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White Beach 49.0

#4135 of 5756 surf spots in the world · 🇯🇵 Japan · Okinawa · near Naha

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

Works all yearWarm waterRemoteIntermediate
White Beach, Japan
Photo: Fumihiko Ueno · CC BY 3.0 · source · photo taken 4.6 km from the spot
Surf score49.0 /100
Surfable days94% of the year
Clean days2% groundswell + friendly wind
Groundswell5% period 11 s+
Typical size1.1 m 3.8 ft median
Water26°C boardshorts

Best time to surf White Beach

The best time to surf White Beach is April, September, October. It rarely works. In September the water sits around 30°C, so pack boardshorts, and the typical wave is 1.1 m. The nearest airport is TPE (683 km) and the nearest town is Naha (26 km).

MonthSurfableCleanSizeWaterSuit
Jan99%1%1.3 m22°Cvest
Feb97%2%1.3 m22°C2mm
Mar98%2%1.1 m22°C2mm
Apr95%4%1.1 m24°Cvest
May95%0%0.9 m24°Cvest
Jun97%0%1.0 m27°Cboardies
Jul85%0%0.9 m29°Cboardies
Aug83%0%1.0 m29°Cboardies
Sep82%9%1.1 m30°Cboardies
Oct97%5%1.3 m29°Cboardies
Nov100%2%1.4 m27°Cboardies
Dec99%2%1.6 m24°Cvest

What is under White Beach

Eight kilometres out along its swell window the sea floor drops to 63 m. Alongside the bank the survey finds a channel, 393 m against 63 m, deep enough to bend swell onto one peak instead of spreading it along the beach.

Depth 8 km out63 m
Depth 4 km out35 m
Channel beside it393 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 49.0

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%
10.1
Best days 22.4%
10.5
Clean days 18.4%
0.5
Consistency 10.2%
10.2
Season spread 4.1%
4.1
Water comfort 6.1%
5.6
Access 4.1%
1.4

The detail

Faces 175° with 64% open water around it. Friendly morning wind 43% of days. Mean peak period 7.3 s. Days over 3 m: 2%. On its best tenth of days it reaches 2.1 m, with a peak period of 10 s. Mellow days (0.4 to 1.2 m): 53%. Months that work: 12 of 12. Coordinates 26.295, 127.911 (OpenStreetMap).

What it costs to be here

Living here
€1,140/ month
typically €1,010 – €1,280
Rent, one bedroom€600
Groceries€240
Eating out€136
Getting around€80
Phone + internet€84
Renting by the month, cooking most days, local transport.
One month here
€2,220/ month
typically €1,960 – €2,490
Somewhere to stay€1,310
Eating out€468
Car, transfers, fuel€304
Data + extras€144
Short stays, eating out, a car or transfers.
49% cheaper if you live here instead of visiting

Remote spot, so the local estimate is 20% below the country average. Estimate: World Bank PPP price level for Japan (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
Own a cabin on a surf coast in Sumba

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.

Spots nearby

Crab Island🇬🇧 United Kingdom · score 51.6Gannet Point🇦🇺 Australia · score 53.8Dania Beach🇺🇸 United States of America · score 47.2Sker🇬🇧 United Kingdom · score 47.4
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