Surfing Pedasi – Panama’s Sweet Spot
Surfing is all about finding the sweet spot before everyone else, but the secret may already be out on Pedasi surfing. Where once the roads were mostly frequented by slow-moving cattle and ranchers on horseback, there is now a steady stream of surfboard-topped cars flowing into this quiet region, eager to carve out new paths on Panama’s virgin waves.
The most popular Pedasi surf site, Playa Venao, is well out of the bag – it was chosen as the location for the 2007 Central American Surf Championship, thanks to a consistent south swell, a sandy bottom, and bi-directional breaks. It works best at mid to high-tide, and for swells under 10 feet, and will generally have waves when all other beaches are flat.
Today, Playa Venao (also known as Venado) is a well-frequented Pedasi surf spot, drawing dedicated surfers from all over the world to this largely deserted beach on Panama’s Pacific Coast, with a lone restaurant full of lounging bodies taking relief from the tropical sun. Simple campgrounds nearby usually sport a colorful mix of tents, and nearby B8B’s and boutique hotels are springing up to cater to this new brand of tourist.
But while Venao is certainly the forerunner of the new Pedasi surf movement, the adventurous are finding that the stretch of coastline along the Azuero Peninsula is far from a one-hit wonder: the peninsula is literally littered with breaks of all sizes, making it one of Panama’s surfing meccas.
Set at the bottommost point of the Azuero Peninsula on Panama’s south-central coast, Pedasi just out into the Pacific Ocean to receive swells from east, south and west, giving avid surfers a surfeit of choices no matter which way the wind is blowing.
Dawn patrollers can find great deserted breaks on both sides of Playa Venao, both of which favor the calm wind of the early morning. Just to the east of Venao is Playa Ciruelo, a rarely-frequented rock bottom left point break. On the other side, west of Venao, lies Playa Madrono. Though a little harder to get to (follow the river), Madrono more than makes up for it with a sandy bottom and hollow tubes at low tide.
Playa Raya, just past Madrono, is also a bit of a hike to get to, but regales the true aficionados with two sandy point breaks at low tide that generate big waves when a swell comes through. The deserted beach is home to a rich diversity of wildlife, including rays (from which the beach takes its name), sharks and nesting turtles.
For those who prefer to just grab their boards and go, the town of Pedasi itself boasts a couple of small breaks that are easily accessible and sparsely crowded.
Playa Lagarto (good at all tides) and Playa El Toro (best at mid-tide), about 10 minutes from Pedasi town and fronting Andromeda Ocean Estates, a luxury beachfront gated community, both give surfers a bilateral beach break that work well on a good swell. A little further out of town is Playa Destiladeros, which offers several breaks at medium tide.
Buried between them all are dozens of pristine beaches just waiting to be discovered, and added to the list of Pedasi Surfing spots, making this one of the Panama surfing sweet spots indeed.