Snapper Rocks Surf Guide

Snapper Rocks Surf Guide

On the north side of the point begins the extraordinary line of Snapper Rocks, Rainbow Bay and Greenmount Point, almost a mile of right sandbar pointbreak and probably the single most crowded surfing area in the world. The waves begin at Snapper, a gnarly outcrop of old lava rock set sideways to the line of coast; often they start with a dramatic, backwashy takeoff behind the rock, and run past another smaller outcrop known as Little Marley Point a couple hundred yards down the line before opening up into Rainbow Bay's deeper waters. Sometimes there's a slight degrading in the ride through this very long open-water section, but down the line you can see all the way to Kirra over a mile away, and directly in front looms the aptly named Greenmount Point. Greenmount leads the wave off for at least another 300 yards down toward Coolangatta Beach, where it finally semi-closes out before hitting the Kirra Big Groyne.

Northerly sand flow toward and around Snapper Rocks is enhanced by river dredging from over a mile south, past the Tweed River; as a result, the sand storage through the bay is rich. A classic ritual is this: Ride a wave off the outside Snapper takeoff, connect it as far as possible, pick off another from wherever the first fizzles out, and keep connecting right through to Coolangatta Beach -- then walk the mile of beach and trail back to Snapper's jump-off zone just inside the rock line.

On a good day, it's possible to count over 1,000 surfers in the water along this amazing stretch. Yet the lineup is so broad and immense, the paddle so all-encompassing, that somehow the crowd takes care of itself, and after a few days' sustained swell battering, 75 percent have had enough. That's when the dawn patrol pays off. Around the corner, south of Snapper Rocks and Point Danger, lies the super-beachbreak of Duranbah. This super-consistent spot relies on a breakwall separating it from the mouth of the Tweed River; sand deposits outside the wall line tend to break up and refract incoming SE swells into juicy peaks, with short tube sections and ramps.