- Forecast
- Maps
- Live
- Weather State
- Spot Information
Big Bay Surf Forecast
/ Cape Town (70 surf breaks) /
Surf Forecasts:
Big Bay surfForecast / Cape Town / South Africa
48hr Weather and Surf, issued 7 am Tuesday 12 May 2026 SASTForecast update in hr min s Forecast update imminent
Big Bay surf forecast is for near shore open water. Breaking waves will often be smaller at less exposed spots.
Today's Big Bay sea temperature is
15.6° C
(Which is 1.6°C colder than average for this time of year)How big are the waves at Big Bay today?
The current surf forecast for Big Bay at 1PM is: 3.5m 12s primary swell from a West direction and 3.0m 13s secondary swell from a Southwest direction (forecast issued at 07:00am May 12). The wind direction is predicted to be onshore.
| Time (SAST) & Date | Wave Height | Wave Period |
|---|---|---|
| Morning (12 May) | 13ft (4.0m) | 12s |
| Afternoon (12 May) | 11ft (3.5m) | 12s |
| Evening (12 May) | 10ft (3.0m) | 12s |
Table - waves today at Big Bay. (Swell directed towards the surf break)
Updates in hr min s Forecast update imminent
Short Range ForecastModerate rain (total 11mm), heaviest on Tue morning. Very mild (max 18°C on Tue afternoon, min 13°C on Wed night). Wind will be generally light. | ||||||||||||||||||||||||
Tuesday 12 | Wednesday 13 | Thursday 14 | Fri 15 | |||||||||||||||||||||
5 AM | 8 AM | 11 AM | 2 PM | 5 PM | 8 PM | 11 PM | 2 AM | 5 AM | 8 AM | 11 AM | 2 PM | 5 PM | 8 PM | 11 PM | 2 AM | 5 AM | 8 AM | 11 AM | 2 PM | 5 PM | 8 PM | 11 PM | 2 AM | |
Swell Height Map |    |    |    |    | ||||||||||||||||||||
W 13 | W 12 | W 12 | W 12 | W 12 | W 12 | W 12 | W 12 | W 12 | SSW 12 | SSW 12 | SSW 12 | SSW 12 | SSW 12 | SSW 12 | SSW 12 | SSW 12 | SSW 12 | SSW 11 | SSW 11 | SSW 11 | SSW 11 | WSW 13 | SSW 11 | |
10584 | 5093 | 4663 | 3267 | 3321 | 2377 | 2386 | 2268 | 2000 | 2262 | 2544 | 2739 | 2700 | 2502 | 2168 | 1776 | 1596 | 1403 | 1274 | 937 | 773 | 627 | 521 | 550 | |
Wind (km/h) | ||||||||||||||||||||||||
on | on | on | on | on | cross-on | cross-on | cross-on | cross-on | cross-on | cross-on | cross-on | cross-on | cross | glassy | glassy | glassy | glassy | glassy | cross-on | cross-on | glassy | glassy | glassy | |
High Tide | 11:55AM1.18m | 00:10AM1.39m | 12:45PM1.29m | 00:55AM1.50m | 1:30PM1.40m | 1:39AM1.59m | ||||||||||||||||||
Low Tide | 5:51AM0.38m | 5:54PM0.40m | 6:38AM0.24m | 6:43PM0.30m | 7:21AM0.11m | 7:29PM0.22m | ||||||||||||||||||
 |  |  | | |  |  |  | |  |  |  | | | | | | | | | | | | | |
 | 7:28 | — | — | — | — | — | — | — | 7:28 | — | — | — | — | — | — | — | 7:28 | — | — | — | — | — | — | 7:30 |
 | — | — | — | — | 5:55 | — | — | — | — | — | — | — | 5:54 | — | — | — | — | — | — | — | 5:53 | — | — | 5:53 |
