MapMoroccoEssaouiraThe Lagoon (Ksob river mouth)Essaouira

The Lagoon (Ksob river mouth)

Marrakech-Safi · Pachalik d'Essaouira باشوية الصويرة

also known as Diabat Lagoon, Ksob Lagoon, Essaouira Lagoon, Oued Ksob Lagoon, Diabat second beach

Part of Essaouira →

JanFebMarAprMayJunJulAugSepOctNovDec

lagoonbeginner-friendlymedium crowds

On this page

The spot
Wind
Forecast
Month by month
Water
Level
The scene
Launch
Schools
Tips
Getting there
Photos
FAQ

Riding essentials

Season

Apr–Oct

Months riders and schools name

How windy

15-25 kt

Character: mixed

Room to launch

tight

access rules on record, below

Water

lagoon

18–22 °C in summerFlat, glassy water at the river mouth on the right tide

Hazards

Reported by riders

Level

Beginner to advanced

With a caveat: see Your level

BeginnerIntermediateAdvanced

Crowds

medium crowds · busy Jun Jul Aug Sep

Schools

named at this spot

From the airport

Essaouira-Mogador Airport (ESU)

Transfer times under Getting there

When it fills in

Mornings are usually light and can sit more offshore. The trade and the thermal build through late morning and the strongest hours run from early afternoon into the evening. Schools book tide-friendly slots because the lagoon window and the wind window do not always line up.

Nearbystraight-line distance

Backup spotsWhere riders go when the wind doesn't work here.

Essaouira Main Beach / Bayno page yet
Diabat beachno page yet
Imsouaneno page yet
Cape Sim / The Cave

The spot

The Ksob river mouth is a small flat-water pocket just south of Essaouira, beside Diabat, and it fills and empties with the tide. Do not picture a Dakhla lagoon. It is small, it rides from mid tide up, and near low water the flat pocket can disappear altogether.

Advantages of this spot

When it is in, it is the rare flat, glassy water on this coast, which is why schools bring waterstarts, board recovery and short freestyle laps here. They often prefer Diabat to the central bay as well, because the sand is emptier and the wind cleaner and steadier, with none of the horses, camels and town turbulence.

Wind and tide windows

The wind is the Essaouira north to north-east Alize trade, cross-on from the right in the main riding area and strongest through the afternoon. What catches people out is that the tide window and the wind window do not always line up, so some days you drive down and ride chop on the open beach instead.

Wetsuit requirements

Bring a wetsuit even in summer: the Canary Current keeps the Atlantic cold whatever the air is doing.

The wind

locals call it Alizé / north-east trade wind, also locally called Charkhi.

Direction

cross-on

Direction to shore

cross-on

Dominant direction

N to NE in the main season; more variable and sometimes SW in winter.

Kite sizes

567891011121314

metres · typical quiver highlighted

The quiver, in words

For a 75-85 kg rider: 7-9 m on July and August afternoons, 9-10 m for lighter mornings and the shoulder months, and 11-12 m in winter when the trade is patchy. Nine or ten metres is the size that covers most high-season days on this coast.

Character

mixed

When it fills in: see above ↑

Typical strength

15-25 kt common; 20-35 kt possible in June-August on local wind-stat pages; summer can exceed 30 kt.

Cleaner and steadier than the main Essaouira beach, with far fewer people on the sand. It can still feel gusty depending where you stand and what the town is doing to the flow.

Peak reliability is late spring through early autumn. The main kite season runs from March/April to October/November, with strongest winds in July and August and winter becoming lighter, more variable and swellier.

Forecast

Live forecast

Windguru Windfinder Windy

Month by month

10 ktJan17°
10 ktFeb17°
11 ktMar17°
11 ktApr17°
12 ktMay18°
12 ktJun19°
13 ktJul20°
12 ktAug21°
10 ktSep21°
10 ktOct20°
10 ktNov19°
10 ktDec18°

avg knots per month · water °C below · season highlighted

Monthly averages. Highlighted: the months riders and schools name (Apr, May, Jun, Jul, Aug, Sep, Oct).

