A good friend and myself are headed to Puerto Sandino next week and I am really looking forward to it. Looks like we are going to be greeted by a swell but winds also look like they may be funky. Staying at Puerto Sandino Surf Resort doing the all inclusive package. My first time to Nica but my friend's 4th or 5th, although he's not been to this area. I've searched through this forum and read where other posters have gone and gotten some pretty good info. I'm a pretty competent bodyboarder and looking to get as barreled as possible. My buddy surfs well but I think he may be looking for slightly softer waves than me but we'll find a happy medium. For those that have gone, feel free to give any helpful insight or must do's and dont's. I'm really looking forward to this and when return I will update this thread on how the trip went, hopefully with good pictures.
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Puerto Sandino, Nicaragua next week.
- Thread starter theramrod
- Start date
Be on it like clockwork the first 90 minutes and last 90 minutes of the incoming swing. You do not want to wait until the window starts, go check it, watch it, walk back, get your sh!t, sunscreen, walk back....
Don't chase shitty ones at the inside reef at Miramar. If it's a double up from deep that's baaaarely not big enough to wash through, that's the one. Otherwise, you are trying to sell (without paddling off the welcome mat-sized takeoff spot) those shitty ones to people you suspect might burn you the double up deep nougat. If you want to practice DK or you like carving reverses going left, then chase shitty ones.
The etiquette is generally fuck or be fucked. There's no order but also no consequences.
If the inside reef or the weird beach up by the jetty or the stuff more out front looks fun enough even with adverse winds early in the trip, try to top off the stoke tank as much as you can. If the wind goes good but the swell dies, the crowd to wave ratio could get brutal. Might be 12 eggs in a half dozen carton.
Don't chase shitty ones at the inside reef at Miramar. If it's a double up from deep that's baaaarely not big enough to wash through, that's the one. Otherwise, you are trying to sell (without paddling off the welcome mat-sized takeoff spot) those shitty ones to people you suspect might burn you the double up deep nougat. If you want to practice DK or you like carving reverses going left, then chase shitty ones.
The etiquette is generally fuck or be fucked. There's no order but also no consequences.
If the inside reef or the weird beach up by the jetty or the stuff more out front looks fun enough even with adverse winds early in the trip, try to top off the stoke tank as much as you can. If the wind goes good but the swell dies, the crowd to wave ratio could get brutal. Might be 12 eggs in a half dozen carton.
The zone in general. There's a pretty big tide swing, like 5-6 foot, and the spots wanted a certain depth to break correctly, and the swell wanted incoming to exist. The Shacks/Shifts whatever worked on the last 90 minutes of the incoming tide. The Puerto Sandino left, the first 90 minutes (or so) of the incoming. It reminded me of the way I've heard people talk about surfing in Georgia, that it MUST be incoming tide, or the wave machine is shut off.
The start of your trip looks to have more swell than when I was there, so hopefully this will widen the window and there will be enough pulse to push through the outgoing.
This was unclear. I didn't intend to suggest you burn people. I am suggesting that you expect back paddles, snaking, burn attempts/paddling down sections, etc.
Update - We have postponed our trip till August due to a buttload of rain and a good bit of all day stormy onshores forecasted this coming week. Plus southern Florida has been flooding and that is where our connection was out of, the airline has sent a message saying to expect delays/cancellations. Nothing felt right about going this coming week.
Thanks again SB for the info though.
Thanks again SB for the info though.
It’s a rad area. I’d assume you could get very barreled on a bodyboard at Miramar point as it’s kinda just a heaving slabby sort of wave. Sandino is likely an insane wave and we had fun, but the wind was, literally, too hard offshore and made it challenging. We did hear you don’t want outgoing tide there at all. If you want tubes there’s another beachbreak a short boat ride north (don’t remember the name) that’s supposed to get great and the other beach/reef break a short walk north (and visible from) from Miramar point. Good luck!
Oceanslide, I think the beachbreak north is Salinas Grande area, though I'm not sure.
I got an email from Colin at Puerto Sandino resort this morning and he affirmed we made the correct call for the weather has been crazy and that looks to continue for a portion of the week.
I got an email from Colin at Puerto Sandino resort this morning and he affirmed we made the correct call for the weather has been crazy and that looks to continue for a portion of the week.
Colin is Awesome, the surf there is fun. Right in front of his place is a slabby little peak, super hollow and shallow but fun. If you want tube rides, go to Salinas Grande, Colin surf's a lot there as well, or the Boom. All other comments about Sandino are spot on.
I stayed there got the same package. It was worth it to have priority on the boat tor going to Sandino. I was there first week of July nothing epic but fun waves. I surfed 2-3x a day except one day when it was flat. Sandino is such a killer wave when it’s working. The point out front was working the first day I was there. Fickle.hard to pick a good one. I saw a dude from Santa Cruz get the wave of his life there though. Also some Brazilian women’s surf club was staying there at the same time as me. Hope you have the same luck. Had to include one of the few decent surf photos of me ever taken lol I think this was the beach break to the south. That’s kinda the average conditions but a few of the days were better.I went to Sandino more than 10 years ago. Caught it huge, borderline not surfable for a couple of days. It is a challenging wave. There are waves that come through that are as perfect as anywhere but lots more that don’t really line up or are weirdly mushy. It also has one of the most intense currents I’ve ever experienced and there are lots of traveling Brazilian surfers staying at Miramar getting dropped off hu multiple boats 12 at a time.
nothing quite like it, with the offshore estuary sandbar. It’s a good spot, and I’ve heard the sand I has been really good at Sandino for the last few years. My experience was a while ago so it might not be accurate since the shifting sand can give the spot different faces.
There are also other fun spots in that zone if Sandino isn’t working. When I went, you needed to jump off at dead low and surf until the tide switched after high tide.
Nowhere near as consistent, more difficult paddle (comparing camp boat vs land launch), and 1723490823164721364871237489013724098231649872316 x more dangerous (sharks x boats x skis), but a more manageable crowd situation, Monster Hole.
I was unaware of that. In my limited tourist experience, crocodiles are for places with peace and stability, like Costa Rica, and in places like Nicaragua and El Salvador, lots of stuff like crocodiles became food and soft goods during the civil war.
We have rescheduled our flights to Nica in late August. I'm not sure if we are going to make it to the Puerto Sandino area though. My travel partner has a friend with a house in the Iguana neighborhood at Colorados and looks like we are going to head to that region. I'm a little torn on this for I've been hearing that area usually has all day offshores and Colorados has some really good barrels, but that also comes with more crowds. I liked the all-inclusive package Puerto Sandino offers where all I had to do was show up at the airport. We may try to shoot to the Sandino area for the last couple nights of the trip if it looks conducive for that.
you're much better off at colorados imo, despite the crowd.
if i remember correctly it's a hike from colorados to puerto sandino. and if you only go for 2 days not sure you have a good chance to catch that particular wave good. watch the forecast and whatnot.
i'd explore the area around colorados more with that time
Easy to find times with lighter crowds at colorados since it's offshore all day. Not a huge issue.
And the person with the house will have no trouble hooking you up with a driver from the airport I'm sure.
Having been to (and scored) both zones, if I only had 2 days it would be colorados for sure.
And the person with the house will have no trouble hooking you up with a driver from the airport I'm sure.
Having been to (and scored) both zones, if I only had 2 days it would be colorados for sure.