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Tortola - Cane Garden Bay, Tortola 44.0

#4476 of 5756 surf spots in the world · 🇻🇬 British Virgin Islands · British Virgin Islands · near Christiansted

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

Works all yearWarm waterIntermediate
Tortola - Cane Garden Bay, Tortola, British Virgin Islands
Photo: Kevin Stroup · CC BY 3.0 · source · photo taken 4.4 km from the spot
Surf score44.0 /100
Surfable days98% of the year
Clean days3% groundswell + friendly wind
Groundswell4% period 11 s+
Typical size1.1 m 3.5 ft median
Water28°C boardshorts

Best time to surf Tortola - Cane Garden Bay, Tortola

The best time to surf Tortola - Cane Garden Bay, Tortola is September, October, December. It rarely works. In September the water sits around 30°C, so pack boardshorts, and the typical wave is 0.9 m. The nearest airport is EIS (13 km) and the nearest town is Christiansted (76 km).

MonthSurfableCleanSizeWaterSuit
Jan99%3%1.2 m27°Cboardies
Feb100%0%1.4 m27°Cboardies
Mar100%3%1.2 m27°Cboardies
Apr99%3%1.0 m27°Cboardies
May97%0%0.9 m28°Cboardies
Jun93%0%0.9 m28°Cboardies
Jul99%0%1.0 m28°Cboardies
Aug97%0%0.9 m29°Cboardies
Sep98%9%0.9 m30°Cboardies
Oct95%9%1.0 m30°Cboardies
Nov100%4%1.1 m29°Cboardies
Dec100%8%1.3 m28°Cboardies

What is under Tortola - Cane Garden Bay, Tortola

Eight kilometres out along its swell window the sea floor drops to 73 m. Alongside the bank the survey finds a channel, 100 m against 73 m, deep enough to bend swell onto one peak instead of spreading it along the beach.

Depth 8 km out73 m
Depth 4 km out42 m
Channel beside it100 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 44.0

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%
7.4
Best days 22.4%
6.0
Clean days 18.4%
1.1
Consistency 10.2%
10.2
Season spread 4.1%
4.1
Water comfort 6.1%
6.1
Access 4.1%
3.1

The detail

Faces 305° with 47% open water around it. Friendly morning wind 95% of days. Mean peak period 6.6 s. Days over 3 m: 0%. On its best tenth of days it reaches 1.5 m, with a peak period of 7 s. Mellow days (0.4 to 1.2 m): 67%. Months that work: 12 of 12. Coordinates 18.429, -64.661 (OpenStreetMap).

What it costs to be here

Living here
€1,790/ month
typically €1,580 – €2,010
Rent, one bedroom€939
Groceries€378
Eating out€217
Getting around€128
Phone + internet€136
Renting by the month, cooking most days, local transport.
One month here
€3,490/ month
typically €3,070 – €3,910
Somewhere to stay€2,060
Eating out€735
Car, transfers, fuel€476
Data + extras€225
Short stays, eating out, a car or transfers.
49% cheaper if you live here instead of visiting

Remote spot, so the local estimate is 15% below the country average. Estimate: World Bank PPP price level for British Virgin Islands (2025, United States = 1.00) (no separate series, so we scale GB) 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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