Pavones Surf and Travel Facts
Pavones, considered one of the best lefts in the world, thrives on South Pacific swells, which affect the area’s point breaks to
Dan junior riding the waves at Pavones
perfection, but the waves also break on north swells in the rainy winter (especially in October and November), north swells that sometimes produce partially closed-out twenty-foot waves. The long summer between January and April is hotter than the moderate summer between May and June. And it
Dan Junior getting shacked
rains more in the long winter between September to November than in the short winter of July and August. Spring begins in December. The waves break best and most consistently in the summer—especially in April and May—but Pavones is somewhat unpredictable, seeing overhead waves in every month of the year and sometimes going as long as a month without waves. The waves always break close to shore over a cobblestone bottom, and hold downs are very forgiving. Fish are often seen exploding out of the water, chased by rooster fish, and sharks are rarely seen and never a problem. The water temperature typically remains between 85-90 degrees and drops only to 82 degrees in winter. Don’t bring a wetsuit; just pack a rash guard, a vest at most for morning or evening sessions, and a sweatshirt for the chilly nights. The waves are always glassy in the morning but typically develop a little bump in the afternoon, yet winds haven’t blown over twenty knots in twenty years. On rare occasions, offshore winds blow in the rainy winter, sweeping all the pesky bugs to the beach from the jungle.
When it comes to Pavones’s many surf breaks, gringo newcomers call the break at Rio Claro (which connects to the Esquina break in front of the cantina) “Pavones,” but the real Pavones break—one of the longest (albeit softer) waves in the area—is actually farther north past the Sawmill break and just before Pilon. Few people actually surf the real Pavones break because it’s hidden from the road, which passes it, so you have to hike along the beach to find it. The entire area is a tropical paradise where the exotic jungle meets pristine shorelines, which thrive with iguanas, monkeys, parrots, and red and blue macaws. Sunsets after rainstorms light up the evening sky with a psychedelic green light that locals call monkey light because it brings to life strange monkey howls and bird songs from the jungle. And those elusive green-flash sunsets can be seen almost daily during the rainy season at Pavones.
