21 Feb 2020
Puerto Sandino is the best wave in Nicaragua, ergo, Central America. I've surfed a lot of Central America, not all of it, and while arguments can be made from all sides and even taking into account my bias, I'll say it again- Puerto Sandino is the best wave in Nicaragua. I've read before on Surfline that Nicaragua doesn't have world class waves, but Puerto Sandino is proof that statement is not true.
Whileuser friendly, Sandino is not always the easiest wave to surf. What's not an issue is dry reef on the inside, scraped knuckles, cuts and the need for kook boots (booties!). What is an issue is a big playing field that's far offshore, confusing to lineup if you don't know how, and something I call the "black hole" that will punish you for making a mistake...let's just get that explanation out of the way. Sandino is a sandbar on the mouth of a river estuary outflow, a river mouth for all intents and purposes. As a general rule it breaks as the tide is filling in and thus the estuary starts to suck as it fills back up on the tide push. Add in consistent set after set of waves feeding that suction, often with wayward surfers caught in the gyre, and this is what we call the Black Hole. Get caught in side by the first wave of the set, you're past the "event Horizon"... you cannot escape. As the second and third waves hit, you will be paddling as hard as you can and still traveling backwards. The black hole has gotten you, might as well enjoy the ride. Eventually you get spit out of the other side, which is a deep spot located a couple hundred yards inside. There, the depth has slowed the current so you can make headway to the shoulder...paddle towards the boats I always tell the guests. Once wide, it's relatively easy to get back in position, just don't get lazy and cut the corner, or there's a good chance you'll get caught by another set and do the whole thing over again. Like Salmon spawning, or a rat getting flushed- I've seen grown men (including myself) on the verge of tears with frustration, watching perfect wave after perfect wave break tantalizingly close, unable to break free of the gravity. While not the best feature about Sandino, the black hole is a great regulator, it keeps people in check and keeps the crowd spread out. No matter how good you are, what sponsor stickers you have on your board, or how strong you paddle, the black hole will get you...everyone gets flushed at least once.
Sand often makes the smoothest contours. At it's best a sandbar is free of gaps, bulges and the random rock or coral head sticking up. Look at the perfecto-meter at Namibia, or Mundaka, two of the hands down, best waves in the world are coincidentally sand bottomed? Kirra and Superbank aren't far from this formula either. This brings us to Puerto Sandino, sand bottomed though anchored by reefs, and most of the time having those perfect contours as well. When the sandbar has been groomed by the predominant south swell, the waves just get better and better with every tide cycle and every passing set.
Most surfers think of Colorado's as the best when they think of Nicaragua....it's as good a beach breaks as anywhere in the world. Colorados is a good wave, sometimes amazing, but it relies on the right period in order to be more than a glorified beach break closeout. It does benefit from some of the most consistent offshore winds and swells in the world, but even those are sometimes too strong. Double overhead long period lines make paddling out not as appealing as watching the wayward attempt while sipping Toñas in the pool of your 5 star accommodations at Hacienda Iguana. Add in cold water upwelling caused by those incessant offshores and it takes away the balmy tropical dream and replaces with a chilly sting of reality. Close outs and cold water, combined with a hungry local crew, followed closely by a hungry ex-pat crew, followed closely by a hungry tourist crew...and you can have Colorados to yourself with a hundred of your closest friends. It's good enough to produce frequent dream sessions and great marketing photos, but hardly the perfection that the marketing might depict...It might be why Surfline and some other sources say Nicaragua is devoid of world class waves when in fact it does have them, just a few hours to the North.
I moved here to surf anything, I stayed to surf Puerto Sandino. More often than not, it's perfect. It's sand bottomed, it's easy and challenging at the same time, it gives you that exotic "tropical surf trip by boat to perfect wrapping left point with a photographer on the boat and it's raining unicorns and beer" feeling. It's far from a beach break, very far. To get into the mechanics is a study in hydrodynamics and sand flow. There are three rivers that outlet into an estuary that dumps into the ocean out of one channel about 90 feet wide, flanked by reef on both sides. The estuary is fed by large tide cycles, often approaching 10 feet. The estuary itself isn't very deep, but what it lacks in depth it makes up for in surface area. It holds and immense volume of water and when the tides flowing out, sand that eroded from the numerous volcanos and slowly sifted down the numerous rivers, is scoured from the bottom of the estuary and eventually out the channel at the river mouth, often times at a velocity of 5-10knots. Those two reefs flanking the outlet, one on the south side of the channel, and one to the north side of the channel force the water to flow ferociously, carrying sand (and anything else) with it. If you look at Sandino on an outgoing tide, it's a mess. Waves hardly break, the water is brown and stirred up with all kinds of leaves and flotsam escaping the estuary. Note the water is brown from sand and sediment suspended in the water column, like a huge snowblower, pushing that sediment out where it settles onto the bottom like a huge underwater sand dune. As the tide switches now and goes from slack to flooding tide, the waves start to push in. I've seen Sandino (many times) go from just about flat, to well overhead as fast as the incoming tide starts pushing in. Those first sets on the low tide, especially if it's big, will break wide and often a little fat. It doesn't take but a few sets though to push the sand up into a bit steeper and shallower bank and the waves will start to dredge, literally along the sand bar. As the brown estuary water is pushed away by the clean blue ocean water, the color changes. As those blue waves run down the sand bar, you can see them sucking up sand from the sand bar, like a hollowness meter.
