Tegus going left in Puerto Armuelles, Panama
I just got back from a morning surf session.
Mid flood-tide, beach break, waist to chest high glassy, offshore breeze.
Decent waves for Puerto Armuelles.
I was out on my fish, and I had a bunch of fast little rides; a fine way to start the day.
Favorite Puerto Armuelles Panama Surf Spot
My favorite surf spot is located a ten minute drive north from the center of town (twelve minutes on a bicycle).
[UPDATE: since then I have discovered a much better surf spot out by the Manaca neighborhood. I will put a link here when I write that up]
The beach is called Corazon de Jesus. It is a small beach front neighborhood that is becoming popular with expats.
For that reason, it is probably the most surfed beach in town.
Corazon is a beach break, as are most of the local surf spots, with equal numbers of lefts and rights.
Surf Conditions in Puerto Armuelles, Panama
The waves there are usually clean, rideable probably about a third of the time in the rainy season.
Right now it is the rainy season.
The ocean in Puerto Armuelles has been know to be flat as a pancake for a solid month during the rainy season.
However, the rainy season is also when we get our south swell.
We have ten days of solid of 3-5 foot “epic” Puerto Armuelles conditions usually once or twice a season.
Guys come from as far away as David (an hour and a half) to catch our ideal surf conditions.
About that time, David’s own main break Playa Barqueta is getting pounded by 15 to twenty foot close-out faces. Playa Barqueta has a full-on exposure to a huge Antarctic swell. It is an all -around nasty place to surf with super dangerous currents.
In Puerto Armuelles, under ideal conditions, we are probably riding 8-10 foot faces.
Surfing in Puerto Armuelles (Sarah pictured)
The usual situation involves an offshore breeze in the morning that turns to onshore around midday – Except on cloudy days, when the wind never picks up and the surf stays good all day long.
Surfers In Puerto Armuelles
There might be as many as a dozen surfers in town, mostly old gringos, mostly longboarders.
Most of these surfers have lived and surfed in Hawaii, California, or both.
Most of the surfer gringos are busy starting up businesses.
Ah.. Surfing in Puerto (Tegus pictured)
(A few of the old guy surfers run the Hooked on Panama fishing lodge. They are often too busy with clients to get out surfing much.
Big Panama Surf Near Puerto Armuelles
Sometimes, however, they come back to town with fantastic stories about surfing the really big breaks out at the tip of Punta Burica
Punta Burica is about a half hour from town by boat, or an hour and a half by car.
There are witnesses who say the wave out there is huge, hollow, and breaks for almost two kilometers.
For guys who really want to chase big waves from Puerto, you need to drive out of the shadow of Punta Burica.
Punta Burica effectively blocks about eighty percent of the power of the prevailing southwest swell.
You Have 2 Options To Get Big Waves
1. If you are looking for professional class surf, just hop in your car and drive the two hours to world famous Pavones.
Pavones is on the Costa Rican side of Punta Burica. It hosts some of the most amazing left handed barrels on the planet.
2. You could also charter a local Puerto Armuelles fisherman to run you out to the tip of Punta Burica for the day.
You can decide to stay out on the point with Juancho and Luzmila at Mono Feliz.
In season, you can get into some awsome waves out there.
Why Puerto Armuelles for Surfing?
Surfing Fun in Puerto Armuelles
My wife and daughter travelled all over Panama for three solid months when we first got here in late 2006.
We visited some of the top surf destinations: Santa Catalina in Veraguas Province, Playa Venao and others in Santos Province of the Azuero Peninsula. We have since spent time in Bocas del Toro.
The bottom line was that the best surf destinations had that sort of “cool” surfer vibe that just didn’t attract us as a family.
In addition, most of the best surf places were no more than a collection of cabanas, a few restaurants, and lots of bars.
There was no sense of “place” to anywhere we visited.
That is, until we arrived here in Puerto Armuelles.
My wife and I moved from Seattle, Washington.
We did not want to lose the very livable small village lifestyle that Seattle’s neighborhoods are so famous for.
Like Seattle, Puerto Armuelles is also composed of distinct and attractive neighborhoods.
Searching for Perfect Family Surf Spot
Puerto Armuelles is a highly “liveable” town with an excellent sense of place, and a “good feel” to it.
My decision to become a Puerto Armuelles surfer was a decision to put our family’s quality of life ahead of just surfing.
For our family, it was definitely the right decision.
For me, as a surfer, Puerto Armuelles has been a good choice.
