Quepos & Manuel Antonio

Central Pacific Zone

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Quepos Hotels & Restaurants

Manuel Antonio Hotels & Restaurants

              Scroll down for Magic Seaweed Surf Reports   
            for Quepos Jetty, Playitas, and Playa el Rey

Wave Type - Peak, Submerged Reef
Bottom - Uneven Reef
 Swell Window - South/Southwest
Tide - Low to Mid
Wind - Northeast

                               Marker - Quepos
                                      GPS Coordinates
         Latitude  9.4319444     Longitude  -84.1611111

                  Manuel Antonio    

Just to the north of the entrance of Manuel Antonio National Park  is a great beach for learning how to surf. There is an island just offshore that blocks most swells and it is rarely over waist high. The waves that do break, break best at high tide. It is often quite crowded with newbies taking suf lessons and beginners with soft boards.

                             Quepos Jetty

Before the construction of the quite large Pez Vela Marina, Quepos Jetty would dish out a point-like wave that would peel into the river mouth. Today, after the construction and despite fears that the marina would destroy the wave, there is a "new" wave produce by the marina harbour sea wall and the river mouth produce a fun wave that, when waist to chest high is a good for longboards (slow and mushy). Bigger swells produce fast peeling waves with barrel sections. It works best with big south to west swells at lower tides. 
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Wave Type - Left Jetty                                                             Bottom - Rock and Sand
Swell Window - South to West
Tide - All
Wind - East

                               Quepos

Quepos is primarily a fishing town, not really known for its surf. It lies between Jaco and Dominical and is a great place for surf travelers to stop to stretch their legs and grab a bite to eat. There will usually be some surfers out but it is somewhat sheltered from swells, they need some good size before it will start to break. It can, however, get good when the swell is just right. At the Quepos rivermouth waves will used to roll in and break off a jetty into the rivermouth. It was a fast breaking left that could break for up to 200 yds when its working. It needed a good size swell to work and it broke best at mid to low tide. It worked best at chest to headhigh but used to hold double overhead waves. Sadly, the building of the Pez Vela Marina has pretty much killed the wave.

The water at the rivermouth is very polluted.

Quepos has an ample supply of hotels and restaurants. It is also one of the main places for fishing charters.

Quepos Surf Report at:
magicseaweed.com/Quepos-Jetty-Surf-Report/3343/

                      Quepos Bombie

A spot offshore, south of the jetty is Quepos Bombie. It is a submerged slab that produces waves with big swells. It is occasionally good for tow-in. 

             
        Manuel Antonio-Playitas

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Just down the road from Quepos is Manuel Antonio. Manuel Antonio is best known for Costa Rica's Manuel Antonio National Park and its large gay community. The town of Manuel Antonio is up the hill from the beach and is home to a number of very nice hotels and restaurants. 

Playitas is a break located about a 3/4 of a mile north of the National Park entrance and accessed by walking. It is just past a large rock formation that you will see offshore.

Playitas breaks best at high tide with chest to just overhead waves. Bigger sets have a tendency to close out. Playitas is a very popular spot for local surfers and bodyboarders and can be very crowded.

                     Playa El Rey

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Playa el Rey is a pretty isolated beach located south of Manual Antonio about 8-10 km near the Rio Naranjo rivermouth. It produces pretty fair quality left and right peaks. It closes out when it gets big. 
As at most beaches in Costa Rica, camping is allowed but you will have to bring in all your supplies.