Diamond Beach Surf Forecast and Surf Report

Alright, Rusty here. Let's get into it, folks. This is a grim outlook for Diamond Beach. We're lookin' at a long stretch of flat or junk surf to start, with only a faint glimmer of something bigger way down the line.

For the next week and a half, there's basically nothing. The waves are tiny – we're talking 1 ft to 3 ft at best, with disappointing period from 4 to 8 seconds. The wind is mostly cross-onshore or onshore, making it choppy and messy. The only bright spot is that some of those mornings have clean conditions, but with ankle-to-knee-high swell, it's not worth paddling out. The combined swell energy is barely registering, often in the low double-digits like 13 to 31, or even triple-digits only a couple of times, but the quality is just terrible. The water temp on the first day is 77°F which is much warmer than normal for this time of year – a proper anomaly of 6°F – but it's not helping the surf.

From Saturday the 21st, things start to look a bit more interesting for the numbers, but not for us. We see swell building to 6 ft on Monday afternoon, then 6 ft on Tuesday, with the combined energy jumping up to 245, then 476, then 512. But here's the kicker – the wind is howling onshore at 15-19 mph from the SE, right into our face. The wave comment says "poor surf conditions," and I'm telling you, it's going to be a washing machine out there. That much size (6-6 ft) is getting into the "too big for beginners" territory anyway, and with that wind, even the experienced guys will be struggling.

Then, around Wednesday the 23rd, we finally get a shift. The wind turns cross-offshore from the west, and we're looking at a clean 7 ft swell on Wednesday morning, building to 7 ft by the afternoon. The period stretches to 9 seconds, and the energy hits 580 and then 809. This is the first real chance of the run. But it's big – over 7 ft – so solidly in the intermediate-to-expert range. Thursday the 24th holds similar size at 7 ft, with a better 10-second period, and the energy is pumping up to 1046 in the afternoon. Wind is cross-offshore again, so it'll be clean. This is promising, but it's also almost two weeks away, so don't pin all your hopes on it just yet. The wave comment is "marginal surf forecast or questionable tide conditions," so there's a catch.

By Friday the 25th, the swell drops a touch to 6 ft in the morning, with an 11-second period, which is a nice long-period groundswell, but the wind swings cross-shore from the NE at 15 mph, which will make it lumpy. The energy is huge, hitting 698 in the morning and a massive 1619 in the afternoon. That afternoon, the swell is back up to 7 ft with a 10-second period, but the wind is a fresh 19 mph cross-shore, and it'll be a lumpy, cross-chop mess. This setup might actually be more interesting for kite surfing than paddle surfing.

After that, the swell fades quickly over the weekend of the 27th, back to 2-3 ft with weak energy in the 60s and 80s, and the window slams shut.

So, what's the call? If you're an expert who absolutely needs to get wet, the standout is Thursday the 24th morning or Wednesday the 23rd afternoon. On Thursday the 24th morning, the swell is 7 ft from the east, with a 10-second period, the energy is 996, and the wind is cross-off from the NNW at 25 mph – strong wind but clean. That'll be solid, hollow, and powerful. But it's big and only for the experienced. Remember, it's two weeks out, so treat this as a hope, not a plan. Tuesday the 22nd is a write-off with onshore wind. Everything before the 23rd is a hard pass.

Stay patient, or start checking flights somewhere else. This is a tough one.

- Rusty

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