Surf's up! – How to swim in Pokémon Pokopia and find Lapras

While Ditto learns a lot of moves and abilities early on in Pokémon Pokopia, there's some great ones that only come later in the game. One of those is Surf, which lets you head out onto the open water to swim around.

Where to find Lapras in Pokémon Pokopia

You won't find Lapras until you reach the second area in Pokémon Pokopia, the ruined seaside town of Bleak Beach. There's a lot to do on land here, so you don't have to hurry to find Lapras, and can take your time to find the habitat hint for what you need to make for them.

Luring Lapras to the seaside needs you to make a Tropical Seaside Habitat. This is a set of four flowery bushes next to a palm tree. We found the best place for this (and where we got the hint) was on the beach behind the Pokémon Centre.

How can you complete Lapras' beach cleaning quest?

While Lapras is more than happy to make a new friend and willing to teach you how to Surf, they're really saddened by the muddy mess that's covering the beach and the town.

Cleaning up the beach needs you to team up with a Pokémon that has the Water Specialty. Hopefully you've met a Piplup in this region already, so go and find them and ask them to follow you. Now, as you approach the slimy looking mud, they will jump into action and spray bubbles all over. This now means that you can use Water Gun to wash away the mud and clean the beach.

Once you've cleared a good section of the beach, go and talk to Lapras and they'll hopefully be eager to Surf for you.

How to Surf in Pokopia

Unlike action moves like Water Gun or Leafage which you need to select, Surf is context sensitive. Just hop into the water once you've learned the move from Lapras, and tap the B button to transform into a Lapras Ditto. Now you can swim around to your heart's content, and maybe go explore that familiar looking cruise ship over there?

One thing you can't do just yet is swim up a waterfall. This is an additional ability you'll have to learn a bit later!