WorldBrazil › Rio Grande do Sul › Cal

Cal 59.2

#3264 of 5756 surf spots in the world · 🇧🇷 Brazil · Rio Grande do Sul · near Araranguá

Works almost every day, wind is the enemy here, no off season.

Works all yearIntermediate
Cal, Brazil
Photo: Marcelo Lander · CC BY-SA 3.0 · source
Surf score59.2 /100
Surfable days100% of the year
Clean days10% groundswell + friendly wind
Groundswell16% period 11 s+
Typical size1.6 m 5.1 ft median
Water21°C a 2 mm shorty

Best time to surf Cal

The best time to surf Cal is May, June, July. It rarely works. In July the water sits around 15°C, so pack a 4/3 with boots, and the typical wave is 1.6 m. The nearest airport is POA (157 km) and the nearest town is Araranguá (51 km).

MonthSurfableCleanSizeWaterSuit
Jan100%4%1.4 m26°Cboardies
Feb100%6%1.4 m26°Cboardies
Mar100%11%1.5 m24°Cvest
Apr100%12%1.6 m23°Cvest
May99%25%1.7 m20°C2mm
Jun100%21%1.6 m18°C3/2
Jul99%26%1.6 m15°C4/3
Aug100%9%1.6 m16°C3/2
Sep100%6%1.7 m18°C3/2
Oct100%5%1.7 m19°C3/2
Nov100%3%1.6 m20°C2mm
Dec100%5%1.4 m23°Cvest

What is under Cal

Eight kilometres out along its swell window the sea floor drops to 60 m.

Depth 8 km out60 m
Depth 4 km out42 m

Measured, not estimated: NOAA ETOPO 2022 global relief at 15 arc-seconds, about 460 m per cell, sampled along this spot’s own swell window. At that scale the survey sees passes and channels; it cannot see a reef ledge, so nothing here is said about how the wave breaks.

Why 59.2

Seven parts, each normalised 0 to 1 and multiplied by its weight; the sum is scaled so the best spot in the world scores 100. Wave quality and what the spot does on its best days carry more than half of it, which is what separates this from a ranking of where the water is warm.

Wave quality 34.7%
14.7
Best days 22.4%
12.2
Clean days 18.4%
4.4
Consistency 10.2%
10.2
Season spread 4.1%
4.1
Water comfort 6.1%
3.4
Access 4.1%
2.4

The detail

Faces 120° with 50% open water around it. Friendly morning wind 63% of days. Mean peak period 9.0 s. Days over 3 m: 2%. On its best tenth of days it reaches 2.3 m, with a peak period of 11 s. Mellow days (0.4 to 1.2 m): 18%. Months that work: 12 of 12. Coordinates -29.349, -49.730 (OpenStreetMap).

What it costs to be here

Living here
€926/ month
typically €815 – €1,040
Rent, one bedroom€484
Groceries€196
Eating out€110
Getting around€64
Phone + internet€68
Renting by the month, cooking most days, local transport.
One month here
€1,800/ month
typically €1,590 – €2,020
Somewhere to stay€1,060
Eating out€378
Car, transfers, fuel€246
Data + extras€115
Short stays, eating out, a car or transfers.
49% cheaper if you live here instead of visiting

Remote spot, so the local estimate is 15% below the country average. Estimate: World Bank PPP price level for Brazil (2025, United States = 1.00) applied to a fixed surfer basket, then adjusted for how remote the spot is. Your own number moves with the season and how you live.

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Eco Beach City is run by the same people as SurfRanking, so treat this as our own advert, not a recommendation. It is an off-plan property in Indonesia: take your own legal and financial advice before paying anything.

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