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Paraíba · Mataraca

Barra de Camaratuba

also known as Boca da Barra, Barra do Camaratuba

advanced onlymedium crowds
JanFebMarAprMayJunJulAugSepOctNovDec

Nearby Barra do Cunhaú 32 km · Ponta de Lucena 37 km · straight-line distance

SeasonMar to Octthe months riders and schools nameHow windy22-28 kttradeLaunchtide dependentaccess rules on record, belowWaterriver mouth/ocean9 things riders flagLevelIntermediate to advancedwith a caveat, in the Level sectionSchools1named at this spotFrom the airport90 minJoao Pessoa (JPA)

When it fills in

Lightest at first light and building through the day to its strongest hours in the afternoon; the sea follows the same curve, calm early and moving later. Indicative from daily forecast profiles, with no hour-by-hour wind record for the beach itself.

Barra de Camaratuba is on Paraiba's north coast and the kiting is at Boca da Barra, where the Rio Camaratuba runs into the Atlantic. The Alisios blow from the southeast from March to October, strongest in August at 22 to 28 knots; sessions logged here saw 14-25 kt side/onshore from the right.
Waves run 2 to 5 ft, the water is warm, no wetsuit. Tide decides everything. At low tide the river mouth goes calm and the bathers move in; at high tide the ocean side turns rough and wave oriented, and the current through the mouth is the thing to check before you walk in.
This is intermediate and up, beginners only with the school: river mouth, tide swings, swimmers and open surf are a bad combination for learning alone. It is smaller and far less documented than the Rio Grande do Norte hubs, which is the point if you want a wave session with nobody else out. Sundays at Boca da Barra are full of swimmers.

The wind

locals call it Alisios

Direction

beachwater
cross-onSE

Kite sizes

5678910111213141516

metres · typical quiver highlighted

Character

trade

fills in: Lightest at first light and building through the day to its strongest hours in the afternoon; the sea follows the same curve, calm early and moving later. Indicative from daily forecast profiles, with no hour-by-hour wind record for the beach itself.

Typical strength

22-28 kt in August; 14-25 kt side/onshore on logged sessions.

Strong and steady enough in season for the local kite and surf training, but far less documented than the Rio Grande do Norte hubs.
Kite season is March to October, SE wind strongest in August, with rideable waves most days.

The quiver, in words

Indicative for a 75-85 kg rider, read off the wind range rather than a local size log: 7-9 m through the strong August spell of 22-28 kt, 9-12 m on the ordinary 14-25 kt days between March and October. Below 14 kt it becomes a 12 m or foil afternoon.

Direction to shore

side-onshore from the right on the reported sessions

Forecast

Month by month

  1. Jan34
  2. Feb48
  3. Mar, riders' month39
  4. Apr, riders' month30
  5. May, riders' month54
  6. Jun, riders' month63
  7. Jul, riders' month87
  8. Aug, riders' month86
  9. Sep, riders' month90
  10. Oct, riders' month78
  11. Nov49
  12. Dec59

per cent of the month at force 4 or more

Ringed months are the ones riders and schools name: Mar, Apr, May, Jun, Jul, Aug, Sep, Oct.

  1. 10Jan30°
  2. 11Feb30°
  3. 10Mar30°
  4. 10Apr30°
  5. 11May29°
  6. 12Jun28°
  7. 14Jul27°
  8. 14Aug27°
  9. 14Sep27°
  10. 13Oct28°
  11. 11Nov29°
  12. 11Dec29°

avg knots per month · water °C below · season highlighted

MonthForce 4+KnotsFromAirWater
Jan34%10.1 ktSE27°C29.7°C
Feb48%10.9 ktSE27.2°C29.8°C
Mar39%10.4 ktSE26.8°C30.2°C
Apr30%10.1 ktSSE26.7°C30.1°C
May54%11.1 ktSSE26.2°C29.4°C
Jun63%12 ktSSE25°C27.9°C
Jul87%13.7 ktSSE24.5°C27°C
Aug86%13.6 ktSSE24.6°C27°C
Sep90%13.6 ktSE25.1°C27.2°C
Oct78%12.5 ktSE26°C28°C
Nov49%11.2 ktESE26.7°C28.6°C
Dec59%11.2 ktESE26.8°C29°C
modelled

A weather model's cell over this place, not a station on it. Good for comparing places, weaker for one beach.

Modelled from weather reanalysis on a 10–25 km grid (2022-2024), not a ground station: reliable for trade and synoptic winds, understates thermal sea breezes and valley winds. The typical daily max and the direction are columns of the table above, month by month. Highlighted months are the riding season from the spot record.

