Surf Forecasts:
Playa Santa Teresa surf forecast from 12 Sep 2026:
- Best quality surf: Wednesday 16 Sep, 6AM (local time) - 3ft (0.9m), 16s period, SW swell with offshore winds.
- Most powerful swell: Tuesday 15 Sep, 3PM (local time) - 3ft (0.9m), 17s period, SW swell with 429 kJ wave energy.
- Next surfable swell (1★+): Saturday 12 Sep, 6AM (local time) - 3ft (0.9m), 14s period with SW swell.
Best Forecast Surf Conditions for Playa Santa Teresa this week:
The surf forecast for Playa Santa Teresa over the next 16 days: The first swell (rated 1 star or higher) is forecast to arrive on Saturday (Sep 12) at 6AM. The primary swell is predicted to be 0.9m and 14s period. The wind is predicted to be offshore as the swell arrives.
The most powerful waves expected at Playa Santa Teresa in the next 16 days are 0.9m 17s and forecast to arrive on Tuesday (Sep 15) at 3PM. Winds are predicted to be cross-onshore at the time the swell arrives. The largest open ocean swell (not directed at the beach) is 1.0m 8s period and expected on Monday (Sep 14) at 9PM.
| Wave Type | Time (CST) & Date | Wave Height & Period |
|---|---|---|
| Next good surf (1 star+) | 6AM (Sat 12th Sep) | 3ft (0.9m) 14s |
| Best Surf | 6AM (Wed 16th Sep) | 3ft (0.9m) 16s |
| Most Powerful | 3PM (Tue 15th Sep) | 3ft (0.9m) 17s |
Table - best surf conditions forecast for Playa Santa Teresa over the next 16 days.
The Lowdown
Alright folks, Rusty here. Let's have a look at what's on the table for Playa Santa Teresa over the next couple of weeks.
We're kicking off straight away with some fun-sized swell. The pattern looks like a classic run of small to modest SW groundswell, with a few standout windows of pure glass where the stars align.
The weekend starts sweet. Saturday morning, the 12th, we’ve got clean 3 ft of SW swell with a juicy 14-second period—proper groundswell. Winds are glassy out of the NE, making for a beautiful session. The energy is moderate (356). It's consistent and beginner-friendly, so everyone's getting a slice. This is a strong early pick for the best on offer.
The afternoons turn a bit junk, like Saturday arvo with a cross-onshore breeze messing things up. Sunday morning the 13th cleans right up again with flat calm winds and a smaller 2 ft pulse. Monday morning the 14th looks similar: glassy, small, but clean with a long 19-second period. That long period will make for some nice orderly lines at the break, perfect for a longboard.
We get a bit more energy midweek. Tuesday the 15th morning shows moderate to strong combined energy (452) with a glassy 2 ft swell, though the period is still a dreamy 18 seconds. It’s an excellent small-wave window for the keen ones. Wednesday and Thursday mornings also offer clean conditions with the swell holding around 3 ft.
Now, the real standout of this whole outlook lands on Sunday, the 20th of September. The morning is absolute magic: 3 ft of SW groundswell, glassy calm, and the combined energy spikes up to a very strong 620. That’s a lot of punch for the size. This is the session to circle on the calendar—it'll be clean, powerful, and absolutely pumping for the size. The water temp is your normal tropical warmth for this time of year.
After that, we get another cracker on Tuesday the 22nd morning: glassy again with 3 ft of swell and strong energy (604). Beautiful. Conditions hold through the final week with a few more clean mornings, like Friday the 25th and Sunday the 27th, which has very good potential (512 energy) with glassy winds.
Look, if you're after the pure best, don't miss Sunday morning the 20th. The Tuesday after that is another banger. The rest of the mornings are all worth the paddle, especially if you can sneak out before the seabreeze kicks in. The afternoons are mostly a write-off with onshore wind and chop.
This is Rusty, signing off.