Until I surfed Sandino I was happy to get a barrel here or there. Now it's a rare day I don't get barreled out there. It makes surfing seem easy sometimes. Drop, turn, stall, stand, get barreled, come out, do it again. On a really good days it may bend around the sand bar and provide really long bowling barrels. On bigger days it may have an almond shaped high line freight train barrel (some people call it Freight Trains). On some of my favorite days there is crossed up swell and you drop in, stall, get barreled, come out, stall again, get barreled come out..this may happen 4, 5, 6 times on one wave when it's at it's best. The hardest part is trying to make it out of the last barrel after you've pulled in so many times...the anxiety of making the wave grows intense as you really want to say you got barreled
Circa 2012: Even this old guy can get barreled out there, which means you can too!
Since 2012 I've been surfing Sandino just about every day it's worked. I've missed a few here or there, but not many. It's been interesting to watch it evolve. 2012, was my first year in Nicaragua and I surfed so much at Sandino my body was ready to give out, at one point I went 54 days in a row, sometimes twice a day. 2013-2016 we're all pretty good, though with a few hiccups from onshore storms during monsoon season grinding away the sandbar and needing some time to rebuild. Around the end of 2017 and almost all of 2018 the sandbar was non-existent. It was a gut punch after years of being spoiled by such perfect waves. We wound up surfing every little nook and cranny we could find, which to most would seem like a dream, but after surfing perfect Sandino for years, scrapping around at less than perfect Punta Miramar seemed like second place. Early 2019 the sand bar was back and better than ever. I surfed as much at Puerto Sandino in 2019 as I did in 2012, but now I've got the nuances a little more dialed. There's a bit more of a crowd, now that the word has gotten out and business' trying to capitalize on the resource (myself included) have brought more and more surfers to the area. I know I'm part of the problem and not so much the solution, but I fear Sandino going the way of so many other un-known spots. There's no crowd control and money wins over crowd control... and then with your new found wealth what do you do? Travel the world looking for uncrowded waves I guess. There's still room out there and going every day you do find those moment with just you and a friend, trading off perfection that you only dreamed about as a youngster drifting off in Geometry class.
The best time of the year is between March and September. There's some gem's outside of those dates, but it's not consistent enough to plan on it. If you found yourself lucking into an offseason session, just chalk it up to good luck, but don't think you can come in the offseason and expect to score it every day. March through September in general every incoming tide it's working. We can have strong offshores that blow it out, or strong on-shores that do the same. Morning are almost always best...to avoid the winds and the worst of the sun. A mid day surf at this latitude can leave you wishing you stayed in if you don't stay hydrated and don't apply the sunscreen liberally. Bring your best set of shoulders. It's not uncommon to paddle over 8 miles in long session. Every 4 to 5 300 yard long waves and you'll be paddling a mile. Imagine a 4 hour session with 30-40 waves... like I said, bring your best set of shoulders.
You Know where to find us when you need to scratch that itch, just ask google;-) Please follow the surf reports on Instagram @sirena_surf_lodge and on Facebook. Help us out by tagging a friend or sharing or whatever else you can do with social media these days...I won't pretend to be an expert. We also have a live Surfline webcam focused on Punta Miramar to give you an idea of daily conditions out front. What I am good at though is making sure you find good waves. I hope this guide helps light your fire and I hope to see you soon down here waxing up and getting ready to go surf with me...I'll see you in the black hole and we'll laugh about it over Toñas afterwards!
This Blog is dedicated to Michael Chestnut... never been here, just said he liked my blogs and liked my style. First wave's your Mike!