So you want to surf in Panama? Well here are some things you should know before you go. First a little bit about me, and why I know anything about Panama surfing in the first place. I moved to Panama with my family in 2008 and knew almost nothing about surfing. I knew that I had always wanted to learn, but I also knew that I was 40 years old and had two small kids and a wife and responsibilities.

Well fast forward to today and I have learned a ton. I went from buying my first surfboard ever to actually teaching surf lessons. So, now that I’m back in the US I figured I could share some of the things I have learned.

First lets start with buying vs bringing a board to surf in Panama. Now if you are a beginner then you will obviously not be bringing a board. There are lots of surf schools in Panama and they all will provide you with a board to learn on, so no problem there. Now for the more experienced surfers here are some things you may wish to consider. In general the cost to ship a board is $100 each way, so $200 total. This might be worth it if you love your board. Also I have a friend who came with his girlfriend and they packed two boards into one surf bag. Not a bad idea. Keep in mind that there are times of the year that you can not fly a surfboard to Panama. The airlines will put a moratorium on them. So you better check with them so your Panama surf trip does not get off to a bad start. Don’t forget to check about your return flight too. I met a guy once who was able to bring his board in to Panama, but was not able to bring it out! Dude! He was bummed, but the guy who bought the board for dirt cheap was pretty stoked.

So that brings me to my next point. There is a pretty good inventory of used boards floating around and you might be better off trying to get one of those. The best place to find those are on Craigslist or “Encuentra 24” which is a site in Spanish so you will need to search for “tabla de surf”. If you search for “surfboard” you will not find any results. You can also check with the surf schools to see if they have any to sell. The last option (other than running into a guy in the airport who is desperate to sell) is to deal with the surf shops. There are lots of surf shops in the city. The easiest ones to find are in the malls, in particular Albrook mall has about three shops. These places might even have a used board sometimes. The best place to find a board in the city is at Juan Jimenez’s shop. BOA surfboards. It is a little hard to find, but if you should be able to find a cab driver that will get you there. Here is a number you can try too… (507) 6675-9919 (Yes Panama cell phones have 8 digits) Once you leave the city surf gear is a little harder to find, so it might be a good idea to stock up on necessary items, Wax, extra fins, surf booties, leash parts, fin key etc before you go. Now in the Coranado area there are a few shops. There is a shop at the entrance to Gorgona that sells Isle boards and has some parts. In Playa Venao there is a pretty good surf shop. There was a shop in Pedasi but it is closed as of March 2011. There are plenty of options in Bocas del toro also. OK I hope that information helps you enjoy you Panama surf adventure. Yippeeee have fun surfing in Panama!!!