Surf: Peñascal appears off the southern tip of the wave-lashed San Bartolo headland, doing a scaled-down impression of a big-wave bombora. It arrives from deep and rears up quickly, giving those on longer boards the time to stroke into some serious drops and race along a series of wide walls and grunty lips. Mainly a long right, but there are some lefts depending on the swell direction, although the paddle back out is likely to result in a few on the head. The right can throw up a mean barrel when it is nicely lined-up in a S-SW swell, but it is more of a pedal to the metal wall and compared with Sunset for shape and power. Great fun when smaller on the inside El Bajo section, before getting serious from double-overhead up on the point proper. High tide kills it a bit, but it will handle a bit of onshore wind and works well in a S swell N wind combo, unlike the other lefts around the corner. Environment: Not for novices, who can try the mellower peaks in the bay near the jetties. The picos de loro cover the boulders and will even rip booties to shreds, so better to take the longer paddle from the beach if not an experienced rock-hopper. It is fairly high-consistency, despite needing a headhigh swell to begin breaking and crowds are moderate and well spread by the shifting nature of the peak.