New Year’s Eve at the Billabong Surf Camp
Starting the new year in Fuerteventura
Charlie likes to spend New Year’s Eve abroad and this year, the choice was made for Fuerteventura. She had been at the Billabong Surf Camp in Corralejo, the best surf camp at the Canary Islands, many times before and knew that she would have a good time there.
As it is a very busy time of the year when it comes to traveling, the most affordable option for Charlie was to fly on the 31st of December. She landed in Puerto del Rosario at 6 p.m. and got a shuttle bus to Corralejo. She usually takes public transport but the guaguas (local buses) wouldn’t go as often that day and Charlie didn’t want to arrive too late. Therefore, she booked the shuttle. However, she is not sure whether it really saved time as the shuttle was waiting for other flight arrivals first and then drove around in circles through Corralejo to stop at the different hotels.
New Year’s Eve BBQ beneath the palm trees
Charlie was a bit unlucky that evening as the supermarket closed its doors right in front of her. Fortunately, it turned out to not even be a problem as the others at the Billabong Surf Camp had already everything prepared for a New Year’s Eve Barbecue and offered Charlie to join. As usual, there was a lovely bunch of people at the camp. It had happened to Charlie once before when she arrived at the camp and quickly found herself in front of a hearty meal from the BBQ.
Charlie met a few Italians, Camila, Livia, Francesco, and Davide, some other Germans, Verena, Daniel, and Dirk, a few Swiss, Patrick, Michael, and Steffi, the Australian Christian, and Dawn from the UK. They were chatting the night away until it was time to go to the main square in Corralejo where there would be live music and a countdown at midnight.
What Charlie found a bit strange was that they were playing Feliz Navidad at midnight, instead of the ABBA-Classic “Happy New Year”. The Italians had everything perfectly prepared and Francesco was serving each of them a glass of Prosecco to greet the new year. That’s one of the reasons Charlie loves this place: People are nice to each other from the first moment.
Afterwards, they went to different bars, starting off at Buena Onda and Kiwi. There was a lot of music and dancing going on in the streets. The only thing they didn’t see were fireworks. Charlie heard later that there were some at the beach, but they had somehow missed that part.
Charlie had a fun time and fully enjoyed the night surrounded by amazing people that she had only met a few hours before, but with whom it felt as if they had known each other much longer.
New Year’s Day in the sun
On New Year’s Day, everybody slept in, some people even slept the whole day and barely made it out of bed into a hammock or the sofa. Charlie went for lunch with the other Germans, Verena, Daniel, and Dirk and they enjoyed a proper hangover Pizza in one of the restaurants by the beach promenade.
From afar, they could see some kite surfers and Charlie felt immediately inspired to take some photos. Right after lunch, that was her destination. She passed by Rocky Point and a few hotels with amazing piers for sun lounging, and enjoyed some other views towards Corralejo and the Isla de Lobos until she reached the point where the kite surfers were. It was a 45-minute walk (photo stops included).
Most of them were still practicing with the kite on the beach, only a few were in the water and Charlie spotted one with a very good technique, jumping through the air. It reminded her of the time in Hossegor in October 2019 when she was taking photos of the surfers at the Quiksilver Pro.
New Year’s Dinner
In the evening, Charlie joined the three Swiss, Patrick, Michael, and Steffi for dinner. Another German, Jannis, who had just arrived was also part of the group. They wanted to go to La Lonja, the fish restaurant by the harbour where Charlie had been at one of her previous stays in Corralejo, but it was closed that day. They ended up in another restaurant nearby called Sombrero.
They enjoyed another beer at the camp after dinner and went to bed a bit earlier that night. After all, they wanted to go surfing the next morning.
