Dadonghai, a beach break on a busy tourist strip of sand that boasts one of the world's most salubrious restaurant and bar-lined boardwalks, catches summer south swells, according to Surfing Hainan shop owner Brendan Sheridan.
"It rarely gets good," he concedes. "But local surfers still surf it whenever there's any semblance of a bump in the water.
"Riyuewan, about an hour away on the east coast, is a left hand point for a good fall/winter spot. It's easily accessed from the expressway and has a consistent left in good sized NE swells, and Shimei Bay Golf Course nearby is a left point with a rock jump off in bigger size."
The University of California East Asian Studies graduate is praying the local authorities will get behind surfing as an official sport as they try to promote Sanya as an international recreational capital to rival Hawaii, with which it is often compared.
Sanya's scenery and mountainous landscape are certainly as good for the likes of Californian Charlie Hooter and others visiting from abroad, for whom the attractions are growing by the month.
Construction of an international cruise terminal and yachting marinas are currently under way and follow the opening of three top international resorts, the Ritz-Carlton, Banyan Tree and the Mandarin Oriental, in the past year.
Sheridan is banking that this development will attract more water lovers keen to fork out $30 to hire a board for a day.
Sheridan first developed his salt water addictions in his final year of college. The 30-year-old says he spent a year in China following his graduation and began to "kick around the idea of doing" something with surfing here.
He started renting boards out of a beachfront restaurant in early 2007, and his Dadonghai store now boasts about 30-plus boards and enough wetsuits to kit out a big class of novices from home and abroad.
As visitors like my sister and the Afghan-weary Hooter attest, Sheridan is helping local officials in their quest to draw greater numbers of more well-heeled foreigners.
Sanya's Deputy Mayor Li Boqing said earlier this year that more international hotel giants are looking to the city to grow their business.
"We will re-identify the city's travel market and make a change in the city's tourism industry development pattern from the low-end toward the upper-end," Li said.
Li and resorts like the Mandarin Oriental would do well to help cultivate a sport now presided over by billion-dollar brands Quiksilver, Billabong and Rip Curl and enjoyed by all walks of life.
In fact, Quiksilver was behind the second annual Surfing Hainan Open presented by Source, a clothing and lifestyle brand, and organized by Sheridan early this month at Riyuewan on Hainan's southeast coast.