WorldUnited Arab Emirates › Fujayrah › Tim's Reef

Tim's Reef 27.2

#5436 of 5756 surf spots in the world · 🇦🇪 United Arab Emirates · Fujayrah · near Al Fujayrah

Needs the right swell, wind is the enemy here, peaks in October.

Warm waterBeginner
Tim's Reef, United Arab Emirates
Photo: Wongleejean · CC BY-SA 4.0 · source
Surf score27.2 /100
Surfable days14% of the year
Clean days0% groundswell + friendly wind
Groundswell0% period 11 s+
Typical size0.3 m 1.1 ft median
Water28°C boardshorts

Best time to surf Tim's Reef

The best time to surf Tim's Reef is June, October. It rarely works. In October the water sits around 30°C, so pack boardshorts, and the typical wave is 0.3 m. The nearest airport is SHJ (87 km) and the nearest town is Al Fujayrah (41 km).

MonthSurfableCleanSizeWaterSuit
Jan19%0%0.3 m24°Cvest
Feb11%0%0.3 m24°Cvest
Mar11%0%0.3 m24°Cvest
Apr5%0%0.3 m26°Cboardies
May4%0%0.3 m30°Cboardies
Jun22%1%0.4 m32°Cboardies
Jul34%0%0.5 m32°Cboardies
Aug21%0%0.5 m31°Cboardies
Sep7%0%0.3 m31°Cboardies
Oct8%2%0.3 m30°Cboardies
Nov11%0%0.3 m28°Cboardies
Dec10%0%0.3 m26°Cboardies

What is under Tim's Reef

Eight kilometres out along its swell window the sea floor is still shallow, 9 m. Alongside the bank the survey finds a channel, 14 m against 9 m, deep enough to bend swell onto one peak instead of spreading it along the beach.

Depth 8 km out9 m
Depth 4 km out5 m
Channel beside it14 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 27.2

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%
13.2
Best days 22.4%
0.2
Clean days 18.4%
0.0
Consistency 10.2%
0.8
Season spread 4.1%
0.0
Water comfort 6.1%
6.1
Access 4.1%
3.2

The detail

Faces 95° with 47% open water around it. Friendly morning wind 94% of days. Mean peak period 6.8 s. Days over 3 m: 0%. On its best tenth of days it reaches 0.7 m, with a peak period of 10 s. Mellow days (0.4 to 1.2 m): 35%. Months that work: 0 of 12. Coordinates 25.493, 56.363 (OpenStreetMap).

What it costs to be here

Living here
€1,400/ month
typically €1,230 – €1,570
Rent, one bedroom€735
Groceries€295
Eating out€170
Getting around€100
Phone + internet€105
Renting by the month, cooking most days, local transport.
One month here
€2,730/ month
typically €2,400 – €3,060
Somewhere to stay€1,610
Eating out€575
Car, transfers, fuel€370
Data + extras€175
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 Arab Emirates (2024, 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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