Living in Panama has been a good choice for the whole family.
P.S. If you are looking for surf conditions in Panama. A good place to look is Magic Seaweed.
While searching for a good printable tide chart, found your website, very good and informative! We have met you and crossed paths many times in Puerto. 18 plus years residing at our home here in Limones and love it!
Thanks Frank and Mickey,
I am glad you found the website useful
I look forward to running into you at Romeros again.
Hopefully, next time we can grab a bite to eat together as well.
Hi Reyn…My wife and I are retired and living in Boquete for almost 8 years now. We both surf (me on a surfboard, Alison on a waveski kayak) and we’ve been spending a couple of weeks every month in Santa Catalian. (go to magicseaweed and click on photos and you’ll see lots of photos of us…her on the waveski…me wearing a hat). We lived on the north shore of Oahu for 29 years (I’ve been a surfer for 52 years, Alison for 42 years) and the waves at S.C. are similar to many we enjoyed in Hawaii. Having said that, we are always up for new surfing experiences. We haven’t driven out to Burica for probably 4 years…but each time we traveled there we couldn’t find waves where we could park our pickup and we didn’t like the thought of driving on the beach. We would like to find a decent hotel where we could stay while surfing. Do you know of one? Also…where the heck are the best breaks? Any help would be appreciated. We won’t show up with 10 of our friends and ruin your tranquility!
Aloha,
Bill
Hi Bill,
If you have been surfing in Santa Catalina, and you have lived on the North Shore for half a lifetime, you are obviously used to world class surf. I am sure that you are not going to find that anywhere very near Puerto Armuelles (anything one would want to drive to on a daily basis to surf).
Having said that, I have not been out to the Driftwood Surf Camp out on Punta Burica yet. I have surfed off-season waves out near there, on Isla Burica, and they were pretty good, considering that Puerto Armuelles is flat as a mirror in the off-season (dry season). I believe the owner’s name is Sean. He has plenty of surf experience; I’m sure he can give you the scoop on wave conditions, best time to go, etc…
Surfing right here in Puerto, I will re-iterate: Puerto is a nice little town to live in, where you can also surf; It is definitely not a surf town, per se.
However, If you are thinking about relocating from Boquete, for a beach environment, then Puerto might be of interest. It is a great place to live, that also has surf. Boquete is also great. In fact I am driving up there today for a change of pace; I feel like hiking in the hills around Boquete, then I’ll probably hit one of your excellent “gringo friendly” restaurants.
My friend Victor is from Hawaii, is retired, and lives on the beach at Corazon de Jesus just north of Puerto. He is a lifetime surfer. I think he surfs nearly every day here, whether there are waves or not. He rides a long board. He also recently bought a SUP. He seems to appreciate the surf here. He would be worth talking to.
I ride a big fish, or some sort of a modified “high volume” short board. When there are waves, they are easier for this old guy to catch on these fatter boards.
There is a gal from Australia who also rides a high volume short board.
There are a few true short boarders, but they definitely have to pick their days, for surf able waves near town.
The Coconut Beach Community, at the mouth of the Manaca River has the most exposure to good waves of anything close to town. It takes me about 20 minutes to get to the beach from Las Palmas neighborhood in Puerto Armuelles. I met a guy from Boquete who used to make the drive from Boquete to Manaca every weekend to surf.
Puerto, the town, is certainly worth getting to know. However, If surfing is your main focus, I would suggest Punta Burica, or Pavones, on the Costa Rican side of the Peninsula.
The Best two Hotels in Town are owned by gringos. Milton Hutto’s “Heavenly’s Hotel” and Scott and Bob’s Tsunami Inn. Both are in the San Vicente neighborhood of Puerto Armuelles.
Visit the link to a page on our site for info on these and other places to stay
https://livinginpanama.com/puerto-armuelles-panama/places-to-stay-puerto-armuelles/
Best Wishes,
Reyn
Hola its Shawn at Burica Surf 500m before Mono Feliz .We’ve had our private surf spot for 11 yrs or so out here but are almost ready to open our surf hotelito . Feel free to email and or come see us and we will show you around. Theres always something to ride! Solo Bueno!!
Thanks Shawn,
I’d like to see how you have changed the place.
Enjoy
If you like to know more about surfing in panama we invite you to check htt://www.surfeapanama.com Thanks!!!
Hi, Nice site you have. You include Punta Burica surf, but not surf in Puerto Armuelles!
Granted, the surf on Burica is bigger. We did a short post surf in Punta Burica as well.