Normal: take the interamericana Highway until Divisa then take left heading towards Las Tablas, at Las Tablas Central Park take left and then the second right and drive towards the town of Tonosí, once you are in Tonosí go through the town and drive to the town of Cambutal once in Cambutal after crossing a small bridge you will see the water and right in front of you you will see Cambutal Surfcamp the only place to stay at Cambutal beach. good luck...
Just bring two boards, some bug repelent and wax because you will surf a lot of waves along with your friends.
Overview
Atmosphere
This break with a good swell can be as good and powerfull as Santa Catalina but the only diference is the non existing crowd of this place and thatīs a good advantage... in Cambutal you will find diferent breaks in the area because is a huge coast line with waves breaking along coast there are beach breaks as well and other spots that can be reach by boat but you will find there very thick and big waves (15+ feet), Cambutal breaks receive swells from north and south and also west because of itīs geographical position so donīt miss it and visit this spot. see ya.
Good but not great
Just got back from a new years trip from Pedasi all the way to slightly past cambutal so I got to experience a lot of the coastline in the region. I loved how remote this area is which made it a novelty but it works both ways - there's not a single place to stay in the area and restaurants are also not nearby. People are freindly here but you can't even find bare essentials. It took us 2.5 hours to get here from Pedasi due to the terrible roads even though people say it's just 1.5 hours away. They are repairing them now though so it'll likely get better. Regarding the wave itself, my impression of cambutal after surfing it and talking with a lot of locals who hit it year round -it is good wave but not great. It's got a little more power than Playa Venao but no where near as consistent or as long of lines and with fewer peaks. Venao is more crowded but the peaks move around a lot due to the tides and the swell window is wide open so you can spread down the beach. Maybe you want to check out Cambutal just to see it but we had more fun hitting the dozen or so spots near Venao which didn't have a single person suring them(Madronas, Isla Cana, Distilladrios etc.) and enjoying more of the towns / culture nearby. A lot of the other surfers we met just recommended we go to Santa Catalina. Yes, everyone goes here but it's still not that crowded and it's just always firing. Plus we hear the town there is incredible. Cambutal is also located smack between two very large mountain peaks so when the wind is offshore it gets channeled right into the peak with ridiculous force. Great if the swell is really pumping but bad if you've only got head high waves b/c it will flatten out for extended periods. It would be head high (on 5ft at 15 seconds) for ten minutes then flatten out to waist for another twenty which got real frustrating. I'm glad we saw it but probably will stick to Pedasi region next time exclusively.
comment by Anonymous, 2007-08-22 22:49:04
not worth the journey
this place if you can find it is fickle and unpredictable.But after the 6 hour drive the waves consist of various jagged rock reefs a beach break that closses out any bigger than 4 feet if the wind is onshore dont even bother, witch it comes onshore mid morning. No places to stay any more the surfcamp is now gone.camping is very dangerous due to monsoon like downpours witch flood the roards to get there. To get to the better break you have to cross a river witch anything other than 4 wheel drive cannot accomplish. but there are better and more accesible breaks all over panama both carribean and pacific coasts wich are more consistent and less dangerous.
comment by Just say know to spilling the beans!, 2007-04-10 20:08:53
I don't understand?
I don't understand why someone would write in to a website to let the world know how there surf trip was? Does anyone remember a surf trip pre-internet?????????To all the kooks in the world that might have scored on there one week off.........shut the hell up!!!!!!Feel free to keep your experience to yourself!!!!!!!!!!Who knows maybe the spot wont be crowded when you go back!Or you can keep writing in to impress your cyber friends and who knows maybe someone will read your message and end up bringing his rental car full of friends on your one week off to the uncrowded spot you wrote about!Think twice about the internet revolution.Go to a surf spot that you know nothing about....and keep it for yourself!Be careful of the power that the internet has in the world of surfing!
comment by Anonymous, 2008-01-06 20:23:18