tide sandbanks emerge and the standing zone shrinks — on some neighbouring sectors the water can even withdraw completely. Speed Spot, the emerging sandbank and the ocean shore are offshore and deep, no standing: you don’t go there without a guide or a boat. The lagoon shore stays the safe heart of the place — provided you stay on it. A generous, glassy, sunny spot, set in a remote Saharan environment where logistics and rescue rest on the camps.