I arrived at this break after spending hours in an airport. The apparently fickle break was going off, I actually caught three of the best waves of my life on this beach. Near the jetty there was some tube action. It was great fun, clean and an easy ride all the way to the bikini clad ladies!
This is a class wave on a good size swell. Whoever wrote the review must've surfed it in the summer. I spent 3 months last winter working in Porto Mao and surfed Praia de Rocha just about every day. When it's good, the left off the pier is a fantastic wave with a good length ride and tube sections. Be warned, the local surfers absolutely rock!
I visited this town in may 1998. I didn't expect much surf, but during the low tides it was pretty cool. During the high tides there's nothing at all!!. With low tide there were both lefts and right from about 4/5 feet. The waves mostly break on sand, the rocky bottom parts aren't that dangerous but embarrasing dirty crab pools were you do not want to end up in. The surfable place of Albufeira is the very beach wich is shown in all the Algarve tourist guides (don't get fooled the travel agencies believe that everyone preferes flat seas). All the other beaches of Albufeira are, for as far is I know unsurfable because of rock soaked water and much uglier waves. I'm recommending this spot for beginners and easy wave preferers. If you are kind of experinced, you'll might get bored, but if your grandmother has planned a nice family holiday to this town you should definitely take your board with you.
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