Búzios.

Búzios is a peninsula 170 km east of Rio de Janeiro, a tourist town with one wave that matters and a few that don’t. Different beaches face different angles, so the wind that’s onshore on one side is offshore on the other. Geribá, on the south-facing beach, is the headline: a right and a left over sand at the southern end. Praia Brava, around the east side, picks up more swell and goes harder when it’s on. Manguinhos and Tartaruga, on the protected north side, are flat-water swim beaches, not surf.

Peak is April through September, when Antarctic storms send south to south-east swell that wraps onto Geribá. Praia Brava handles direct east angles. February is a secondary peak, with summer wind swell and clean dawns. Offshore is north-north-east. By mid-morning the summer north-east trades blow Geribá’s open beach out, but the south end behind the headland holds clean. Best around high tide.

Water runs 21 to 23 °C in September, 25 to 28 °C in February. Boardies and a rashie cover the year; a 2 mm springsuit on a cold southerly. Crowds are tourist-heavy in summer; paddle out before 9 to find the locals. Geribá’s south corner gets territorial; the open beach down-coast spreads out. Praia Brava is a step up: bigger, faster, ten minutes’ walk from the road. On a small day, Geribá’s north end runs friendly. On a big south-east, Praia Brava is the play.