Can't decide where to go, Mexico, Costa Rica or Panama

Hi all, am busy planning a surf trip at the moment but keep changoug our minds where to go. I've been doing some reseach on the above countries and watching a few surf DVDs such as South America Drive thru etc to try and get some ideas. I've only been on a couple of surf trips so far so am still fairly a beginner and don't fancy surfing reef breaks yet so am after a reasonably easy beach breaks. Am planing on going in Sept/Oct time and wanted to make a bit of a road trip out of it (possibly buying/hiring a van for a month). As well as decent surf would also quite like a lively nightlife (went to Kuta last year and thought that was pretty good). I was thinking of maybe flying into San Jose (Costa Rica) and then driving down to Panama and going to Bocas Del Torro. It does say there are some beach breaks there but am worried that surf would be flat that time of year. Then possibly head down to the Pacific. Anyway got a good road trip or could point me to some breaks to do some reseach on to help plan this trip. Cheers dudes.