Mexico

Where to surf in Mexico

Geographically speaking, Mexico is usually considered more a part of North America than Central America but from a cultural and political perspective it is more akin to it’s southern Latino neighbours on the isthmus. Surf-wise, it is a different world from the SoCal hustle and bustle, starting off arid and rocky in Baja, but finishing humid and sandy in Chiapas. Scoured by three seas, diversity is the theme, offering the legion of mainly US visitors every wave shape and height available from the big, challenging bombs of Todos and Escondido to the smaller, perfect, impossibly long rights of Scorpion Bay and Las Islitas.

Baja

Wooed by promises of long righthand points without the insane crowds of SoCal, a road trip down the dusty, potholed, washboard tracks of the Baja Peninsula has become a rite of passage. The Northern Baja region often resembles a hybrid of line-ups north of the border, sharing the same crowds, cool water and south-facing coves that wrap the winter NW swells onto cobble and reef.

South of Punta Camalu lie a number of protected points like Cabo San Quintin, Puntas Baja and San Carlos, which all prefer winter W-NW swells and handle the prevalent, strong onshores.

The points continue into Central Baja starting at Punta Canoas and extend to the offshore desolate beachbreaks of Natividad.

Southern Baja is what many regard as the true Baja since Mex1 veers over to the Gulf of California side and a labyrinth of 4x4 dirt tracks challenges the explorer to reach the coast. The rewards include the now well-known Punta Abreojos and the seven points of Scorpion Bay, both preferring SW swells, bringing warm water to these long peeling rights. There’s hundreds of kilometres of rocky coast and endless beachbreak, but finding protection from the howling NW winds is the challenge.

Los Cabos is a whole different world, swapping cactus and chilled-out camping for concrete and a party vibe amongst the throngs of US holiday makers. The Gulf of California breaks continue the natural footer’s playground by wrapping in when a heavy S or local hurricane (chubasco) forms, but crowds and boardshorts make it a strangely alien Baja experience.

Sinaloa, Nayarit and Jalisco

Sinaloa sits in a NW swell shadow behind Baja, but S swells arrive at a nice angle for lefthand points in San Miguel, Patole’s and Marmol. The Mazatlan area holds hollow, spinning rights and lefts at multiple reefs including Valentinos, Los Patos, Chivos and A-frames behind La Isla de Piedra (Stone Island), where the ferry arrives from Cabo. Rivermouths are another dependable source of great waves at the shifting sandbars of Barron and Teacapan, located down the coast.

Nayarit incorporates the crowds of San Blas and Puerto Vallarta.

While summer rains can wash out the access roads to many of the small fishing villages on the northern coast of Jalisco, the beachbreaks (Penitas, Tomatlan, Tecuan, Arroyo Seco), rivermouths (Chamela, Barra de Navidad) and the odd pointbreak (Ranchito) are a good place for beginners and intermediates to get some quiet water time. The central mainland region faces directly into the the SW-S swells and also benefits from swell amplifying, deep-water bathymetry.

Colima and Michoacan

Colima is home to ultra-powerful Pascuales, which is the state’s best wave and like many of the waves in these three states, it’s usually perfect in the morning NE offshores then blown-out junk in the afternoon, before a possible dusk glass-off. Michoacan is the place to go for challenging, fast peeling rivermouth waves like La Ticla and Nexpa, both awesome waves on their day. Grinding, sand-churning barrels can still be found at Petacalco, despite the coastal armouring.

Guerrero

West Guerrero is chock-full of thumping beachbreak and a fair number of points and reef/sand combos.

East of Acapulco’s madness is almost exclusively sandy beach, punctuated by many estuaries, rivers and streams from the coastal lagoon systems. With the right swell (small to med) and some N or E in the wind, there’s plenty of lightly surfed waves at places like Copala, La Bocana or the left point at Maldonado, which has S wind protection and more options in the immediate area.

Oaxaca

Oaxaca is home to Mexico’s most famous wave, Puerto Escondido, where many believe the best beachbreak in the world hurls itself at the sands of Playa Zicatela. A huge scene revolves around these brutish, semi close-outs in West Oaxaca, but there are less-crowded options. One quiet beach in East Oaxaca has been put on the map when The Search competition was held there in 2006 and those that go the extra mile will discover this coastline is perfectly angled for righthand points.

Chiapas

Bad coastal access is a theme repeated in Chiapas, which shares some geological features with Guatemala. Long, featureless beaches broken by entrances to salt-marsh lagoons and inland waterways. Scope Puerto Arista, Barras San Jose and San Simeon rivermouths, plus Puerto Madero offers some reliable form thanks to jetties, but water quality and security is suspect.

East Coast

GULF OF MEXICO

Needs onshore winds to drive the swell unless a cold front or hurricane has produced proper groundswell, so windchop is the norm. Jetties and rivermouths provide the sandbars and some wind protection on the long sandy stretches like Escolleras in Tampico.

Veracruz is the best bet as the power-sapping shallow shelf is narrowest here. Worthy spots include the hollow left reefbreak at Marti, semi-consistent beachbreak at Destapador and the jetty breaks are down at Boca del Rio (Costalitos). There’s a few more waves to the south like Camaronera and Barra de Sontecomopan but the continental shelf widens to the east and mushy, gutless waves are the norm all the way round the Yucatan Peninsula.

CARIBBEAN SEA

Deep water returns on the east coast in the Caribbean Sea, where coral reefs fringe the islands and E-SE windswells have the longest fetch. Jan/Feb for cold fronts and hurricane season for swells from NW around to S, but it is just as likely to be flat.

There’s some shallow coral head rides off Punta Cancun and choppy onshore beach/rock/reef peaks right down the hotel strip (Chacmool, Palace Hotel, Club Med) including Playa Delphines, which has board hire.

The offshore islands of Mujeres and Cozumel can hold surprisingly powerful beach/reef combos, but clean conditions and longevity are rare