Playa El Palmar Surf Forecast and Surf Report

Hey folks, Rusty here. Let’s chew the fat on Playa El Palmar for the next couple weeks. It’s a dry spell, I’ll warn you now. The first 11 days are mostly flat, weak, and choppy – not much to paddle out for.

Wave energy is barely registering, staying between 6 and 76 (weak) – basically tiny, short-period windswell. Swell heights sit between 1 ft and 4 ft, and periods stay under 8 seconds. The wind is mostly onshore or cross-onshore, turning the surface into a mess. There’s a big gap with no real surf on offer through this whole first stretch.

There’s a flicker on Sunday July 19th morning – a light cross-offshore breeze from the SSE at 5 km/h cleans up the 2 ft W swell. The energy is still weak (24) and it’s tiny, but at least it’s clean. Not worth a trip though.

We hit another flat run until Friday July 24th morning. That morning the wind goes offshore from the ESE at 15 km/h, and we get a 2 ft W swell with an 8-second period. The combined energy is only 44 (weak), but the glassy, offshore wind makes it look tidy. Still only a longboard-tiny kind of day.

Your best bet is Saturday July 25th morning. The wind drops to zero – glassy – and the swell picks up to 4 ft from the WNW with a 6-second period. The combined energy hits 100 (moderate). The report says “surfable waves but very ordinary conditions,” but with that glassy surface, it’s the cleanest and biggest window we get. After that, it’s back to onshore junk for the rest of the outlook.

Water temp is about 72°F, right where it should be for this time of year, nothing weird going on.

So the one standout is Saturday July 25th morning at Playa El Palmar. You get a 4 ft WNW groundswell (energy 100) with glassy conditions. It’s short-period and not a classic wave, but it’s the only real chance to get wet. Everything else in the 16 days is a blank. For a spot that’s “fairly consistent,” this run is unusually quiet, but it happens around here. Forecasts might change.

Rusty.

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