At the westernmost end of the promenade — with a view of the lighthouse — this novice-friendly beach offers gently sloping, easy-breaking waves all summer. Named one of the 21 best beaches in America by “Coastal Living,” the Cove is a goofy-footer’s dream — long rides, all lefts. Open to surfers all day, the spot typically breaks best during an incoming tide. As the water level drops, be mindful that currents pull around the jetty.

A crescent-shaped beach with a peeling left, this place can get a bit crowded. (Because it faces south, it’s firing when most of Jersey’s beaches are onshore and messy.) But, hoo boy, when waves are chest high, expect barrels. While beach replenishment has reshaped the profile over the years, there’s consistently a bump here. It’s open to surfers all day long.

There are plenty of good lefts (and a few rights)… if you’re feeling on your game. This place is more challenging than the Cove — sets come in hard and break shallow. It will be cleanest during a north to northeasterly wind, when beaches north of Cape May are choppy and disorganized. While not open to surfers when lifeguards are on duty, the spot is popular with (careful) bodyboarders all day long.

A favorite among intermediate and expert surfers, it takes some size to see this beach line up — it does best with a northwesterly wind. On steep lefts that form off a jetty and wall up quickly, takeoffs can be vertical and hairy, but fun sections follow. It’s open to surfers all day long.

This place is home base for the Cape May Beach Patrol — hence the beach’s nickname: Headquarters. Thanks to an especially long jetty, the spot offers one of the best waves on the island. It also offers one of the most versatile. Depending on weather patterns, you’ll see anything from long and peeling to steep and punchy. It breaks at all tides, but it’s open to surfers only before 9:30am and after 5:30pm.

So named because, legend has it, this used to be the beach of choice for the “help” in Cape May, Poverty is rich with hollow, A-frame waves. The problem? On smaller days, the beach-break can be wicked — it dumps right on the sand. And on larger days brought to you by north/northwest winds, this is a hollow, high-performance, expert-only wave. It’s open to surfers all day near Wilmington Avenue. Parking is free if you’d like to take in the show.

This beach, named for one of the island’s original surfers and the eponymous surf shop he owned here (the family continues to operate a beach service), offers a nice, left-breaking wave that appeals to beginners, intermediates and experts, depending on the day. Like Grant Street, it’s open to summer surfers only before and after guarded hours.

Descriptions by Diane Stopyra, our favorite Cape May-based freelance journalist/surfer!