What is the best time of year to surf in NosaraNosara's Surf Seasons
Costa Rica is remarkably consistent. Nosara, in particular, is one of the few places in the world where you can surf every day of the year. Since opening in 2007, we have not had a single day here at Playa Guiones in Nosara, when the ocean went flat. It sounds too good to be true but this incredible fact about Nosara is why we chose to make Surf Simply's home here.
That said, there are, of course, better days and worse days, as well as seasonal variation. Regardless of the conditions during your stay, we promise a fun and productive week of coaching. Our advice is simple: if you’re serious about progressing, get in the ocean as soon as possible and as often as possible.
Keep in mind that seasonal averages are not forecasts. You cannot predict what the surf will be like in any given week based on the average conditions for that time of year. Mean average surf height is calculated from many individual days, most of which are not “average” at all.
A useful analogy is average height in men and women. Saying that men are, on average, taller than women does not allow you to predict the height of any individual person based solely on their gender.
In the same way, the winter months from November to April have a lower mean average wave height (roughly waist- to shoulder-high), while the summer months from May to October have a higher mean average wave height (roughly head-high).
Costa Rica enjoys a daily mix of sunshine and showers year-round, which supports its lush forests and extraordinary biodiversity. The exception is the four months between Christmas and Easter, when rain is rare and skies are typically clear.
Like any tropical country, we experience a small number of tropical storms each year. When they occur, they are sometimes mischaracterised on social media as being typical weather in Costa Rica outside the dry months, which is not the case. These storms may bring a few days of grey, rainy conditions, but they rarely come with strong winds. As a result, it is very uncommon for them to prevent us from surfing. The only time we stay out of the water is during lightning; once a storm has passed, we make up the surf time later the same day or later in the week.
During the dry months between Christmas and Easter, there are occasional mornings when we do not surf early due to strong Papagayo winds blowing from the east. When these winds are strong enough that we consider it unsafe to be in the ocean, we simply surf later in the day, as they usually ease by mid-morning.
No matter the conditions we promise that your time at Surf Simply will be both fun and productive. The value of a week at Surf Simply is not defined by how perfect the surf happens to be, but by the skills and drills you learn. The value is in the tools that you take home with you and continue to use to improve long after you leave.
