Sant Tomàs

This gently shelving beach west of Sant Tomàs has two distinct moods: in light southerly winds it’s usually gentle flat water with some chop, yet strong west to west-north-westerlies can deliver top-class wave sessions. The waves easily reach mast-high on big days, but they break pretty clean so you can still go for it. Even so, it still demands respect as the lip is heavy and not very long, so you have to pull out early to avoid being driven onto the big rocky ledge downwind. The early summer south to south-south-easterly thermal regularly hits 17 knots in the afternoon, and the remote location even means you can kite. One drawback: it's a 500m walk over from the car-park in the village.