Puerto Escondido

Savage Mexican beachbreak tube located on the northern tip of the Gulf of Tehuantepec, in the state of Oaxaca; often called the "Mexican Pipeline," and universally agreed to be the world's gnarliest sand-bottom wave. "Some people love it," local ace Coco Nogales said of Puerto in 2011. "Some people get pounded, turn around, head for home and never come back."

The broad, sandy beach at Puerto Escondido ("Hidden Port") is fronted by an underwater canyon that amplifies incoming swells from the ...