Bahia Salinas. Very protected and safe, no current, warm, clean water. Small swells in the middle, small chop closer to shore, flat water behind reefs. The water is choppy with more then 22 knots. Watch out for stingrays near the shore (shuffle your feet on the sand to scare them away). Boots not really necessary. No significant tide.
The beach is about 1.5 km long. It is enough space to launch and land the kites. No people except a few kitesurfers uses the beach. It is sandy but there are sharp stones and shells, so water shoes are suggested. The stones can be very slippery. The beach is pretty narrow at high tide.
The average annual temperature for most of the country lies between 21.7°C (71°F) and 27°C (81°F). The coolest months are from November through January, and the warmest from March through May. San Jose has a mean annual temperature of 20.6°C. The water is about 28°C, a shorty is used only some days of the year.
- January - February - March - April - May - June - November - December
Wind Type:
- Thermal Winds
Best Direction:
- NNE - NE
Main Direction:
- NNE - NE
Constant winds in this spot comes in from Nicaragua. May and June are the only months were the wind is somewhat weaker. From the beginning of November to the end of May and July you can kitesurf almost 90% of the days! In the other 4 months of the year you can kitesurf 50% of the days. The windiest months are January and February with an average of 23 knots! These are the other recent monthly averages: November 17 knots, December 22 knots, March 19 knots, April 17 knots, May 16 knots, June 12 knots, July 18 knots. Playa Copal has usually sideonshore winds. It is a combination of trade winds and a mountain venturi effect
which creates a monster wind machine. Don't bother bringing anything bigger than a 13m kite. Try to get your hands on a 6m or 7m kite, you will use it a lot. Having an extra bar with short lines will also help. The wind is gusty but not the punchy type of gusty that you might be used to. Instead the wind sweeps over and comes in "sets" as if it were a set of waves. You need to rig for the gusts, so in-between the sets you might spend some of your time underpowered needing to work your kite. Locals get used to watching the water for where the windy sets are. Seeing where the wind is or isn't, makes all the difference.
From each airports take the Panamerican highway to the North until the town of La Cruz, very close to the Nicaraguan border. Once there, take the only street to Bahia Salinas and after 7 miles you'll arrive to Playa Copal. About 1 hour from the airport of Liberia. Fly into Liberia instead of San Jose. You will waste a full day of traveling each way if you fly into SJO. 17km unpaved road to get there.
05-12-16 Alessandro: Perfect Spot; We where there only a few days, but wind (average 20/25 knots) and beach are perfect.
Nicola welcomed us very nice and the rented kiteequipment was in excellent condition.
The restarant nearby is also very good, we had a lot of fun there.
05-05-03 luca: no doubt that the wind is blowing! I spent 2 weeks there and I get it for the whole time: the only problem was that I was waiting for less wind cause I'm a beginner :-(
But the best is that it isn't crowdy at all, so I was feeling very safe. Nicola, the instructor, is helpfull and he knows how to teach, so highly reccommended.
05-04-03 matt: 16 out of 19 days of wind in march, mostly 9-10 meter kites but a few days with the 7. Wind is gusty, look for wind lines on the water. no night life, just Ulf's resteraunt. nice reef at low to mid tide for flatwater, the beach is pretty narrow at high tide. be careful of the stingrays!
04-03-26 luis: great wind over there. Two weeks of 20/25 knots every days...not bad! It's very safe for learning and practice.
04-03-24 david: great spot! Completely uncrowed and the wind is guaranted. The spot has an island, some reef for flat water, it is choppy with more then 20 knots. Watch the turtles kiting!
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