WorldGabon › Estuaire › Gombé

Gombé 42.5

#4564 of 5756 surf spots in the world · 🇬🇦 Gabon · Estuaire · near Libreville

Wind is the enemy here, peaks in July, boardshorts water.

Warm waterBeginner
Surf score42.5 /100
Surfable days40% of the year
Clean days7% groundswell + friendly wind
Groundswell8% period 11 s+
Typical size0.6 m 1.8 ft median
Water28°C boardshorts

Best time to surf Gombé

The best time to surf Gombé is June, July, August. It rarely works. In July the water sits around 26°C, so pack boardshorts, and the typical wave is 0.8 m. The nearest airport is LBV (18 km) and the nearest town is Libreville (18 km).

MonthSurfableCleanSizeWaterSuit
Jan6%1%0.4 m28°Cboardies
Feb8%0%0.5 m29°Cboardies
Mar11%2%0.5 m29°Cboardies
Apr15%0%0.5 m30°Cboardies
May34%5%0.6 m28°Cboardies
Jun84%17%0.7 m27°Cboardies
Jul92%20%0.8 m26°Cboardies
Aug90%10%0.7 m25°Cboardies
Sep78%9%0.7 m26°Cboardies
Oct43%3%0.6 m27°Cboardies
Nov13%0%0.5 m28°Cboardies
Dec7%0%0.5 m28°Cboardies

What is under Gombé

Eight kilometres out along its swell window the sea floor sits over 25 m. Alongside the bank the survey finds a channel, 66 m against 25 m, deep enough to bend swell onto one peak instead of spreading it along the beach.

Depth 8 km out25 m
Depth 4 km out24 m
Channel beside it66 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 42.5

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%
16.5
Best days 22.4%
2.1
Clean days 18.4%
2.7
Consistency 10.2%
4.3
Season spread 4.1%
1.1
Water comfort 6.1%
6.1
Access 4.1%
4.0

The detail

Faces 305° with 44% open water around it. Friendly morning wind 87% of days. Mean peak period 12.0 s. Days over 3 m: 0%. On its best tenth of days it reaches 0.8 m, with a peak period of 14 s. Mellow days (0.4 to 1.2 m): 88%. Months that work: 4 of 12. Coordinates 0.324, 9.311 (OpenStreetMap).

What it costs to be here

Living here
€994/ month
typically €874 – €1,110
Rent, one bedroom€524
Groceries€211
Eating out€119
Getting around€70
Phone + internet€76
Renting by the month, cooking most days, local transport.
One month here
€1,940/ month
typically €1,710 – €2,180
Somewhere to stay€1,150
Eating out€410
Car, transfers, fuel€265
Data + extras€124
Short stays, eating out, a car or transfers.
49% cheaper if you live here instead of visiting

Airport and town on the doorstep, so the local estimate is 8% above the country average. Estimate: World Bank PPP price level for Gabon (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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