Popoyo Nicaragua Surf

set wave

I arrived at Popoyo a little late at 9 am. The sun was already getting high above the coastal hillsides, and strongly reflecting off the waves. There were 3 other cameras on the beach, shooting their perspective groups. The waves were super fun, good shape, with occasional overhead sets. The hard offshores had slowed a bit to 10-15 miles per hour. The crowd maxed out at 12 heads during the two hours I was shooting, with individuals and small groups leaving and entering the water. The waves were very consistent with all surfers catching a lot of waves. Two girls were out catching a lot of rights and lefts, with one snaking the other on one choice left. One regularfooter was surfing well and chop-hopping all over the place on his hybrid shape. Another goofy footer was catching the majority of the best left sets on a fishy-looking Bat shape. The rights of the rivermouth were breaking fast and hollow with no takers.

surfers crossing the river

baby outer reef

On the walk back home, I stopped in the dunes between the break of popoyo and Magnific Rock to take a photo of the playful surf in the small bay with Battleship Rock in the background. The waves are always soft and slow here, perfect for beginners. I also stopped to snap a shot of two workers collecting and bagging salt from the salt flats. The little town here of Las Salinas de Nagualapa is named for the salt evaporation ponds you’ll pass on the way in.

soft beachbreak

harvesting salt

In the color map below, you can see the salt flats as blue bodies of water. On the black and white map, you can see the salt flats as the very defined rectangles in the dead center and upper center areas of the map. The whitewater area towards the lower left from center is the Outer Reef surf break. The whitewater a little to the left and up from outer reef is the break of Popoyo. The structures toward the upper left of the black and white photo are the surf hostels and hotels (La Tica, Martinez Surf, the colorful three-story “Tiltin’ Hilton”, Casa Maur, etc.) near the bocana, or rivermouth. Walking to the surf at popoyo from here involves crossing the rivermouth. Our popoyo house rental is conveniently located a little to the right of dead center of the map, about 800 meters from the popoyo paddle-out spot, or a little less than half a mile. As you can see from the map, our house rental is even closer than the hostels at the rivermouth. It’s only a 5-10 minute walk, and you don’t have to cross the river. Ok, enough computer time and promoting our rentals for now, we’re going surfing!