Barra de la Cruz Swell Window
Oaxaca, Mexico · part of the Barra de la Cruz spot guide
- Swell window (from)
- 155°–235° (SSE–SW)
- Best direction
- ~185° (S)
- Period sweet spot
- 14–18 s
- Open-ocean height (Hs)
- 3–10 ft
- Resulting faces
- 3–12 ft
Open-ocean vs. the face: the heights on buoys and forecast models are significant wave height (Hs) in deep water. What you ride is the breaking face, which depends on period, direction and this break's bathymetry — that's why the two rows above differ. PierMonkey's spot ratings already do this conversion for you.
The window runs from south-south-east round to south-west — about 155 to 235 degrees — with the sweet spot at south to south-south-west, 170 to 200. Swell from that angle wraps the whole point; south-west swell piles its energy at the top near the rocks and fades down the bank. Period is everything here: 14 to 18 seconds is the groundswell that doubles up on the ledge, while short-period swell walls and closes.
Because the wave wraps a rock tip onto sand, the face runs about equal to the open-ocean height on long-period south swell — roughly 0.9 to 1.2 times, with rare doubled-up sets on the ledge at low tide — and below it for shorter periods and south-west angles. It needs about three feet to work and holds to twelve; above that it becomes a shifting wall.