Measured at Essaouira, ~4 km from the spot (reanalysis-based climate estimate (MERRA-2 era, ~1980-2016)).

Every figure, month by monthKnots · Wind from · Air · Water

Month	Knots	Wind from	Air	Water
Jan	9.6 kt	N	14.4 °C	17.2 °C
Feb	10.3 kt	N	15 °C	16.7 °C
Mar	10.6 kt	N	16.7 °C	16.7 °C
Apr	11.4 kt	N	17.8 °C	17.2 °C
May	11.8 kt	N	18.9 °C	17.8 °C
Jun	12.3 kt	N	20.6 °C	18.9 °C
Jul	12.9 kt	N	21.7 °C	20 °C
Aug	11.9 kt	N	22.2 °C	20.6 °C
Sep	10.3 kt	N	21.7 °C	20.6 °C
Oct	9.5 kt	N	20.6 °C	20 °C
Nov	9.7 kt	N	17.8 °C	18.9 °C
Dec	9.8 kt	N	15.6 °C	17.8 °C

How this was measuredmeasured · reanalysis-based climate estimate (MERRA-2 era, ~1980-2016)

A ground station recorded this, at the distance the page names.

The typical daily max and the direction are columns of the table above, month by month. Highlighted months are the riding season from the spot record.

Essaouira · Weather Spark · reanalysis-based climate estimate (MERRA-2 era, ~1980-2016)

The water

Type

lagoon

Standing depth

Standing depth in parts once the mouth has filled, waist-deep or less over sand, which is why schools bring waterstart and board-recovery lessons here. It is not evenly shallow: depth follows the channel, moves with the tide and shifts as the mouth migrates, and near low water the pocket can be too thin to ride at all.

Tides

Semi-diurnal on the Essaouira tide port: two highs and two lows a day, about 1.9 m between high and low on an ordinary day, springs reaching roughly 2.4 m at high water against lows near 0.1 m.The river mouth fills on the flood and rides best from mid to high tide; it drains toward low water and the flat pocket can vanish entirely.Depth also changes week to week and year to year as the mouth migrates across the sand, so yesterday's line is not necessarily today's.

Temperature

18–22 °C summer · 15–20 °C winter

Modelled monthly average: 17–21 °C

Wetsuit

Wetsuit all year: 3/2 mm for most of it, 4/3 mm in winter and against the wind chill.

Currents

A current runs at the river mouth as the tide empties and fills the pocket, strongest on the ebb and close to the entrance. No measured figure has been published, so treat it as a reason to stay upwind of the opening rather than a number to plan around.

Conditions

Flat, glassy water at the river mouth on the right tide. Step outside the pocket and you are on the open Diabat and Essaouira beach, with small waves and chop that follow the swell and the wind.

Your level

BeginnerIntermediateAdvanced

Beginners come here with a school because the sand is emptier and the wind cleaner than in the main bay, but the pocket is small and tide-limited, so spacing matters more than usual. Intermediates use it for waterstarts and progression. Advanced riders get short freestyle laps in the high-tide river-mouth water rather than any wave riding.

The scene

What riders come here for

flat waterfreestyleintermediatewaterstartsprogressionshort sessions around high tide

Who it suitslessons

The wider Diabat beach is calmer and less crowded than Essaouira main beach, but the actual river-mouth lagoon is tiny, so a handful of riders can make it feel full.

Launch and rules

three ways on to the water, and what each one asks of you

With a school or a boat

18 schools name this spot

See who they are

On your own

Room to launch: tight

Read the access rules

Somewhere else

5 spots nearby

All 5 spots within 40 km are under Nearby

Rescue

No dedicated rescue covers the river mouth. The marked school zone in Essaouira bay, about 15 minutes north, runs a safety boat in season with instructors on radio, and none of that follows you here.

Plan on self-rescue and on staying within body-drag distance of the sand; if you are riding with a school, ask what they actually bring to Diabat rather than what they have in the bay.

Launch

Launch from the sandy Diabat second-beach area beside the Oued Ksob mouth, about 5 km south of Essaouira. On foot it is a 20-30 minute walk from the medina; by car you go through Diabat village, cross the bridge and follow an earth track past the Dar Sultan ruins down to the beach, which ends near a white coastguard building.Mobile schools drive students and gear down when the day suits.Winter tides can pile pebbles over the sand, so the surface underfoot is not the same all year.

