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About this spot
Praia de Chaves is the long, open sand beach on Boa Vista's west coast near Rabil, on the resort strip south of Sal Rei. Close in the water is flat; around 300 m out a reef or bar breaks 1.5–3 m waves through the December-to-February swell, which is what put the beach on the wave riders' map. Guides list the riding level as everything from beginner to advanced, but the detail matters: the resort-attached school works boats on its own frontage and the rest of the sand is wild, with rescue not a given.
The north-easterly trade is the main-season wind, reported at 16–28 kn from November to May and described as side-shore by one guide and side-shore-to-side-offshore by another — the same flow reading differently along a beach that runs about 5 km, so expect drift and never assume the wind is holding you on the beach. January to March is the windiest window, and in summer this coast sees the southerly to south-westerly that Boa Vista's school quotes at 18–24 kn.
Two things are worth settling before you plan a session. The beach sits inside the Morro de Areia nature reserve, a sea-turtle nesting area running from here down to Santa Mónica, so ask locally whether any seasonal access rules apply to the stretch you mean to launch from. And a mangrove lagoon behind the beach is described as flat and shallow, but its access, its depth and whether it can be ridden at all are unconfirmed — one source flags that itself. Neither should be taken as fact.
3-day forecast
Speed / gusts in knots. Colour = rideability for this spot. Bottom row = recommended kite size for your weight — not recommended outside this spot's 14–32 kn range.
Conditions
- Water
- flat, choppy, waves
- Depth
- Flat and wadeable close in; 1.5–3 m waves break over the reef roughly 300 m out.
- Seabed
- sand, reef
- Skill
- intermediate, expert
- Beginners
- Not for beginners — intermediate and up
- Wind range
- 14 kn – 32 kn
Access & parking
About 10–12 km south of Sal Rei on the resort strip, roughly 10 minutes from Aristides Pereira International Airport (BVC) at Rabil.
Parking: Resort-side parking on the school's frontage. Outside that there is no confirmed facility, and no beach fee or permit is documented — both need a local check.
Amenities
- A resort-attached school runs lessons and boat support on its own frontage (the sources do not name it) — the only confirmed service on this beach.
- Nothing independent of the resort is confirmed for toilets, showers or rental; assume none until you see it.
Needs local verification: Compiled in October 2026 from the KiteInsider spot and destination records for Kite Beach (Sal), Sal Rei and Praia de Chaves, the schools' own pages for Kite-Verde, Duotone Pro Center Boa Vista and the São Vicente operator, independent spot logs (kiteforum, lets-kite, spots4kite, foil.guide), satellite sea-surface averages for Boa Vista and OpenStreetMap geocodes. The exact launch pins on the long beaches of Costa da Fragata and Praia de Chaves — and the Sal Rei coordinate, which geocodes to the town centre rather than a launch — the beach fees, permits and kite zones, the mangrove-lagoon access behind Chaves, any seasonal turtle-nesting access rules inside the Morro de Areia reserve, the seabed and depth at São Pedro, and the direction and reliability of the summer southerly wind all still need confirming on site.
Local hazards
- Open Atlantic shorebreak — the landing zone is not slack water on a swell day.
- 1.5–3 m waves break over the reef roughly 300 m out; do not drift into them on a small kite.
- Side-shore to side-offshore trade: you drift along the beach, and drifting past the resort frontage puts you where there is no rescue.
- Rescue cover is only confirmed on the resort school's own frontage — the rest of the 5 km of sand is on its own.
- Inside the Morro de Areia turtle-nesting reserve — check locally for seasonal access rules before you launch.
- The mangrove lagoon behind the beach is unverified for access and depth; do not plan lessons there until someone has stood in it.