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Surf spot guide · Rio de Janeiro, Brazil
A pocket beach below the Joa cliffs with short, punchy waves that vanish under the tide and favor surfers with some experience.
Joatinga is a pocket beach tucked into a cove below the Joa cliffs, between Sao Conrado and Barra da Tijuca. Less than 300 metres of sand sits between two rocky points, and the swell wraps in to produce short, punchy beach break peaks that a handful of Rio's better surfers, Gabriel Medina among them, come to work. Treat the wave as intermediate and up: it is described as powerful rather than playful, and no lifeguard watches the sand. Getting in means driving Estrada do Joa to the gated Joa condominium at Rua Pascoal Segreto, then walking Rua Sargento Jose da Silva to a stairway that drops onto the beach. Entry is free but security can turn people away once the strip fills. Check the tide first: at high tide the ocean covers the sand completely and the cove is unsurfable and unreachable. Midweek mornings are quiet; summer weekends draw surfers, bodyboarders and sunbathers who know the shortcut through the condo gates, with little on the sand beyond an occasional summer drink stand.
Short, powerful peaks that vanish along with the sand the moment the tide turns.
Quiet on weekday mornings and largely local; the small strip fills fast on summer weekends and security can cap entry once it does.
Hidden, tide-locked cove
Rio de Janeiro
Postinho is a rock-slab reef just west of Quebra-Mar in Barra da Tijuca that hosted the WCT Rio Pro and barrels on big south swells.
Rio de Janeiro
Posto 4 is a mellow, channel-fed peak in the middle of Barra da Tijuca, walling up at high tide and hollowing out over the bank at low tide.
Rio de Janeiro
A heaving, hollow sand-bottom beachbreak in Rio that barrels hard on solid SE swell.
+9 MORE →Time the session around low to mid tide, the sand strip vanishes and the wave shuts down against the rocks at high tide.
Enter through the Joa condominium off Estrada do Joa at Rua Pascoal Segreto, then follow Rua Sargento Jose da Silva to the stairway down to the beach.
Go on a weekday morning for a quiet lineup, summer weekends fill fast and security can cap entry once the strip is full.
Bring your own water, shade and food, there is little more than an occasional summer drink stand on the sand.
This favors surfers with some experience already, the peaks are short and powerful rather than forgiving.
HAZARDS · KNOW BEFORE YOU PADDLE
Enter via Estrada do Joa at Rua Pascoal Segreto, follow Rua Sargento Jose da Silva to a stairway down to the sand. Free but capacity-limited at busy times.
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