Costa Rica in early May?

[cgibbo]

I have traveled to Costa Rica a couple times in the past ten years but never in May. Anyone have an opinion or facts on how the surf is this time of the year? Thanks and greatly appreciated!

[surfrat123]

Im in Santa Teresa at the moment - Im here all of May - and so far it's been 3-6' every day and off shore everyday til 9-10am. Its rained once. Kind of busy but there's still plenty of waves! Im pretty stoked!

[dsurfmoliets]

If you go to the Pacific coast you will be great, even if you can see some heavy rains, if you go to the Caribean you may not found many good waves.

[tonylamont]

Southern hemi swell is turning on so you have a good chance of getting bigger waves on the Pacific coast, especially in places with good S exposure. I would expect head high conditions many / most days, with DOH possible. It may be somewhat rainy, esp. the further south you go.

[henrywing17]

I was in Avellanas in Costa Rica last may. Its the start of rainy season so there might be quite a bit of rain but you never really know. Swell is very consistant but conditions are affected by winds. Most mornings the wind is offshore, then tends to shift late in the morning and you might or might not get offshore or glassy conditions again later. Quite often heavy rain in the early afternoon means you'll have good late afternoon/evening conditions.

Guanacaste is the driest region so will have the best weather, there you have the option of tamarindo (I wouldn't recommend for surf or the town - very commercial and poor surf while we were there). Playa grande (didn't get to go here). Avellanas - good uncrowded waves, really loved this area, beach break, reefs and rivermouth (keep an eye for saltwater crocs, it's unlikely but we see a baby croc a few min up river). Negra is down the road from avellanas and is supposed to get really good.

Further south on the Nicoya Peninsula is Santa Teresa / Mal Pais area, really fun beach breaks! There is also Nosara but didn't go there so can't tell you anything about it. Nicoya Peninsula will have more rainfall and this will increase the further S you go to spots like Jaco (heard bad things about the place but never went there so take that with a pinch of salt), dominical and pavones.

If you've got a tight budget pick up a copy of 'Lonely Planet Shoe String Guide To Central America' or you can just buy the Costa Rica PDF chapter online - really helpfull for getting about and where to stay.