WorldAustralia › Queensland › Second Beach Tannum Sands

Second Beach Tannum Sands 45.1

#4391 of 5756 surf spots in the world · 🇦🇺 Australia · Queensland · near Gladstone

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

Works all yearWarm waterIntermediate
Second Beach Tannum Sands, Australia
Photo: wood26 · CC BY-SA 3.0 · source
Surf score45.1 /100
Surfable days95% of the year
Clean days2% groundswell + friendly wind
Groundswell3% period 11 s+
Typical size1.0 m 3.3 ft median
Water24°C a rash vest or 2 mm

Best time to surf Second Beach Tannum Sands

The best time to surf Second Beach Tannum Sands is February, August, October. It rarely works. In February the water sits around 27°C, so pack boardshorts, and the typical wave is 1.2 m. The nearest airport is ROK (110 km) and the nearest town is Gladstone (16 km).

MonthSurfableCleanSizeWaterSuit
Jan99%1%1.0 m27°Cboardies
Feb100%6%1.2 m27°Cboardies
Mar94%3%1.2 m27°Cboardies
Apr95%2%1.2 m25°Cboardies
May97%1%1.2 m23°Cvest
Jun93%2%1.0 m21°C2mm
Jul92%3%0.9 m20°C2mm
Aug89%6%0.9 m20°C2mm
Sep93%0%0.9 m22°C2mm
Oct99%4%0.9 m24°Cvest
Nov93%0%0.9 m26°Cboardies
Dec97%0%1.1 m27°Cboardies

What is under Second Beach Tannum Sands

Eight kilometres out along its swell window the sea floor is still shallow, 15 m.

Depth 8 km out15 m
Depth 4 km out14 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 45.1

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%
7.5
Best days 22.4%
8.4
Clean days 18.4%
0.6
Consistency 10.2%
10.2
Season spread 4.1%
4.1
Water comfort 6.1%
4.9
Access 4.1%
3.3

The detail

Faces 50° with 36% open water around it. Friendly morning wind 84% of days. Mean peak period 7.6 s. Days over 3 m: 0%. On its best tenth of days it reaches 1.8 m, with a peak period of 9 s. Mellow days (0.4 to 1.2 m): 65%. Months that work: 12 of 12. Coordinates -23.943, 151.372 (OpenStreetMap).

What it costs to be here

Living here
€1,840/ month
typically €1,620 – €2,060
Rent, one bedroom€970
Groceries€385
Eating out€220
Getting around€130
Phone + internet€140
Renting by the month, cooking most days, local transport.
One month here
€3,600/ month
typically €3,170 – €4,030
Somewhere to stay€2,120
Eating out€755
Car, transfers, fuel€490
Data + extras€230
Short stays, eating out, a car or transfers.
49% cheaper if you live here instead of visiting

Estimate: World Bank PPP price level for Australia (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
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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.

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