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                                                              Mal Pais

Nicoya Peninsula
Major Breaks by Zone
Area Hotels and Restaurants
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                         Scroll down for Magic Seaweed Surf Report

                      Marker - Mal Pais
                        GPS Coordinates
    Latitude   9.6000000       Longitude  -85.1500000

Wave Type - Right Pointbreak
Bottom - Uneven Reef/Sand
Swell Window - South to Northwest
Tide - Low to Mid
Wind - Northeast

                                                                                 Mal Pais

At the south end of the Nicoya Peninsula you will find the trio of towns that support some of the best breaks in the country. Mal Pais, in the province of Puntarenas, is one of these towns. The name "Mal Pais" means "bad country" because of how dry it gets in the summer dry season making it a bad place to live.  Mal Pais, however, is anything but a bad place to live. 

Although it is quite remote, recent improvement of roads has made the trip in shorter and less rugged, for lack of a better word. The trip has, in the past, been long (from San Jose about 4-6 hrs with the ferry) and arduous. The roads are all very good and paved,except for the last 30km or so, and then it is graded and graveled. When you plan this trip, plan the time in to enjoy the journey as well. You will spend about an hour on the ferry and this is a wonderful part of the trip, out on Golfo de Nicoya, surrounded by incredible natural beauty. 

For surfers, who have been aware of it's waves, natural beauty, life style, and the "getting away from it all" vibe, the Mal Pais area has long been a travel destination. In recent years "Mal Pais" natural beauty, it's laid back, surfer style, and it's remoteness-yet not, has attracted people of all sorts, from all over the world. This includes some internationally famous folks such as Mel Gibson and Bobbie Phillips have built luxurious and beautiful vacation homes which has attracted more celebrities. Mal Pais has also become well known through the most well known travel magazines and was named, along with Santa Teresa,  "One of the ten most beautiful beaches in the world" by Forbes Magazine. Amazingly, Mal Pais has managed to maintain its peaceful demeanor and is still mostly undeveloped and remote.

Mal Pais has a quaint town with plenty of options for dining, from inexpensive to very expensive.    
 
                                                                           Surfing in Mal Pais

The Mal Pais beachbreak is best at mid-tide and gets sketchier because of the rocks on the bottom as the tide drops but makes for a more hollow wave. 

At the south end of town you will find a couple of point breaks. There really is no indicator so be patient, and wait for a large set to break, Bigger waves can break for 200m or more. It breaks best at mid-tide.

  

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