Pena Roja Surf Forecast and Surf Report

Oi, Rusty here. Let’s have a look at what’s in store for us over the next couple of weeks.

Straight up, I gotta be honest with you – this is a real quiet stretch for the most part. We’ve got a bit of a wait before anything even worth mentioning shows up. The first real sniff of a surfable wave doesn’t pop up until the morning of Friday, August 7th, and even then, it’s nothing to write home about.

Looking at the overall pattern, it’s a series of small, weak pulses with a lot of onshore or cross-onshore wind messing things up. The water is running warm, about 75°F on the 6th, which is a solid 5°F above the norm for this time of year – that’s noticeably warmer than usual, so you might not need the thickest wetsuit.

The only spot we’ve got in the mix is Pena Roja. It’s a beginner-friendly break that’s fairly consistent and exposed to the swell, but it’s facing a NNW direction. The swell direction we’re seeing is mostly from the NW, which isn’t a bad match, but the size is tiny.

Let’s walk through it. The forecast starts with Thursday, August 6th afternoon. There’s a 3ft swell from the NW, but the period is a short 8 seconds and the wind is a cross-on from the NE at 9 mph. The combined wave energy is a paltry 104 (moderate), and the conditions are described as poor. No good.

The first real chance to get wet comes on Friday morning, August 7th. The wind goes totally glassy – dead calm, 0 mph from the north. The swell drops to 3ft from the NNW, with a short 7-second period, and the combined energy is weak at 66. The call is for `surfable waves but very ordinary conditions`. It’s clean, but it’s weak. If you’re a beginner, this is your best window. The break is sometimes crowded, so you might have company.

The rest of that Friday and into Saturday, the swell drops off to nothing – 2ft and 1ft – with periods of 5 seconds. The energy is laughable, down to 15. It’s basically flat.

Then there’s a long gap. Through Sunday, Monday, Tuesday, and Wednesday, the swell hovers around 2ft, but the wind is mostly cross-on or onshore from the NW or NNE. The energy stays in the 40s to 70s. A few glassy moments pop up on the morning of Tuesday, August 11th, and again on the morning of Thursday, August 14th, but the swell is too small and weak to get excited about. The period on the 14th morning is 9 seconds, which is okay, but the wave height is 2ft.

The next little bump in the road comes on Monday afternoon, August 17th. We get a 3ft swell from the NW with a 10-second period, pushing the combined energy up to 119 (moderate). But the wind is howling onshore from the NNW at 12 mph, so it’s going to be a messy, choppy mess. The report says `poor surf conditions`. Hard pass.

Wednesday morning, August 19th, is another one to keep an eye on. The wind goes glassy again from the NE at 3 mph. The swell is 3ft from the NNW with a period of 7 seconds, and the energy is 90 (weak). It’s clean, but it’s weak. The comment is `surfable waves but very ordinary conditions`. This is probably the best option in the whole run, but that’s not saying much.

The final day, Friday, August 21st afternoon, sees a jump in swell height to 5ft from the WNW with a 7-second period, and the energy cranks up to 238 (moderate). But the wind is a strong cross-on from the NW at 16 mph, and the conditions are rated as poor. That’s a chunky, onshore mess. For a beginner spot like this, 5ft is pushing it, and with that wind, it’s just a bumpy, drifty paddle. Honestly, for the more experienced heads, this might look more interesting for a kite session than a paddle surf.

Overall, the standout is the Friday morning, August 7th session – glassy, clean, but tiny. The second-best is Wednesday morning, August 19th – also glassy, also tiny. The rest of the month is a write-off unless you’re desperate for a paddle. Get a longboard or a foamie, and you might find a few ankle-biters.

Rusty.

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