Hazards riders report 8 reported

Wind

Wind can build hard in the afternoon and may be gusty or more offshore in some positions around the bay.

Crowds and zones

Very small riding area leads to crowding

Waves and currents

River-mouth current near the entrance
Shallow/rocky in spots at low tide

Protected areas and rules

Very small rideable lagoon: around six kiters already makes it busy.
Tide-dependent depth and exposed shallows/sandbars; the lagoon may not work outside the right tide window.
Possible hidden rocks are reported near the town/right side of the lagoon area; confirm the exact launch with a local school before riding.
Open Atlantic swell and waves immediately outside the protected river-mouth water.

Rules & access

1 min read

Informal local limit of roughly half a dozen kiters in the water at a time to keep it safe and rideable
No municipal kite zoning, permit requirement, hours restriction or seasonal ban has been published for the Oued Ksob river mouth as of 2026.
The estuary is a bird site: Eleonora's falcons from the Ile de Mogador colony use its pools and meanders between late April and October, and waders work the flats on migration. No formal access restriction is published, so keeping off the roosting banks is a matter of judgement rather than law (2026).
In Essaouira bay itself, 15 minutes north, kiting is confined to a marked zone at the south end of the main beach past the football pitches and clear of the swimming area; that zoning is specific to the bay and does not extend to the Ksob mouth (2026).

Access rules drift faster than anything else we hold — check locally, and propose an edit if this has changed.

Schools that ride here

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Rider tips

Read the Essaouira tide table before you drive down. Mid to high water is when the mouth fills; low tide can leave nothing worth rigging for.
Treat Diabat beach and the Ksob pocket as related but separate. The beach can have room when the pocket is full or dry.
Ask a local school where to launch that day, because the mouth moves across the sand and the depth moves with it.
Expect a smaller kite on July and August afternoons and a bigger one for mornings and winter, or rent so you can swap.
If half a dozen kites are already in the pocket, ride the wider Diabat beach rather than squeezing in.
Walk down in 20-30 minutes from the medina, or drive through Diabat village, over the bridge and along the earth track past the Dar Sultan ruins to the beach that ends at the white coastguard building.
On a no-wind day, look around Diabat itself: the ruined clifftop palace, and the village Jimi Hendrix visited in 1969.

Getting there

Airport

Essaouira-Mogador Airport (ESU) is closest; Marrakech (RAK) and Agadir (AGA) are common alternatives.

Route

Diabat is about 5 km south of Essaouira, roughly an 8-minute drive south of the medina. Many schools operate as mobile schools and drive students/gear to Diabat when it is the best spot of the day.

Transfer

ESU about 15 min to Essaouira; RAK about 120-150 min; AGA about 180 min, traffic depending.

Cost level

medium

Staying

Most riders stay in the Essaouira medina or in beach riads and surf camps. Packages tend to put you in a medina riad and drive you to whichever spot works that day.

No-wind days

Surf lessons, SUP/windsurf/wingfoil when suitable, Essaouira UNESCO medina, harbour, seafood market, Skala/ramparts, quad/horse/camel beach trips, argan-oil cooperatives, and trips to Sidi Kaouki or Imsouane.

Photos

FAQ

Is this lagoon suitable for beginners?

Yes, local schools favor nearby Diabat beach for beginner lessons because the sand is quieter and the wind cleaner than the main Essaouira bay.

When does the lagoon work?

Only on the right tide, since the Ksob river mouth fills at high tide and the pocket can shrink or dry outside that window.

What is the wind like?

A north to northeast Alizé trade wind, usually cross-on and stronger in the afternoon, common from April to October.

Are there any rules?

An informal local limit keeps roughly half a dozen kiters in the water at a time to keep the small lagoon safe.

What hazards should I know?

A very small riding area that crowds quickly, tide-dependent shallows, a river-mouth current, and possible hidden rocks near the town side.

The bigger pictureEverything about Essaouira

Last updated: August 2026