Zuma surf spot review

Three miles of beautiful sand? Check. More barreling peaks than you can shake your stick at? Check.  Summertime crowds so intense it’ll make you wanna dunk your head in a porta-potty? Make that a big fat check. Zuma has it all: great surf, plenty of parking, and actual sunbathing girls. Its sandy shoreline is exposed to nearly every possible swell angle, and the waves can get pretty good from time to time, offering up steep take offs and the occasional barrel.

Location: Heading north on PCH, Zuma is just after Heathercliff Rd., at the bottom of a large hill. The entrance to the parking lot is one the left.

Setup: From the cliff at Big Dume all the way to Broad beach, Zuma is one large beach break. The sandy bottom is constantly shifting with the tides, winds, and waves, so the lineups are always moving and rather spread out.

Swell and tide: Whatever the swell direction, it will most likely break here. Swells from the south or southwest tend to do better, but wests, northwests, and windswells can often work there way in was well. Honestly, Zuma is exposed to everything Neptune can throw her way. However, as with most beach breaks, she will do better with a higher tide, and as much offshore wind as possible.  Most of the time, the waves here are small mushy close outs, but with the right tide, swell, and bottom conditions, Zuma can be downright epic. Keep in mind though, anything overhead (without the ideal conditions) will pretty much close out.

Access: Well, you can pay to park in the parking lot, or you can park right on PCH. Most of the year there is more parking here than at Disneyland. Summer time though, is a completely different story. Once the Valley heats up to a million degrees, everybody heads over to Zuma to cool down. So, if you’re planning on visiting Zuma during the summer, just be prepared for every vehicle registered in the greater San Fernando Valley to be parked there.

Pros: When its good, Zuma can look like a mini Pipeline. Moreover, there’s plenty of parking, and the line-ups are so spread out that you rarely ever have to share a wave.

Cons:  Well, most of the time Zuma is less-than-stellar. Any onshore wind will create close outs galore, and Zuma is totally exposed to even the slightest breeze. And did I mention that it gets absolutely insane during the summer time? On a serious note, the waves can get pretty heavy here, and people do get hurt from time to time.

Surf fact: Oh nothing really all that interesting. Well, except for the fact that the famous statue of liberty scene from the Planet of the Apes was filmed at Big Dume. Oh and thousands of other movies, TV shows and commercials have been filmed there too. All in all, nothing interesting has ever really happened there.