Porpoise Bay

About

I love this place, the surf, the environment, its all pretty special. And when it gets good, IS GET GOOD!

Atmosphere:
This spot is great. I love surfing it whenever I can get there. It has a spooky look about it on a big cold winters day, but then so do most places this cold. You can usaully spot alot of marine wildlife around like dolphins, porpoises (hence name) seals and there has been the occasional sharkie sighting (dont freak!) It has a stunning backdrop of the catlins and on a good day you can see for miles, and even get a glimpse of stewart island which is cool stuff. The beach is long, one end (west) is protected by the strong NW winds, and the the other is nicely exposed on the smaller days, so its only a matter of walking up and down the beach to find a good bank for the day.

Additional Info:
It gets good if the other spots around the catlins are either too big or too small. The beach is stunning, and there are never that many people out. In the summer its a popular beach with the tourists form Dunedin and Invercargill, and other travellers. Good place to camp out, and chill out with your buddies.

Location

Access

Take the highway towards the southern scenic route towards the catlins coming form invercargill or Dunedin, follow the signs for curio bay, you'll find it, there are multiple car parks, a big one at the end on the headland by the fossil forest, or mutiple little ones along the back of the dunes.

Walk	Instant access (<5 min)
Public access	Yes
4x4 required	Unknown
Boat required	Unknown

Wave Characteristics

Type	Beach break
Direction	Right and left
Bottom	Sandy with rock
Power	Fast, Fun
Frequency	Regular (100 days/year)
Normal length	Short (<50m)
Good day length	Normal (50 to 150m)

Ideal Conditions

Wind direction	NorthWest, West, SouthWest
Swell direction	NorthWest, SouthWest
Swell size	3ft-5ft - 8ft+
Tide	Low and mid tide
Tide movement	Rising and falling tides