WorldFrance › Martinique › Petite Anse

Petite Anse 42.2

#4596 of 5756 surf spots in the world · 🇫🇷 France · Martinique · near Fort-de-France

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

Warm waterBeginner
Petite Anse, France
Photo: Thérèse Gaigé · CC0 · source
Surf score42.2 /100
Surfable days46% of the year
Clean days0% groundswell + friendly wind
Groundswell0% period 11 s+
Typical size0.6 m 1.9 ft median
Water28°C boardshorts

Best time to surf Petite Anse

The best time to surf Petite Anse is December. It rarely works. In December the water sits around 28°C, so pack boardshorts, and the typical wave is 0.6 m. The nearest airport is UVF (85 km) and the nearest town is Fort-de-France (14 km).

MonthSurfableCleanSizeWaterSuit
Jan52%0%0.6 m27°Cboardies
Feb71%0%0.7 m27°Cboardies
Mar55%0%0.6 m26°Cboardies
Apr42%0%0.6 m27°Cboardies
May52%0%0.6 m28°Cboardies
Jun60%0%0.6 m28°Cboardies
Jul55%0%0.6 m28°Cboardies
Aug17%0%0.5 m29°Cboardies
Sep18%0%0.5 m30°Cboardies
Oct27%0%0.5 m29°Cboardies
Nov41%0%0.6 m28°Cboardies
Dec58%1%0.6 m28°Cboardies

What is under Petite Anse

Eight kilometres out along its swell window the sea floor sits over 47 m. Alongside the bank the survey finds a channel, 271 m against 47 m, deep enough to bend swell onto one peak instead of spreading it along the beach.

Depth 8 km out47 m
Depth 4 km out37 m
Channel beside it271 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 42.2

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%
18.8
Best days 22.4%
0.8
Clean days 18.4%
0.0
Consistency 10.2%
5.0
Season spread 4.1%
2.2
Water comfort 6.1%
6.1
Access 4.1%
3.6

The detail

Faces 235° with 39% open water around it. Friendly morning wind 98% of days. Mean peak period 8.0 s. Days over 3 m: 0%. On its best tenth of days it reaches 0.8 m, with a peak period of 9 s. Mellow days (0.4 to 1.2 m): 93%. Months that work: 7 of 12. Coordinates 14.487, -61.084 (OpenStreetMap).

What it costs to be here

Living here
€1,750/ month
typically €1,540 – €1,960
Rent, one bedroom€923
Groceries€367
Eating out€211
Getting around€124
Phone + internet€130
Renting by the month, cooking most days, local transport.
One month here
€3,420/ month
typically €3,010 – €3,830
Somewhere to stay€2,020
Eating out€718
Car, transfers, fuel€464
Data + extras€221
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 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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