ERA5 reanalysis grid point (modelled) · Open-Meteo historical weather API — ECMWF ERA5/ERA5-Land reanalysis, not a ground station · 2022-2024

The water

Type

river mouth/ocean

Standing depth

The river mouth goes calm and bath-like at low tide; nobody has measured a standing-depth zone.

Tides

Strongly tide affected. Boca da Barra is best for bathing at low tide; the main beach has rougher sea and is mainly used by bathers at low tide.

Wetsuit

Warm tropical water and warm weather on logged sessions; no month-by-month water-temperature series exists for this exact beach.

Currents

Check the river-mouth current before you go in; it is the main safety factor here.

27–30°C water
Boca da Barra is where the Rio Camaratuba meets the Atlantic. The river-mouth side is calmer on the right tide; the village beach is open ocean, with surfers and kiters sharing the same stretch.

Your level

not for beginners hereintermediateadvanced
Intermediate spot; beginners only with a school. River mouth, tide swings, bathers and open surf make it a bad place to learn unsupervised.

The scene

What riders come here for

wavestraplessfreeridesurf training
Small village, local training feel, quiet. Boca da Barra is the bathing spot and fills up on Sundays.

Launch and rules

three ways on to the water, and what each one asks of you

With a school or a boat

1 school names this spot

See who they are

On your own

Room to launch: tide dependent

access rules on record

Somewhere else

Barra do Cunhaú, 32 km

Every spot within 40 km is on the map at the top of this page, with its distance under it.

Rescue

Lifeguards at Boca da Barra watch the bathers. There is no kite rescue, so do not count on being picked up.

Launch

Natural sand at Boca da Barra and on the ocean beach next to it; rigging space shrinks and grows with the tide and with the bathers.

Space

tide dependent

Hazards riders report 9

  • tide changes
  • river mouth current
  • waves
  • River-mouth current
  • Strong tide changes
  • Rough ocean/high-tide waves
  • Bathers at Boca da Barra
  • Shared surf/kite area
  • Limited kite-specific support compared with larger hubs
Rules & access
  • 2008: Lei municipal 272/2008 made the river mouth an Area de Relevante Interesse Ecologico da Barra do Camaratuba, and Mataraca regulates vehicle traffic inside it, fixing where large vehicles may load, unload and park at Barra de Camaratuba.
  • 2015: further municipal rules on use of the orla maritima at Barra de Camaratuba protect the environment and the landscape and restate the guaranteed public access to beach and sea required by federal decree 5.300/2004. No kite-specific permit, zone, hours or seasonal ban is on record; what constrains you is the bathing crowd at Boca da Barra, not a regulation.

Access rules drift faster than anything else we hold — check locally, and propose an edit if this has changed.

Rider tips

  • Read the tide table before you commit to Boca da Barra; the mouth is calm at low tide and running at high.
  • Rig well clear of the bathing area at Boca da Barra, and on weekends and holidays assume it is full of swimmers.
  • August is the strong month, 22-28 kt. Take the smaller kite.
  • The lifeguards at Boca da Barra are there for bathers; nobody is coming for a kite.
  • This is Barra de Camaratuba in Paraiba, not Barra do Cunhau in Rio Grande do Norte; the names get mixed up.

Getting there

Airport

Joao Pessoa (JPA) or Natal (NAT)

Route

By road from Joao Pessoa or Natal on BR-101, then local roads to Mataraca and Barra de Camaratuba; about 1h30 by car from Joao Pessoa.

Transfer

90 min

Cost level

medium

Staying

Small pousadas and simple beach kiosks at Boca da Barra and on the village beach; not much beyond that.

No-wind days

Surf, low-tide bathing at Boca da Barra, mangrove/indigenous-reserve boat trips, nearby Lagoa da Pavuna and quiet beach exploration.

Photos

The Camaratuba river mouth (Boca da Barra) with a moored fishing boat, sandbar and mangrove-lined banks
Marinelson Almeida - Traveling through Brazil from Niteroi, Brasil / CC BY 2.0 via Wikimedia Commons

FAQ

When is the best time to kite at Barra de Camaratuba?

The kitesurf period runs March to October, with SE wind strongest in August.

Is Barra de Camaratuba suitable for beginners?

It is reported as an intermediate spot; beginners should only ride with a school because of the river mouth, tide changes and bathers.

What is the wind like?

SE trade winds are dominant, reaching about 22-28 knots in August, with side to onshore direction reported on sessions.

How does tide affect the spot?

The river-mouth area at Boca da Barra becomes calmer at low tide, while the main beach has rougher surf mostly used by bathers at low tide.

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Last updated: August 2026