Jobos:
Jobos is a sweet Puerto Rican fruit with a little almond-like nut inside; it also happens to be one of PR’s main and best-known venues for surfing competitions and is the de facto Surf Pueblo for the North Coast. (The ’88 World Amateurs were held here, and it hosts many local contests yearly, as well as being home to the Toth and Graves’ surf families). The main wave breaks right next to the small rock headland at the east end of the beach and pinwheels into the broad, sandy bay. It actually looks kinda like a pointbreak ’cause it’s so down-the-line and racy, but like almost every other wave in Puerto Rico, it’s really a reefbreak. Locals take off as close to the rock as possible, making it difficult for guys like you and me to actually get a wave. But fortunately, if you’re patient and show respect — and stay on your lineups — you won’t be disappointed. Luckily, Jobos also happens to be one of PR’s most consistently rideable waves, as it picks up all manner of north swell and is somewhat protected from the incessant trade winds by the rock headland. There’s also a left that breaks in the middle of the beach and assorted other scattered mediocre peaks as you head west down the beach.
Surfers Beach:
Ramey Base used to have an old Air Force Surf Club in the ’50s and ’60s, which had a little clubhouse right here. You can still see the foundation and a couple walls of the structure, which also happens to be one of the best photo/video vantage points of the main peak. It’s a beautiful area, all fairly untouched rainforest, beach and reef; it’s what many people think when they think about PR. The wave at Surfer’s has been compared to Lower Trestles, with a long right and a short, punchy left; the right is shifty, steep, down-the-line, and has a few different sections, making it ideal for scattering the ever-present crowd. Northwest swells make it more of an a-frame situation while north and northeast swells create more of a right pointbreak effect. This is also a popular local contest venue.
Wilderness:
Wildo (as it’s commonly known) is a fairly wild place, both on land and in the water; many surfers have had that lost-in-the-woods feeling while attempting to hunt down a shifty, double overhead Wilderness wall without getting caught inside. When it’s small, it’s a bunch of scattered little peaks, with short, bowly lefts and slightly longer, more facey rights; when it’s really on, though, it’s a steamrolling right reef, perfect for carving with a bigger board — which you’ll need just to get into the beasts with the 20-knot NE trades blowing side-offshore up the face as you’re blindly trying to drop in. The reef is also fairly broad and sweeping, and can (almost) hold the dozens of surfers that are out here on any day there’s swell. There’s a semi-channel at the south end of the reef; try not to get swept too far down on your way out. There have been a few local big-wave contests here as well.