El Canal (Rio de Bayamon) Surf Forecast and Surf Report

Alright folks, Rusty here. Let’s be straight with you about this stretch of coast. This is a tough one to write. We’ve got a full 16-day forecast window, but honestly, the surf quality just isn’t there. It’s a rare-breaks spot, and this run shows why.

The first real chance of any waves shows up on Saturday, July 18th, but it’s a real struggle. El Canal (Rio de Bayamon) is a super sheltered river mouth, and the swell it’s seeing is tiny, weak, and short period. Expect waves around 4ft from the ENE, but with a period of just 6 seconds, there’s no power behind it. The combined energy is weak (115). The water is a warm 84°F, which is about average for this time of year – nothing weird there. The wind is a brisk 16 mph from the east, which is cross-offshore, so the surface might look clean, but the wave quality is just poor. This keeps up day after day.

We go through a pattern of the same story: small, weak swell from the ENE. The wind stays mostly cross-off or cross, with speeds around 12 to 19 mph. The swell height barely touches 4ft, and the period never gets exciting. It's a long stretch of nothing special. The best looking energy in the whole forecast comes on Saturday, July 25th, with the combined energy hitting 196 – still only moderate, but it's the highest we see. That morning and afternoon, we have 4ft ENE swell with a period of 8 seconds, and the wind is cross-off. It’s the cleanest it’s going to get, but it’s still just not good surf.

There’s a tiny shift on Monday, July 27th. The afternoon shows a brief moment of offshore wind from the south at only 3 mph, with the swell shifting a bit to the east. The period stretches to 9 seconds, which is better, and the combined energy is 162. But the swell height is only 3ft. It’s a tease. A moment of potential glass, but the waves are just too small and inconsistent to get excited about.

The rest of the forecast into the first week of August is more of the same. The swell drops off, the wind picks up. By Sunday, August 2nd, we’re looking at 2ft to 3ft waves with weak energy. For a break that rarely breaks, this is a blank run. It’s normal for this area, but it doesn’t make it any easier.

So, to be honest, there are no standouts here. No day I’d be paddling out. If you’re desperate for a paddle, maybe the 25th or the 27th afternoon offer the cleanest surfaces, but the waves just aren’t there. The setup looks more interesting for a kite than a surfboard right now. We’ll have to hope the forecasts change.

Rusty.

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