Surfing in Mexico in February

February holds January's pattern with less behind it. The North Pacific keeps sending swell down to Nayarit, the gaps between are longer than in December, and Oaxaca is at the bottom of its year.

It is also the month the two coasts diverge most. The water at Sayulita drops to 24°C while Puerto Escondido sits at 28°C, and that four-degree gap between two beaches in the same country is the clearest single sign that Mexico is not one surf destination. In July the same two readings are within a tenth of a degree of each other.

There is a reason to be on the north coast beyond the surf this month. Humpbacks calve in Banderas Bay from December through March, and Sayulita sits at the top of it. On a small day that is what the boats are doing, and it is not a consolation prize.

Learning in February

For learning : Very good

One of the easier months. Small, warm enough, and the Nayarit schools are running with the winter swell rather than against it.

Where a beginner goes in February

These spots are reachable all year. What the month changes is the size of the waves, not the access.

Carrizalillo
Puerto EscondidoBeginner

For an experienced surfer

Surf : Good

Thin but clean. If February is fixed, look at the points north of Sayulita rather than waiting on the beach.

How February compares

All twelve months, side by side

Where these figures come from

Air, rain and sunshine: WMO / NOAA 1991-2020 normals for Agadir Al Massira, a station some twenty kilometres inland and so a little warmer than the coast in summer. Swell, period and share of workable wind: Swell Archive and surf-forecast. Water temperature: seatemperature.org and weather-and-climate. Crowds and prices are an editorial judgement, not a measurement.