Nazare As A Tourist, Not Surfer, Offers A Lot. But Watch The Crowds

You don’t need to be a surfer to enjoy Nazare, although it’s an added incentive if you choose to visit. Tucked up on the Portuguese coast just north of Lisbon, the town of some 15,000 has morphed from a simple fishing community into one more tourism-based.

In 2011, American surfer Garrett McNamara rode a 78-foot swell there to set a then-world record. The photo of him on the giant wave is otherworldly - looks almost fake, it’s so shocking. It went viral and put the planet on notice, both to serious surfers and to the just-plain curious, that Nazare is a special place for powerful displays of Mother Nature.

Last week, I wrote about my own immersive Nazare experience - in 60-foot waves on the back of a jet ski driven by McNamara. With the pressure of that reporting/writing done (the tale is pretty dramatic - see link at end) and some down time, I decided to play tourist and hang on Nazare’s famous north shore, Praia do Norte, for an extra few days, observing the big waves this time, not immersing in them.

My companions were two of the world’s best surfers, Justine DuPont, 32, and Fred David, 38. The couple resides in Nazare full-time, having moved there from France in 2016. DuPont is six-months’ pregnant with their first child, a boy.

If you’re a surfer, DuPont is a household name. She is considered the best big-wave woman surfer ever, having won multiple World Championships, and is prominently featured in the acclaimed HBO documentary series, “The 100-Foot Wave.” When she competes against men in tow surfing, she is afforded no handicaps, yet often beats them at their own game. David is a World Champion body surfer, and the person who tows DuPont into her biggest swells during competitions.

Following a relaxed lunch along Nazare’s south-beach shoreline, more for swimmers than surfers, the couple offered to drive me up to the top of the cliffs on the north side, where the famous Praia do Norte lighthouse stands guard. Many know it as a prominent fixture in photos of iconic big-wave rides at Nazare.

After parking the car, difficult with the hordes of people also up there to view the waves, we made the short trek to the foot of the lighthouse. A few fans stopped DuPont along the way for photos and autographs, which she graciously granted.

Like most real deals, she is humble but confident, feeling no need to act arrogant or impress anyone. In fact, she and David encouraged me to ramble on about my own adventure stories, boring in comparison to theirs, and I had to continuously bring the conversation focus back to them.

Originally, the plan had been for David to take me out on a jet ski to the periphery of the huge swells barreling in that day, just to observe. Extremely high winds, which could have toppled the jet ski, precluded that. The harbor was pretty much closed to anyone going out on the water, including surfers, though the misshapen waves were in no condition to be ridden, either.

Once I actually saw the monsters from the lighthouse breaking violently on and near the cliffs, I was awestruck. A week earlier, I had been in 60-foot swells, with no wind, but now, watching the crazy show from the sidelines, was something else. I also felt the accompanying gusts - maybe 65 mph - and had trouble standing up, even tucked my glasses into my jacket pocket for fear of them flying off. The decision not to go out that day became imminently clear.

The swells were over 75 feet, easily. Majestic insanity, I’d call it. Sensing my awe, David laughed, emphasizing that the waves would be even taller had the high winds not sheared off parts of their tops.

While the new Nazare crowds we experienced are good for business, David admits, changes over the last decade have taken their tolls on both locals and surfer purists. Real estate prices have jumped dramatically, squeezing renters, but also creating wealth for those who were already owners. Luckily, DuPont and David bought their place before the real estate boom began in earnest.

As for surf purism, big money comes in now from amateur fat-cats from all over the world wanting to “tow in” say, to one big wave, take the accompanying trophy photo and then head home to brag about it. Unfortunately, it’s part of the current trend of tourists paying exorbitant sums to “experience” adventure.

Witness all of the amateurs who pay guides $100,000 each for lining up to reach the summits of big mountains, including Mt. Everest. Or the rich tourists going on cozy joy rides to suborbital space for, like five minutes, paying six figures or more per minute in space, and then calling themselves astronauts when they return.

Or the boom in visitors to the Titanic, where, for $250,000, adventure tourists can dive down in a submersible to visit the storied wreck, then re-surface and call themselves explorers. (That activity has ground to an abrupt halt, though, after this past summer’s OceanGate submersible implosion, which killed all five aboard, including a billionaire.)

What was once exotic and had to be earned has now become a playground for thrill-seekers, many of them wealthy, and now, unfortunately, Nazare is beginning to feel that surge.

What to do? Nothing, really. The boom is good for business. For DuPont and David, they say they will continue to surf Nazare’s giant waves, just for the pleasure of it. There’s still room to squeeze in some great rides, albeit more difficult with all of the new, often obnoxious, wealthy surfers crowding out the swells. Plus, the couple routinely travels to other, less-crowded surf. Thankfully, such places still do exist.

I left Nazare’s lighthouse that day, where I had just seen the power of nature on full display, awe-struck. Who can blame the masses for flocking to the show? It’s just too bad it’s also affecting the surfers who ride for the passion of it, not for fleeting fame.