Puerto Escondido (Zicatela) Swell Window
Oaxaca, Mexico · part of the Puerto Escondido (Zicatela) spot guide
- Swell window (from)
- 150°–250° (SSE–WSW)
- Best direction
- ~195° (SSW)
- Period sweet spot
- 16–22 s
- Open-ocean height (Hs)
- 5–12 ft
- Resulting faces
- 8–40 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 coast faces near due south and the canyon is tuned for south to south-southwest — the productive window runs about 150° to 250°, best around 180–210°. Period is the decisive ingredient: a floor around 12 seconds, a sweet spot near 16, and the giant days at 20 to 25 seconds, because the longer the period the more the canyon amplifies it.
This is where the difference between the open-ocean reading and the face is at its most extreme — a long-period south swell can amplify to several times the deep-water height at the peaks. A 5-to-7-foot open-ocean reading at 15 to 18 seconds makes a heavy 8-to-15-foot Zicatela, and the historic days at 40-to-50-foot faces come from open-ocean readings that look modest on paper. Direction and period matter more than raw height.