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As all humidity comes from the west, the east coast is dry. Very dry. The combined mountain ranges build a very effective cloud barrier. And what they let pass in form of melting snow gets consumed by the upper parts of the mountainsides. Down at the ocean it´s mostly dusty. But the coastal area is fairly even and so you find plenty of towns and the industrial centres of the island around here. It´s also the most developed part of the island, with the only motorway connecting the harbour in Santa Cruz with the before mentioned industry sites and tourist magnet Los Christianos. And it´s the windiest part of the island. The northeast Trades come in almost perfect angle and get accelerated by the mountain flanks. At the southern end of the east coast, El Médano is blessed by an extra push of the wind due to its situation at the end of the mountain ranges and a rocky hill at the tip of the cap. The little town nowadays almost solely lives from all the windsurfing enthusiasts, coming here to score a maximum of wind (see Chris Hafer´s related story about Godzilla).
Heading north from El Médano the east coast – that in fact faces south-east – gets solid doses of trade winds during summer but very little swell. That past of the coast is just too protected from the North Atlantic swell sources. But in summer there is the odd south swell coming way up from the southern hemisphere that can create surprisingly good surf but is hard to predict and only happens during a couple of days. Trade winds push in a little bit of windswell that can be fun. And then there is that headland north of Santa Cruz. Really big winter swells sometimes make it around the corner here…..
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