5 | 5 | 3 | 2 | 1 | — | — | — | — | — | — | — | — | — | — | — | — | — | — | — | — | — | — | — | |
Temp °C | 17 | 16 | 16 | 18 | 17 | 16 | 16 | 16 | 15 | 15 | 15 | 16 | 15 | 15 | 14 | 13 | 13 | 13 | 14 | 15 | 15 | 15 | 16 | 16 |
12 | 16 | 14 | 15 | 14 | 14 | 13 | 11 | 11 | 11 | 11 | 13 | 13 | 13 | 13 | 12 | 12 | 12 | 13 | 13 | 14 | 14 | 16 | 16 | |
Swell 1 Height (m) Direction Period (s) | W 13 | W 12 | W 12 | W 12 | W 12 | W 12 | W 12 | W 12 | W 12 | SSW 12 | SSW 12 | SSW 12 | SSW 12 | SSW 12 | SSW 12 | SSW 12 | SSW 12 | SSW 12 | SSW 11 | SSW 11 | SSW 11 | SSW 11 | SSW 11 | SSW 11 |
 kJ | 6720 | 5093 | 4663 | 3267 | 3321 | 2377 | 2386 | 1967 | 2000 | 2262 | 2544 | 2739 | 2700 | 2502 | 2168 | 1776 | 1596 | 1403 | 1274 | 937 | 773 | 627 | 521 | 550 |
Swell 2 Height (m) Direction Period (s) | SW 12 | SSW 13 | SW 12 | SW 13 | SSW 12 | SW 12 | SW 12 | SW 12 | SSW 12 | W 12 | W 12 | W 12 | WSW 11 | WSW 11 | WSW 11 | WSW 11 | WSW 11 | WSW 11 | WSW 11 | WSW 11 | WSW 12 | WSW 11 | WSW 13 | WSW 13 |
| kJ | 2466 | 2615 | 2468 | 2631 | 2017 | 2183 | 1710 | 2035 | 1844 | 1691 | 1413 | 1297 | 1187 | 961 | 836 | 737 | 667 | 667 | 593 | 553 | 644 | 319 | 514 | 506 |
Swell 3 Height (m) Direction Period (s) | NNW 10 | NW 9 | NW 9 | NW 9 | NW 9 | — | NW 8 | — | — | — | — | — | — | — | — | W 20 | SW 19 | SW 20 | WSW 18 | SW 18 | SW 18 | WSW 13 | WSW 16 | SSW 14 |
| kJ | 1071 | 549 | 526 | 183 | 287 | — | 176 | — | — | — | — | — | — | — | — | 8 | 15 | 15 | 61 | 80 | 81 | 204 | 291 | 322 |
Wind waves Height (m) Direction Period (s) | W 13 | — | — | — | — | — | — | W 12 | — | — | — | — | — | — | — | — | — | — | — | — | — | — | — | — |
| kJ | 10584 | — | — | — | — | — | — | 2268 | — | — | — | — | — | — | — | — | — | — | — | — | — | — | — | — |
Nearest Offshore or Glassy | ||||||||||||||||||||||||
Distance (km) | 342 | 34 | 29 | 29 | 34 | 34 | 34 | 129 | 129 | 130 | 129 | 29 | 29 | 14 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 19 | 2 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
Best forecast wave conditions in Cape Town | ||||||||||||||||||||||||
Best forecast wave conditions in South Africa | ||||||||||||||||||||||||
Header Global | ||||||||||||||||||||||||
- Map Icons:
Break
Live Wave Height (m)
Live Wind Speed (km/h)
Surf Rating (10 Max)
Ocean Swells (m)- Wind Speed (km/h)
FREE! Surf-Forecast.com widget for your website
The surf report / weather widget below is available to embed on third party websites free of charge and provides a summary of our Big Bay surf forecast. Simply grab the html code snippet that we provide and paste it into your own site. You can choose your preferred language and metric/imperial units for the surf forecast feed to suit users of your site. Click here to get the code.
Nearest