Atalaia (Molhes) Surf Forecast and Surf Report

Alright folks, Rusty here, looking at the upcoming swell window for our local sandbar, Atalaia (Molhes). It’s a beach and jetty setup, pretty exposed, and likes the swell coming from the SSE. We’ve got a solid 16-day window but the start is going to be a bit of a grind.

Right off the bat, through the weekend and into next week, the ocean’s looking pretty average. The combined swell energy is weak, sitting at just 84 on Saturday morning, and the wind is never on our side—mostly cross or cross-onshore. You’re looking at small, weak waves around 3ft with a short period of 8 seconds. It’s choppy, cross, and straight-up poor. That pattern of poor surf conditions and onshore junk holds for days, so don't expect anything rideable until Tuesday the 15th.

Tuesday morning is our first flicker of hope. The wind swings light SW, giving us a clean, cross-off breeze. The swell bumps up to 5ft from the east (period 8 seconds), and the energy climbs to 358. It’s not the best shape, but it’s clean, and that’s the best we’ll have seen. It’s a short window though—by afternoon the wind shifts ESE and it gets choppy again. The 16th and 17th are messy with small, cross-onshore slop. Energy stays in the low hundreds. Not worth paddling out for.

Now, here’s where it gets interesting. Skipping ahead to the 23rd of September, we see a proper jump. A solid SSE swell builds in, hitting 10ft on Wednesday morning. That’s a lot of water—combined energy spikes to 1814—but the wind is cross and the period is 10 seconds. That much size on a beach break with cross-shore chop gets tricky and begins to look more like a kite setup than a paddle session. It’s big and messy.

The real standout comes on the morning of Tuesday the 24th of September. We get a clean, cross-off breeze from the NW. Swell drops a touch to 6ft, but the period stretches way out to 17 seconds. That is a proper, long-period groundswell from the SE. The combined energy is absolutely pumping at 2171. That’s strong wave energy. For an intermediate surfer, this is as good as it gets, but with that size, it’ll be for experienced hands only. The jetty might help organize the lines, so keep an eye on it. The water is currently sitting at around 66°, which is about average for this time of year—nothing unusual there. Be prepared for crowds on this one, because this is the session to aim for.

The swell slowly winds down through the 25th and 26th. The 25th still has decent 5ft swell from the SE with a 16-second period, clean light winds in the morning. Another very good session, just smaller. By the 26th, we’re back to waist-high dribble.

So in summary, if you’ve got patience, the 24th and the 25th of September are your golden days. Clean, long-period groundswell. Don’t bother before that unless you love a grovel.

Rusty.

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