Is Islitas good for beginners?

Islitas is rated Beginner: the median wave is 0.8 m and 95% of days are mellow (0.4 to 1.2 m).

How warm is the water at Islitas?

The yearly mean sea temperature is 28°C, so most of the year you want boardshorts.

World › Puerto Rico › Puerto Rico › Islitas

Islitas 44.2

#4457 of 5756 surf spots in the world · 🇵🇷 Puerto Rico · Puerto Rico · near San Juan

Very consistent, wind is the enemy here, no off season.

Works all yearWarm waterBeginner friendlyBeginner

Photo: Michelle Maria · CC BY 3.0 · source

Surf score44.2 /100

Surfable days78% of the year

Clean days0% groundswell + friendly wind

Groundswell0% period 11 s+

Typical size0.8 m 2.5 ft median

Water28°C boardshorts

Best time to surf Islitas

It rarely works. The nearest airport is SJU (2 km) and the nearest town is San Juan (12 km).

Month	Surfable	Clean	Size	Water	Suit
Jan	79%	0%	0.8 m	27°C	boardies
Feb	90%	0%	1.0 m	27°C	boardies
Mar	81%	0%	0.8 m	27°C	boardies
Apr	77%	0%	0.8 m	27°C	boardies
May	89%	0%	0.8 m	28°C	boardies
Jun	89%	0%	0.8 m	28°C	boardies
Jul	95%	0%	0.9 m	28°C	boardies
Aug	84%	0%	0.8 m	29°C	boardies
Sep	52%	0%	0.6 m	30°C	boardies
Oct	52%	0%	0.6 m	30°C	boardies
Nov	73%	0%	0.7 m	29°C	boardies
Dec	81%	0%	0.8 m	28°C	boardies

What is under Islitas

Eight kilometres out along its swell window the sea floor sits over 31 m.

Depth 8 km out31 m

Depth 4 km out30 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 44.2

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%

12.3

Best days 22.4%

2.3

Clean days 18.4%

0.0

Consistency 10.2%

9.3

Season spread 4.1%

4.1

Water comfort 6.1%

6.1

Access 4.1%

4.1

The detail

Faces 5° with 50% open water around it. Friendly morning wind 23% of days. Mean peak period 6.1 s. Days over 3 m: 0%. On its best tenth of days it reaches 1.1 m, with a peak period of 6 s. Mellow days (0.4 to 1.2 m): 95%. Months that work: 12 of 12. Coordinates 18.449, -66.015 (OpenStreetMap).

What it costs to be here

Living here

€2,020/ month

typically €1,780 – €2,260

Rent, one bedroom€1,060

Groceries€424

Eating out€240

Getting around€141

Phone + internet€154

Renting by the month, cooking most days, local transport.

One month here

€3,950/ month

typically €3,480 – €4,420

Somewhere to stay€2,320

Eating out€830

Car, transfers, fuel€535

Data + extras€252

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 23% above the country average. Estimate: World Bank PPP price level for Puerto Rico (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.

Our own project · Sumba, Indonesia

Own a cabin on a surf coast in Sumba

Sumba has eight spots in this ranking, the best of them inside the world top 50. A cabin is €11,500. The land it sits on is separate, from €6,500 (€9,950 oceanfront), on an 80-year lease that extends at the end. Water, septic and electricity are another €6,500, and furniture is on top, so a finished cabin lands around €28,000 plus the land, payable in instalments.

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.

See the cabin

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