La Chocolatera Surf Forecast and Surf Report

Alright, let me break this down for you. The surf forecast for La Chocolatera (Ecuador), which is the only spot on the radar, looks like a tough stretch ahead. There are no standout sessions here, so keep your expectations in check. That water temperature anomaly is way out of the ordinary — sitting at 6°F warmer than average for this time of year, which is very unusual. That’s the first thing you’ll notice when you get in the water — it’s like bathwater for late August.

Right now, Thursday 27th August is a total washout. Swell is tiny at 2ft from the WSW with a long 16-second period, but the wind is a blustery 20 km/h onshore from the SSW, making it messy, and the combined wave energy is a weak 251. Don’t bother paddling out — it’s not worth it. The afternoon stays similarly poor.

Friday 28th August sees a bump in size — 4ft in the morning from the WSW, period 18 secs. The energy climbs to a moderate 875, but the wind is cross-onshore from the SSW at 15 km/h, and the conditions are marginal at best. The afternoon gets bigger at 4ft (WSW, 17 secs) with moderate energy at 1155, but the wind shifts even more onshore to 20 km/h from the WSW. It’s still poor looking.

Saturday 29th August has the biggest swell of this first week — 5ft from the SW with a period dropping to 15 seconds, and energy is strong at 1119. But again, the wind is onshore at 15–20 km/h and the surf quality is marginal at best. It’s not terrible, but it’s not clean.

For the rest of that week and into early September, the swell stays between 3ft and 4ft, mostly from the SW, with periods dropping into the 12–16 second range. The wind almost always blows onshore from the SW or WSW between 15–20 km/h, so you’re dealing with chop all day. The earliest you might find a small window is Thursday 3rd September morning: 3ft from the SW, long 18-second period, with a light breeze of 10 km/h from the SW — that’s your best chance for semi-clean waves, even if the energy is a moderate 838. It’s still marginally surfable, but it’s the least-ugly wave of the outlook.

Friday 4th September morning also looks okay: 5ft from the SW, period 16 secs, with a light 10 km/h breeze from the SSW, and moderate energy at 1074. But it’s still onshore.

The real standout, if you can wait, is Tuesday 8th September morning — 4ft from the SW with a very long 18-second period, light 10 km/h breeze from the SW, and solid energy at 1057. The wind is light enough that it could clean up. The afternoon holds 4ft from the SW at 17 secs, gentle breeze. This is probably the best slate in the whole 16-day window, even though it’s nearly two weeks away, so keep an eye on it.

After that, it fades back into the same pattern — onshore winds, marginal surf, and small waves right through to Friday 11th September. No big standouts.

La Chocolatera is an inconsistent point break, so these poor runs aren’t shocking. But with the constant onshore wind and smallish swell, it’s more of a kite-surfing setup than a paddle-surfing one right now. Hang tight — you might get a clean window around the 8th.

Rusty.

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