Cocoa Beach Pier Swell Window
Florida, USA · part of the Cocoa Beach Pier spot guide
- Swell window (from)
- 30°–170° (NNE–S)
- Best direction
- ~70° (ENE)
- Period sweet spot
- 6–10 s
- Open-ocean height (Hs)
- 2–8 ft
- Resulting faces
- 1–8 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 north-northeast through south-southeast, best from the east and northeast, since Cape Canaveral shadows north swell and east-northeast lines up with the due-east beach. Everyday windswell is short, 3 to 6 seconds; the rare "good" tropical or groundswell days run 7 to 10 seconds and up.
The buoy reads offshore significant height, and the wide shelf means the face barely gains over it on short-period days. The top size bands are hurricane-only — a 4-to-6-foot reading from a good Nor’easter or tropical system gives chest-to-head-high faces, and 6 ft and up is hurricane surf that is usually blown out.