Puerto Escondido (Zicatela) Alert Guide

Oaxaca, Mexico · part of the Puerto Escondido (Zicatela) spot guide

Puerto Escondido is forecast-only — the nearest buoy is hundreds of kilometres away — so the alert gates on direction and period first, and the height below is an open-ocean reading, not the face. The canyon converts a modest number into something far larger on the sand.

The forecaster's checklist

1. 1.Find the fetch — Southern Ocean south to south-southwest groundswell from the Southern Hemisphere winter, plus eastern Pacific tropical systems aiming south-to-southwest from mid-May onward.
2. 2.Give the Southern Ocean groundswell about four to seven days of travel to Oaxaca, tropical swell only one to three.
3. 3.Run on models — there is no near buoy — reading the partitioned swell (direction, period and height), not just combined height.
4. 4.Read the giant-day tell as a long-period south: direction around 180–210°, period of 18 seconds and up, and real open-ocean height on the canyon line. Short-period swell of equal height badly underperforms.
5. 5.Score the dawn north-offshore window; the wind commonly goes onshore by midday, so a giant swell with an early offshore is the jackpot.

Local winds & tide

Best wind: N–NE offshore (dawn window; onshore builds by midday) — from 0° to 45° (N–NE).

The break is canyon-dominated and works across the tide, with no modelled tide gate — tide is a fine-tuner here rather than a decider.

Dial it in