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Central America

Bodyboarding in Central America offers a truly unparalleled variety of waves and experiences.

This is why we at Bodyboard-Holidays have lined up some epic trips.  You can sample the delights of golden beaches, palm-fringed shores and perfect waves.

Check out our range of trips below and find the perfect one for you:

The sheer variety of opportunity on this continent is something to behold, and once you head south over the border into Central America, you’re entering a narrowed isthmus of smaller countries, all sporting their own unique coastlines, surf and culture.

Most importantly, in North and Central America you’re surrounded by swell-generating machines: the Pacific Ocean, Atlantic Ocean and the Caribbean Sea. This means North and Central American coastlines almost always have good surf, and with so much space, you’re virtually guaranteed to find waves to yourself!

North America

To travel the long US west coast is an education in beaches, shorebreaks, wedges and long right-hand points.

As you trip down the famous Highway 1, it’s like behind every headland and bend in the road you’re likely to stumble across something even better, wrapping long swell lines, peeling waves into beautiful beaches.

Driving south from the wilderness areas of the Pacific Northwest down to the best bodyboarding beaches in SoCal, you pass beautiful mountains, giant forests, and great waves, with stunning sunsets and increasingly warmer air and ocean temperatures.

The East Coast of the US has its fair share of fun beach breaks too, from the empty sandbanks of New England to the hollow waves of New York’s Long Island and the famous Jersey Shore.

Further south down the interstate I-95 you reach the barrier islands of the Carolinas, and on to the warmer beaches and surf breaks of Florida. Here more consistent swell lines up and breaks between the Sunshine State’s piers, jetties and groynes.

Southern California

SoCal sees you in the centre of the country’s bodyboarding scene, and home to legends of the sport such as former champion rider Jay Reale. Despite having so many world-famous surf spots, it’s surprisingly easy to find top breaks to yourself here, breaking in front of multi-million dollar mansions.

On our epic US roadtrip adventure we stay in the southern coastal surf city of Encinitas, giving us great access to hit Highway 1.

From here we can check out world-famous spots like Huntington Pier and Newport Wedge to the north, San Diego’s famous breaks at La Jolla to the south, and everything in between.

On this trip you get to experience the hazy, lazy golden lifestyle of tripping up and down a dusty, warm coastline searching endless beaches for stacked swell lines, fun peaks and hollow barrels.

Central America

Away from the instantly recognisable culture of the US, you relax into a slower pace of life when you enter the coastal towns of Central America.

Here you’ll experience a varied mix of friendly cultures and incredible food, as well as witness stunning landscapes and tropical coastlines, open to swell from the north, west and south.

Although bodyboarding’s popularity is growing here, it still offers largely uncrowded breaks, and the very real opportunity to explore fringe areas.

Historically the preserve of travelling US surfers, areas in places like Costa Rica have seen an increase in visitor numbers in recent years, but with such a long and winding coastline in Central America there is still plenty of space, and an increase in tourism helps local communities boost their offering to travelling wave riders.

Here red dirt tracks meander along jungle-covered hills off the back of white-sand beaches. For so long off the surf world radar, countries like Nicaragua, Costa Rica and El Salvador are now planting a flag for the quality of their waves, and beginning to offer more and more developed world comforts in paradise.

While localised Caribbean storms can generate some incredibly fun and punchy waves on the countries’ intricate east coasts, it’s really the Pacific coast which sets these countries apart as some of the best bodyboard locations in the western hemisphere.

El Salvador

A growing favourite, we always look forward to visiting the small, jungled country of El Salvador, enjoying the fun, peeling waves of its unique south-facing coastline. Here you can witness incredible sunrises and sunsets, both over water.

Very much off the beaten track, this is a perfect place to shelter from the Pacific’s big northerly swells and progress your bodyboarding in small-to-intermediate sized waves – perfecting your bottom turn, stalling for a barrel and nailing your timing to the lip.

Under El Salvador’s hot sun you can experience the Central American tropics in all its glory, all while seeing a noticeable improvement in your bodyboarding.

Southern Nicaragua

A favourite location of Bodyboard-Holidays, no Central American adventure would be complete without experiencing the astonishing Southern Nicaragua.

Due to the consistent atmospherics of the country’s largest lake situated just behind the palm-lined coast, here you can plunder the unique joy of 100% guaranteed offshore winds.

This does a stellar job in cleaning up the green faces of every wave which breaks along the adjacent coast, providing perfect, warm, clean surf for you to boost your riding at breaks such as the famous Santana Wedge, described by the Bodyboard Travel Guide as ‘a hollow lefthand wedge, perfect for bodyboarding’.

Costa Rica

Further south into Central America, the breathtakiing natural beauty of Costa Rica awaits. A warm paradise of verdant green rainforest, protected flora and fauna, and active volcanoes.

We trip to our surf camp on its remote, westernmost peninsula, to experience ‘pura vida’ in its truest form – perfect waves, crystal clear water and sensational beaches, described as some of the best in the world.

Costa Rica has a plethora of fun beach and reefs breaks, a colourful feast of surf spots tailor made to help your bodyboarding reach that next level.

Other destinations

Mexico is the largest of the Central American countries, and boasts some of the best waves in the world, with spots like Puerto Escondido a magnet for top surfers and bodyboarders from across the globe.

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