WorldFrance › Mayotte › Moya 1

Moya 1 70.6

#2323 of 5756 surf spots in the world · 🇫🇷 France · Mayotte · near Dzaoudzi

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

Works all yearWarm waterBeginner friendlyBeginner
Moya 1, France
Photo: franek2 · CC BY-SA 3.0 · source
Surf score70.6 /100
Surfable days90% of the year
Clean days7% groundswell + friendly wind
Groundswell15% period 11 s+
Typical size0.9 m 3.0 ft median
Water28°C boardshorts

Best time to surf Moya 1

The best time to surf Moya 1 is August, September, October. It rarely works. In August the water sits around 26°C, so pack boardshorts, and the typical wave is 1.1 m. The nearest airport is DZA (3 km) and the nearest town is Dzaoudzi (3 km).

MonthSurfableCleanSizeWaterSuit
Jan82%4%0.8 m29°Cboardies
Feb79%6%0.8 m29°Cboardies
Mar68%8%0.7 m30°Cboardies
Apr89%6%0.9 m29°Cboardies
May99%6%1.1 m29°Cboardies
Jun100%2%1.3 m28°Cboardies
Jul100%1%1.5 m27°Cboardies
Aug99%15%1.1 m26°Cboardies
Sep100%12%1.0 m26°Cboardies
Oct95%12%0.9 m27°Cboardies
Nov85%4%0.8 m28°Cboardies
Dec83%6%0.7 m29°Cboardies

What is under Moya 1

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

Depth 8 km out31 m
Depth 4 km out22 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 70.6

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%
25.8
Best days 22.4%
8.0
Clean days 18.4%
2.8
Consistency 10.2%
10.2
Season spread 4.1%
4.1
Water comfort 6.1%
6.1
Access 4.1%
4.1

The detail

Faces 95° with 64% open water around it. Friendly morning wind 47% of days. Mean peak period 9.1 s. Days over 3 m: 0%. On its best tenth of days it reaches 1.6 m, with a peak period of 13 s. Mellow days (0.4 to 1.2 m): 74%. Months that work: 12 of 12. Coordinates -12.786, 45.300 (OpenStreetMap).

What it costs to be here

Living here
€1,860/ month
typically €1,640 – €2,090
Rent, one bedroom€983
Groceries€391
Eating out€224
Getting around€132
Phone + internet€138
Renting by the month, cooking most days, local transport.
One month here
€3,640/ month
typically €3,210 – €4,080
Somewhere to stay€2,150
Eating out€765
Car, transfers, fuel€494
Data + extras€236
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 15% above the country average. Estimate: World Bank PPP price level for France (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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