Buritaca Surf Forecast and Surf Report

Alright, this is Rusty, checking in from the banks of the Buritaca River. We’ve got a solid 16-day window to look at here, and it’s a bit of a mixed bag. The first week is a slow grind, but the second week has some real potential if you know where to look.

Right now, the water is a balmy 81°, which is about what you’d expect for this time of year. The Buritaca (river/point) is our only game in town, and it's a consistent little river mouth that's perfect for beginners. It’s exposed to the NE swell, which is what we’re getting.

We start off with a bit of a dud. Monday the 20th is a write-off – the wind is cross-on, the swell is a weak 5 ft from the NE, and the combined energy is a feeble 206. It’s choppy and messy. Tuesday the 21st morning is a bit better, with a clean 5 ft NE swell (energy 248) and a light cross-offshore breeze, but it’s nothing to write home about. The rest of the first week, from Wednesday the 22nd through to Sunday the 26th, is a lot of the same. The swell fluctuates between 4 ft and 6 ft, and the wind is mostly cross or cross-on, keeping things choppy. There’s a glimmer of hope on Friday the 24th and Saturday the 25th with some glassy conditions in the morning, but the swell is still small and the energy is only moderate. Honestly, it’s a frustrating start. We’re looking at about 5 days of pretty average conditions before anything starts to fire.

Now, let’s talk about the real standout. Mark your calendars for Thursday the 30th of July. The morning session is looking like the best of the whole window. The wind is dead calm, glassy as a mirror, and the swell is pumping at 7 ft from the NE. The combined energy is a strong 703, which is serious. However, for a beginner-friendly spot like Buritaca, this is getting too big. Anything over 5 ft starts to get challenging, and at 7 ft, it’s expert territory. The same goes for Friday the 31st and the following Tuesday the 4th of August. The swell is huge—over 8 ft and hitting over 10 ft on the 4th, with energy values soaring into the four digits (1215!). That’s a massive amount of water moving around, and for a river mouth, it’s going to be a washing machine. Only for the very experienced.

The silver lining after the big stuff passes is Monday the 3rd of August afternoon. The wind drops to glass, the swell is a super clean 7 ft from the NE, and the energy is a strong 504. It’s still a bit big for the groms, but for a solid intermediate surfer, that’s a dream session. The river mouth shape will be handling that long-period energy (8 seconds) beautifully.

Overall, the first week is a patience test. The second week has two distinct phases: the big, powerful, expert-only swell around the 30th and 31st, and then a slight drop back to a still-chunky but more manageable 7 ft on the 3rd. If you’re a beginner, you might want to wait for the very end of the window, like the 1st and 2nd of August, when it drops back to a more friendly 5 ft to 5 ft with glassy afternoons, but the crowds at Buritaca can be a problem on those clean days. Keep an eye on the forecasts, because this is a living, breathing river mouth.

Rusty.

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