Surfing in Panama in February

February is the second month of the dry season and the offshore holds. The mornings are groomed, the afternoons are usually still workable, and the rain has been gone since December.

What changes is under the surface, and only on one coast. The same wind that cleans the waves also pushes surface water away from the shore in the Gulf of Panama, and cold water rises from below to replace it. Playa Venao's side of the Azuero peninsula drops to 26°C this month while Santa Catalina's side, on the other side of the same peninsula, sits at 29°C and is still climbing.

Neither number is cold in any absolute sense. But three degrees is the difference between a rash vest as a courtesy and a rash vest as a decision, and February is when that gap opens.

Learning in February

For learning : Excellent

One of the best months of the year at Playa Venao: the wind is offshore, the bar is sand, and the size is nothing like the southern season.

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.

For an experienced surfer

Surf : Very good

Dry-season conditions without January's company. The point is still doing what it does.

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.