Rincón Winter Swells, Puerto Rico's West Coast

Rincón, west coast · Puerto Rico

Moderate8 daysNorth America~£1,000 est.

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Overview

From November the North Atlantic throws swell at the corner of the island where the Mona Passage meets the Caribbean, and Rincón switches on. María's peels off the rocks in front of the surf shacks, Domes breaks beneath the concrete dome of a nuclear reactor shut down in 1968, and Sandy Beach and Steps fill in on smaller days. Rincón hosted the 1968 World Surfing Championships and has been a pilgrimage ever since, but the town stays low-rise and pleasantly ramshackle: food trucks, roosters, sunset at the Punta Higüero lighthouse where humpbacks blow offshore between January and March. Save your reverence for Tres Palmas, which only wakes on a big north-westerly inside a reserve of elkhorn coral. Fly into Aguadilla, forty minutes away, rather than San Juan, a two-and-a-half hour drive. Hire a car: the breaks are strung along miles of coast and the tide window moves through the day. The water is 26C, so boardshorts, but the reefs are urchin-covered and booties save the trip. Reckon on £1,000 for eight days with guesthouse, car and boards. British passport holders need an ESTA: Puerto Rico is US territory.