ahoy-hoy,

Planning on having a holiday early next year, which will be focused as much as possible on wavesailing through latin america. Its hard enough to scrape some decent info from the net so i'll put it out here , looking for some top spots with good wind and wave conditions anywhere in the region, going to be at least twelve months +

Been looking at some nice places baja mexico, pascomayo peru and through brazil.
Anyone sailed through central america or elsewhere with some good info and willing to share, will get wheels and gear over there .

Where are all the gnaraloo's over there waiting for me )

Leaving WA for a windsurf holiday does sound odd too me too, but rum and waves and have you seen the chicitas

I'll start out by saying I haven't been to many places in the region, but I looked at a lot of options! The time of year is going to have a lot to do with it.

I went to Isla Margarita in Venezuela. It was okay, but flat water, so no good for you.

I looked at any options in Guatemala, but all I could find were suggestions of south western Mexico. I can't remember the name of the place, but supposedly the windiest part of Mexico. I am not sure there is much in Central America. There was also a suggestion of a spot not far from Panama City, but again, even though its on the coast, I think its flat water.

(edit: The place in Mexico was Salina Cruz. I'm not sure if its good, but it was the closest option to where I was in Guatemala. You can't find much about it on the net, but what I did find suggests its windy at least.)

I came across suggestions of places to sail waves in Chile, but I have to see if I kept the bookmarks for those sites.

I guess Jeri is probably the most well known spot.

One place that I really wanted to go to, but never made it was Pueblo Nuevo. I don't think that's quite the right name, but its the right spot. Supposedly a great place to sail. Not far from Aruba too if you decide you don't want to speak Spanish anymore. From what I read on the place, its a bit run down but cheap because Venezuela doesn't get as many tourists as it used to. I think Venezuela, at least Isla Margarita, is relatively expensive.

How are the Spanish skills? I think that part of Venezuela, near Coro, would be a great place to learn and sail at the same time.

Contact WaWa up in North Peru. Get in contact with him via Rodolpho Klima at Klimax Surfboards...there is some seriously good stuff up there.
WaWa is a world class surfer..he pretty much does everything there is to do on the water and his resort 'WaWa's' will take care of everything else!
Wild place..not sure where else you can come across petrified ancient shark teeth 150mm long sticking out of the sand dunes..crazy


ps the spot is Mancora and surrounding breaks

I've had a few good sails in the cayes in Belize. The guys there are super friendly but you're not going to find proper waves there. Likewise, I saw a couple of boards in Utila (Honduras) but it's flat and I didn't see much wind (March). Great diving though.

I've heard great reports about Chile and some good stuff on Peru (especially if you surf).

Finally, remember that if you buy a car in Central America you're not likely to get it through to South America.

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nasty said..

Finally, remember that if you buy a car in Central America you're not likely to get it through to South America.

Off topic I know, but when I was in Guatemala there was a couple there that was trying to buy a car and then go down to South America. Can you get them shipped from Panama to Colombia?

Thanks boys,

Ya, from what I gather there is a car carrying ferry between them available now, Pubelo Nuevo and Adiocora look good alright, seems to be jan to july for the winds. I've read an article before in some mag too on the net about Los Roques, which is just off the coast, I think you might like it FN.

I backpacked through SA years ago, not to Venezuela though, got a bit of spanish to get me through, got a lot of mates that its their first language so speak it rough to them most weeks. I was talking to a dude from Caracas a few weeks back, reckons you get a nice house on margarita for $15-20,000. Only thing is the economic and general social stability of the place, make it hard to stay and invest (could stay forever really) in an little enterprise.

MOB, Ive passed through Mancora myself around september or october time ,just for a few days but missed any action. Cool little spot, i think down the road from there in Pascomayo they say they have the longest left-hander in the world, i've seen a few youtubes of it and its on the American wave circuit too.

Chile is just a desert really i've travelled from Santa Marta Col south to Santaigo by bus, a lot of wilderness down that way and more than likely would have to have a wetsuit. I'm sure it would pick up much the same as tasmania.

I'll be starting off by myself so don't want to be driving for hours down a coast to sail by myself, but stranger things have happened and if I do get a car no doubt i'll have some buddies by the first set of lights.

So more surf in Central and winds in the south. And then theres Mexico and Brazil.....

On a completely different subject , i'm trying to join a crew or some boat from oz to somewhere in asia to start this trip . Any advice or spare space)

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wildrover said..

I backpacked through SA years ago, not to Venezuela though, got a bit of spanish to get me through, got a lot of mates that its their first language so speak it rough to them most weeks. I was talking to a dude from Caracas a few weeks back, reckons you get a nice house on margarita for $15-20,000. Only thing is the economic and general social stability of the place, make it hard to stay and invest (could stay forever really) in an little enterprise.

Venezuela is meant to be one of the roughest places you can go. Chavez's version of socialism has sent the country back decades and for one of the wealthiest countries in oil, there are a huge number of poor people. I have heard tourists go to Caracas no problem, but I have also heard of locals too afraid to go there. As a gringo, I wouldn't chance it. The airport was enough for me.

Margarita is a bit different, but there is also a bit of crime there. $15K might sound like a bargain, but only if the economy improves.

Having said that, I liked it, but I didn't meet too many of the locals, so I can't say what it was really like.

What I did hear though was if you have a business that does well, the old government would come along and argue that its wrong to profit, and they would then take the business. They would then give it to one of their mates. This has happened with the oil companies that invested there. The people are relatively poor, so I am not sure what sort of business would do well.

I'm sure it is up with Suriname, Guyana and French Guiana on the health and safety stakes alright. A hard place to set up anything as a foreign investor, as you said if it works out it wont be yours for long. But as for a windsurf/bag-pack holiday I don't think it would phase me too much. Double economy is a trait of SA as a whole the ,rich rich V poor poor.

I've had one man sell me twigs off a nearby tree for pennies while ol-mate passes in his hummer. It wouldnt turn me off a visit but. A lot of the 'safe ' places will properly be WA prices and full of nobbs anyway. I have a fear of the mosquitos more than a hold-up.

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wildrover said..

I hear ya loud and clear but... http://www.windsurfermag.com/magazine/windsurf-wave-sailing-surfing-los-roques-venezuela-diony-guadagnino/?params=MjZ8MzUwfDA=

I see Chavez wanted to reclaim the islands in his robin hood style, nice pictures though..

Los Roques. Is that the island (islands?) that you get to from Margarita from El Yaque? They run a boat across each day, or am I thinking of something else? I thought it was just flatwater, but those photos show waves.

Edit: I answered my own question. Its not the same place. Los Roques is a fair way from Margarita, which begs the question, how do you get there?

If there are only 1000 people there, it would be safe. When everyone knows everyone its okay, but there are lots of people in Margarita. When I went to Margarita I was surprised that hardly anyone spoke English, which was only surprising because the number of english speaing tourists in El Yaque used to be huge. I think maybe because its not as popular now, the english speaking people have moved on.

It was a good place to learn a bit of Spanish and sail a bit, but sailing every day for almost 2 weeks got to be a bit much

Now Chavez has gone hopefully the economy will pick up. If it does, go there and do something as its got lots of potential.