Diggers Beach surf report and forecast
Forecast for the selected hour
Now · 2am
4–5 ft · sets to 6
Fair-GoodBest today All day (6am–8pm)
Nothing is clearly limiting, but the swell is near, not in, its window and it is modest in size.
The wave field solved for this hour on the real seafloor, playing forward. A model, not a camera.
Loads when it comes into view.The wave field solved for this hour on the real seafloor, playing forward. A model, not a camera.
This hour
The 2am readingSwell, wind, tide, breaker, energy, water
- Swell4.5 ft · 8 s · ENEMakes the wave: 83% of the energy. Direction at the break.
- 1.6 ft · 8 s · SESecondary: 11% of the energy. Direction at the break. Bent 10° from SSE in deep water.
- 1.2 ft · 9 s · ESESecondary: 6% of the energy. Direction at the break.
- Wind3 mph from the WOffshore to a shoreline facing 118°Light
- Tide-0.5 ft, risingNext high 0.2 ft at 4:39am · NAVD88, TICON coffs_harbour-205470-aus-bom predicted (no observed source in AU)
- BreakerSpillingBreaks in about 8 ft of water
- Energy136 kJHeight² × period²Moderate
- Water72° · air — · UV 0
High confidence.
Best windowAll day (6am–8pm)
Against what Diggers Beach likesWhy it is Fair-Good, not Good
Preferred tide and swell are surfer-consensus notes for this spot, not yet reviewed against measurements. Wind is judged by the general rule (light or offshore helps). No percent match: these are plain states and reasons.
Nearby at 2amSawtell, Angourie and 3 more
The break
The seafloorSand between two headlands
Shallow is light, deep is dark; contours every few feet; the relief is exaggerated.
- Bottomsand between two headlands
- DepthNSW Marine LiDAR Topo-Bathy 2018 (5 m, AHD). Depth shown is below the selected hour’s tide.
- CoverageRock reef and headland shapes resolve well. Nearshore sandbars are interpolated flat in this dataset, so a beachbreak’s bar is not in the picture. A tile’s year is its publication, not the survey date.
Why it breaks like this3 swells at once, the seafloor spreads it, where it trips
Read from the current hour (today at 2am). Each number, and what it does to the wave.
3 swells at once
4.5 ft at 8s from the ENE carrying 83% of the energy, plus 1.6 ft at 8s from the SE (11%), plus 1.2 ft at 9s from the ESE (6%).
The shorter, steeper train is carrying most of the energy here, so expect a choppier, less organised lineup than the longest period in the list would suggest on its own. Why period matters more than height
The seafloor spreads it
Kr 0.76 · 90% of modelled rays break.
Energy is fanning outwards over the bottom here, so the wave arrives smaller than the open-ocean swell height suggests. Nothing is wrong with the forecast. The seafloor took the difference. Why two breaks a mile apart differ
Where it trips
-0.5 ft of tide; waves are breaking in about 8 ft of water.
A wave breaks when the water gets shallow enough relative to its height, so that depth is a contour on the seafloor, and the tide slides the whole break up and down it through the day. Same swell, different spot, a few hours apart. How the tide moves the break
Barely any wind
3 mph from the W, against a shoreline facing 118°.
Too light to shape the face either way. At this speed the wave's own texture wins, whatever the direction.
How Diggers Beach worksA short beach held between headlands just north of Coffs, with…
A short beach held between headlands just north of Coffs, with banks that form in the corners and a north end that shelters when the wind swings. The most reliable everyday wave in the area.
- Best tidemid
- Best swellE–SE swell
- Suitsbeginner
3 swell trains in the current hour · How this is calculated
Common questions4 questions about Diggers Beach
- What is the best tide for Diggers Beach?
- Diggers Beach works best on mid tide. Tide matters because depth is what trips a wave: as the water fills in, the break slides shoreward onto a different part of the bottom, and over a shallow bank enough water stops it breaking at all. Our forecast solves each hour at that hour's real water level rather than assuming one.
- What swell direction is best for Diggers Beach?
- E–SE swell suits Diggers Beach best. The direction that matters is the one at the break, not the one on the buoy: the seafloor bends swell on its way in, so a spot can work on an angle the open coast is missing. We model that bending for each break rather than reporting the offshore direction.
- Is Diggers Beach good for beginners?
- Diggers Beach suits beginner surfers, over sand between two headlands. That is the wave this bottom makes on an average day, and it moves: the same break is a different proposition on a bigger swell or a different tide, so read the day's forecast rather than the label.
- What is the bottom like at Diggers Beach?
- sand between two headlands. It is the reason this break behaves the way it does: the shape of the seabed decides where the swell focuses, where it trips, and whether it spills or pitches. We model Diggers Beach on real 10-foot bathymetry instead of treating the seafloor as a slope.