Tres Palmas, Steve Fitzpatrick

Summary

+ Consistently offshore	- Windy
+ Quality pointbreaks	- Heavy crowds and locals
+ Warm, powerful waves	- Car crime
+ Easy access	- Pollution and sewage problems

For 40 years the surfing world has been well aware of the quality that resides on Northwest Puerto Rico and names like Gas Chambers and Tres Palmas have become synonymous with challenging, Hawaiian-style surf in the heart of the generally small surf Caribbean. Judiciously aided by the second deepest ocean trench, just offshore, PR sucks in the lionÕs share of winter ground and summer windswells to all its littoral extent.

When to Go

US East Coast cold fronts send NW-NE 2-15ft swells down to the most consistent NW tip of the island. The swells wrap onto the W coast giving clean, offshore conditions. NE, E and SE windswells, plus occasional hurricanes in the Caribbean will produce waves in other parts of the island. The wind blows predominantly from the E, veering NE in the winter and SE in the summer. Tidal ranges are minimal (0.72m), but affect many of the shallow reefs.

Surf Spots

The north coast town of Isabela has some mellower protected beachbreak with a rolling right off the point, but the next bay is Middles, where seriously heavy right tubes and lesser lefts unload on the lava and coral reef. Dunes has many quality, wind-exposed reefs that are usually crowd-free. Playa Montones is a consistent, hollow wave - always worth a look and gets a bit of wind protection from the point. JoboÕs is a consistent long right breaking onto a sand-covered reef plus a left and more peaks down the beach. Works best on small swells and gets a hassley crowd. ShackÕs is considered a kite/windsurfing spot because of the consistent cross-shore conditions, but on windless days it is a well-shaped reefbreak. Table Top is another heaving right barrel, starting next to an exposed platform of rock and running into a shallow coral reef scattered with dangerous rocks on the inside. Surfers Beach is a consistent, accessible reef peak on the Ramey Air Force Base and ranges from fun shoulders to punchy barrels, with longer sections on the crowded right. In big wrapping NE swells, Wilderness entices some of the tallest, wildest rights, onto a wide, crowd-spreading expanse of WNW-facing reef. The lefts are more bowly when itÕs small. Sharp nasty reef, strong rips and local vibe. Aguadilla spots are only worth checking on big NW-NE swells when Gas Chambers dishes out square, warp-speed barrels a dozen times a year. Crazed experts only have to deal with the drop, backwash, crowds and salivating locals, but the rewards are crack-high. Crash Boat is just on the south side of the jetty where wedgy rights line-up over the sandy reef bottom. Decent swell with a bit of W in it is needed. Lots of aggressive local bodyboarders. Downtown Aguadilla features fickle slash and burn rights at Bridges, when the W swell awakens it deep in the wind-protected bay. Table Rock is a righthand barrel that fizzes over an urchin-covered reef and is another experts-only spot. More consistent reef and sand peaks break at BCÕs in Aguada town. Sandy Beach lines-up a good left off the rocks plus thereÕs some beachbreak in the area (Pools) that may suit beginner/improvers. Rincon is the surfing epicentre and Domes is the first point to bend long rights onto its lava rock bottom. ItÕs offshore in the trades, picks up the most swell and is often the only show in town, so crowds fight over the sectiony walls and odd left that bounces around in the small bay. Next point down is Indicators, a nasty stretch of shallow, testing reef where rocks, urchins and punishing paddle-outs keeps crowds down. MariaÕs draws the hordes on all types of watercraft to a stretch of kinder reef that grooms the N swells into down-the-line walls perfect for high performance surfing. NW swell and lower tides will produce hollower waves. Tres Palmas is Puerto RicoÕs big wave testing ground and can hold waves up to 20ft when a really big winter NW swell hits. Tough drops into the trade-wind offshores lead to wailing walls, coveted by the local chargers, but beware of wide sneaker sets. Tucked into a bay is Little Malibu, which has small, fast, tubey rights over a shallow, fire coral reef thatÕs half the size of Rincon breaks.

Statistics

J

F

M

A

M

J

J

A

S

O

N

D

dominant swell

N -NE

N -NE

N -NE

N -NE

N -NE

N -NE

swell size (ft)

4-5

3-4

2

1-2

4

4-5

consistency (%)

80

65

40

30

70

80

dominant wind

NE -SE

NE -SE

E -SE

E -SE

E -SE

NE -SE

average force

F4

F4

F4

F4

F4

F4

consistency (%)

79

76

83

96

90

78

water temp (C)

25

26

27

28

28

26

wetsuit

boardshorts

boardshorts

boardshorts

boardshorts

boardshorts

boardshorts

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