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Port st.joe cape 14.4

#5728 of 5756 surf spots in the world · 🇺🇸 United States of America · Florida · near Apalachicola

Needs the right swell, wind is the enemy here, gentle enough to learn.

Beginner
Surf score14.4 /100
Surfable days24% of the year
Clean days0% groundswell + friendly wind
Groundswell0% period 11 s+
Typical size0.4 m 1.2 ft median
Water23°C a rash vest or 2 mm

Best time to surf Port st.joe cape

It rarely works. The nearest airport is TLH (113 km) and the nearest town is Apalachicola (31 km).

MonthSurfableCleanSizeWaterSuit
Jan45%0%0.6 m16°C4/3
Feb30%0%0.5 m15°C4/3
Mar33%0%0.5 m19°C2mm
Apr36%0%0.5 m22°Cvest
May17%0%0.4 m26°Cboardies
Jun13%0%0.3 m29°Cboardies
Jul12%0%0.3 m30°Cboardies
Aug13%0%0.3 m30°Cboardies
Sep14%0%0.3 m29°Cboardies
Oct19%0%0.3 m26°Cboardies
Nov21%0%0.3 m21°C2mm
Dec36%0%0.5 m18°C3/2

What is under Port st.joe cape

Eight kilometres out along its swell window the sea floor sits over 55 m. Alongside the bank the survey finds a channel, 295 m against 55 m, deep enough to bend swell onto one peak instead of spreading it along the beach.

Depth 8 km out55 m
Depth 4 km out36 m
Channel beside it295 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 14.4

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%
2.5
Best days 22.4%
0.2
Clean days 18.4%
0.0
Consistency 10.2%
2.1
Season spread 4.1%
0.0
Water comfort 6.1%
4.5
Access 4.1%
3.1

The detail

Faces 260° with 36% open water around it. Friendly morning wind 72% of days. Mean peak period 4.6 s. Days over 3 m: 0%. On its best tenth of days it reaches 0.8 m, with a peak period of 6 s. Mellow days (0.4 to 1.2 m): 43%. Months that work: 0 of 12. Coordinates 29.812, -85.303 (OpenStreetMap).

What it costs to be here

Living here
€2,000/ month
typically €1,760 – €2,240
Rent, one bedroom€1,050
Groceries€420
Eating out€240
Getting around€140
Phone + internet€150
Renting by the month, cooking most days, local transport.
One month here
€3,900/ month
typically €3,430 – €4,370
Somewhere to stay€2,300
Eating out€820
Car, transfers, fuel€530
Data + extras€250
Short stays, eating out, a car or transfers.
49% cheaper if you live here instead of visiting

Estimate: World Bank PPP price level for United States of America (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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