Praia do Matadeiro

A small, cliff-framed cove in the far south of the island, reached on foot in about fifteen minutes from Armação. What makes Matadeiro worth the walk is its swell window: it wants E/NE swell with S/SW wind, which is the opposite of what Joaquina, Praia Mole and Moçambique want. That makes it a genuine alternative rather than a lesser version of the same day — when the island's east-coast breaks are onshore and ragged, Matadeiro is often the clean option. It is friendly at modest size and turns into hollow A-frames when a bigger east swell arrives.