Playa Jobos

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Playa Jobos:

About 10 miles from Isabela an another rocky headland with some nicely orientated reefs creates a somewhat protected little bay. The place is called PLaya Jobos and is a popular beach for Isabela and Ramey locals. Thereīs some little shops, beach bars and restaurants and a couple of appartements to rent. As all places on PRīs north coast the area gets the full furour of north atlantic winter storms. This is, when watching the waves break over the 10m high rock is all You can do. But when the waves are small (up to 2m faces) this is a place to make everybode happy. Bathers can swim in the protected area of the sand beach in the shadow of the rock. Snorklers and divers can roam along the reefs, fishermen can tent their luck and the beach is full of happy people. The boardheads too get that fat grin as the reefs and sandbars create small but fun waves.

surfing: perfect place for fun surfing. The rock allows You to walk to the lineup. Just get along the sometimes sharp rock to itīs tip, climb down to the flat part just obove sealevel ant jump in. There You are, right at the peak of a nice running right. Just time Your entrance good for not getting smacked into the rock with bigger waves. Performance level here is very high and the pointbreak tipe wave doesnīt give You many opportunities to ride so having some experience helps You getting waves. A friendly attitude and some spanish helps too.

If itīs too busy at the point or You prefere some solitude just paddle down a bit and play with the beachbreak type waves that are almost allways uncrowded. The rides wonīt be as long and You have to paddle back out instead of surfing to the beach and walking back to the rock but itīs still a lot of fun. Due to itīs northerly orientation Playa Jobos has waves, when everything else is flat. But it doesnīt hold a lot of size and getīs unsurfable with waves bigger than 2m (face). But for these swells there is better opportunities near by. Surf here in the morning as around noon the trade winds start to kick in. They come sideshore and only the area just in front of the rock is somewhat protected.

windsurfing: as said obove, around noon / early afternoon the trades kick in. This happens very regularely from January to June. The wind comes sideshore from the right and usually reaches force 4 to 5 with a copule of days for smaller sails. You have to get away some 100m from the main beach in front of the rock as the wind is held of from the inland there. Be carefull with hidden reef at shallows and urchins when getting in. The less orientated peaks further west offer good jumping. And when there is no surfers in the water You can get a little upwind to the point, catch a wave and carve up to 10 turns down the line taking the right. When waves get bigger than 2m (face) the place gets very chaotic with waves breaking everywhere and ugly currents. Better go to shacks than.

My best days started with a breakfast in the appartement right at the beach, commenced with a morning surf session, a lunch brake at happy bellies (donīt know if it still exists) and endless frontside waverides in 2m waves from the point. Nothing overly exciting but SO much fun!

kiteboarding: when I was there there was no such thing as kiteboarding, but the constant medium trade winds and the fairly wide beach should make this a premier kite destination especially in summer, when waves are small.

Be carefull with some sinister people who sometimes come to the beach and be nice to the locals. They can become angry but usually are a very nice folk when You come with the right attitude.

more pics in the galleries (the place, surf and windsurf)

the actual weather, wind and surf conditions are this:

usefull things and helpfull links:

windsurfingPR.com

surfPR.com

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