Placer de las Bóvedas

Placer de las Bóvedas sits about 3 nautical miles off the Costa del Sol in the open Alboran Sea, with the Marbella/San Pedro coast to the north (San Pedro due N at ~6.7km, Guadalmina NNW at ~6.3km) shielding the N-NNE-NE and NNW sectors. Its exposed window is the open sea to the south and along the coast axis: the S-SSE-SE-SSW arc faces unobstructed Alboran fetch, the Levante (E-ESE) brings the dominant long-fetch swell down the coast, and Poniente/Libeccio (SW-WSW) pushes fetch from the Gibraltar Strait direction. The W-WNW-NW sector is only partly shadowed by the more distant Estepona coast. There is no true ocean groundswell here — waves are wind-driven fetch — but a sustained Levante or Southerly blow builds surface chop and reinforces the site's strong currents, the usual reason trips are called off.