The Pass at Byron Bay

Surf Guide

For surfers, the "Bay" part isn't what defines Byron, it's more the Cape, which does in fact stick further out into the Pacific than any other piece of Aussie mainland. Naturally enough, there's a considerable quantity of surf spots in the area.On the tip of the Cape there's Watego's and Little Watego's. Kind of a combination reef/sand pointbreak, it produces slow rights.From there the whole thing opens up into The Pass, Byron's serious point. A long, winding right, it's dependent on sand distribution but usually starts close to a rock outcrop and peels down toward Clark's Beach over a half mile away. Often the wave gets hollower as it runs down the line. Competition for set waves on good days isn't so much intense as almost impossible.Opposite the town center there lies the remains of a wrecked ship, which can create decent sandbars. Creatively known as Shipwrecks or the Wreck, this is a wedged-up wave, occasionally very hollow and a lot of fun. There are also a few little beachbreaks between the Wreck and the Pass.All these spots require an east to northeast swell to really fire. None of them pick up much from the predominant southeast swell angle unless it's really big. To cash in on smaller souths, you've gotta head south of the Cape to Tallow Beach, a lovely long clean sand stretch of occasionally superb quality beachbreaks. Protected from the northeast sea breeze, Tallows is the haunt of mobile surf schools, surfing families, and most of Byron's hot young crop.Several miles past the small town of Suffolk Park lies Broken Head, Byron's gorgeous semi-secret point. Best on an east swell and a south wind, Broken's unpredictable sandbar is at times a unique long right barrel. You may not be able to count on it, but as the saying goes: if you ever get it, you'll never forget it.Be aware of sharks at every location. Byron was once a meat processing and whaling town, and the genetic memory of all that blood still lingers in the regional aquatic food chain.