Short Range ForecastHeavy rain (total 20mm), heaviest during Sun afternoon. Warm (max 29°C on Fri night, min 26°C on Sun night). Wind will be generally light. | Days 5-7 Weather SummaryHeavy rain (total 21mm), heaviest during Wed night. Warm (max 29°C on Tue morning, min 26°C on Mon night). Wind will be generally light. | ||||||||||||||||||
Saturday 12 | Sunday 13 | Monday 14 | Tuesday 15 | Wednesday 16 | Thursday 17 | ||||||||||||||
Night | AM | PM | Night | AM | PM | Night | AM | PM | Night | AM | PM | Night | AM | PM | Night | AM | PM | Night | |
Swell Height Map |  |  |  |  |  |  |  | ||||||||||||
Wave Height (m) Direction Period (s) | SW 14 | SW 14 | SW 14 | SW 13 | SW 13 | SW 13 | SW 19 | SW 19 | SW 18 | SW 18 | SW 18 | SW 17 | SW 16 | SW 16 | SW 16 | SW 14 | SW 14 | SW 14 | SW 14 |
Wave Graph  | |||||||||||||||||||
 kJ | 398 | 346 | 289 | 176 | 140 | 138 | 234 | 171 | 246 | 379 | 249 | 429 | 371 | 367 | 349 | 350 | 346 | 297 | 228 |
Wind (km/h) | |||||||||||||||||||
Wind State on-shore cross-onshore cross-shore cross-offshore off-shore glassy | glassy | glassy | cross-on | glassy | glassy | on | glassy | glassy | cross-on | glassy | glassy | cross-on | cross-off | cross-off | cross-on | cross-off | cross-off | cross-on | glassy |
High Tide | 3:13AM2.75m | 3:33PM2.62m | 3:53AM2.77m | 4:14PM2.58m | 4:32AM2.73m | 4:54PM2.50m | 5:10AM2.64m | 5:33PM2.38m | 5:48AM2.50m | 6:13PM2.23m | 6:27AM2.34m | 6:55PM2.08m | |||||||
Low Tide | 9:26AM0.12m | 9:40PM0.12m | 10:08AM0.10m | 10:19PM0.16m | 10:48AM0.14m | 10:58PM0.25m | 11:27AM0.23m | 11:36PM0.37m | 12:06PM0.35m | 00:15AM0.52m | 12:48PM0.50m | 00:56AM0.67m | |||||||
 |  |  | |  | | |  | |  | | | | | |  | |  | | |
 | — | 5:30 | — | — | 5:30 | — | — | 5:30 | — | — | 5:30 | — | — | 5:30 | — | — | 5:30 | — | — |
 | — | — | 5:43 | — | — | 5:42 | — | — | 5:40 | — | — | 5:40 | — | — | 5:39 | — | — | 5:39 | — |
mm | 6 | — | 1 | 4 | 1 | 6 | 1 | — | 1 | 2 | 1 | 2 | 3 | 2 | 3 | 8 | — | — | 1 |
Temp °C | 29 | 29 | 29 | 28 | 29 | 29 | 28 | 29 | 29 | 28 | 29 | 28 | 28 | 29 | 29 | 28 | 29 | 29 | 28 |
Feels °C | 34 | 34 | 31 | 33 | 34 | 32 | 33 | 34 | 33 | 33 | 33 | 31 | 33 | 32 | 32 | 33 | 32 | 32 | 32 |
Swell 1 Height (m) Direction Period (s) | SW 14 | SW 14 | SW 14 | S 9 | S 9 | S 9 | S 8 | S 8 | S 8 | S 8 | S 8 | S 8 | S 9 | SW 16 | SW 16 | SW 14 | SW 14 | SW 14 | SW 14 |
| kJ | 398 | 346 | 289 | 76 | 101 | 99 | 92 | 91 | 113 | 130 | 127 | 136 | 119 | 367 | 349 | 350 | 346 | 297 | 228 |
Swell 2 Height (m) Direction Period (s) | S 7 | S 8 | S 7 | SW 13 | SW 13 | SW 13 | SW 13 | SW 12 | SW 18 | SW 18 | SW 14 | SW 17 | SW 16 | S 8 | S 8 | S 8 | S 9 | S 9 | S 8 |
| kJ | 52 | 58 | 40 | 176 | 140 | 138 | 134 | 73 | 246 | 379 | 203 | 429 | 371 | 69 | 88 | 66 | 78 | 76 | 69 |
Swell 3 Height (m) Direction Period (s) | S 10 | WNW 10 | SW 18 | SW 21 | SW 21 | SW 16 | SW 19 | SW 19 | SW 12 | SW 12 | SW 18 | SW 13 | SW 12 | SW 13 | SW 12 | S 10 | SW 22 | SW 22 | SW 21 |
| kJ | 16 | 10 | 80 | 71 | 69 | 68 | 234 | 171 | 72 | 50 | 249 | 109 | 96 | 130 | 50 | 18 | 76 | 118 | 159 |
Wind waves Height (m) Direction Period (s) | — | — | — | — | — | — | — | NW 9 | — | — | — | — | — | — | — | — | — | — | — |
| kJ | — | — | — | — | — | — | — | 3 | — | — | — | — | — | — | — | — | — | — | — |
Nearest Offshore or Glassy | |||||||||||||||||||
Distance (km) | 0 | 0 | 132 | 0 | 0 | 56 | 0 | 0 | 100 | 0 | 0 | 132 | 0 | 0 | 68 | 0 | 0 | 175 | 0 |
Best forecast wave conditions in Golfo de Nicoya | |||||||||||||||||||
Best forecast wave conditions in Costa Rica | |||||||||||||||||||
Header Global | |||||||||||||||||||
- Map Icons:
Break
Live Wave Height (m)
Live Wind Speed (km/h)
Surf Rating (10 Max)
Ocean Swells (m)- Wind Speed (km/h)
FREE! Surf-Forecast.com widget for your website
The surf report / weather widget below is available to embed on third party websites free of charge and provides a summary of our Playa Santa Teresa surf forecast. Simply grab the html code snippet that we provide and paste it into your own site. You can choose your preferred language and metric/imperial units for the surf forecast feed to suit users of your site. Click here to get the code.
Information about the Playa Santa Teresa Surf forecast
The above surf forecast table for Playa Santa Teresa provides essential information for determining whether the surfing conditions will be good over the next 16 days. A general guide to surfing at Playa Santa Teresa can be found by selecting the local surf guide option on the grey menu. Our Playa Santa Teresa surf forecast is unique since it includes wave energy (power) that defines the real feel of the surf rather than just the height or the period. If you surf the same spot (Playa Santa Teresa) regularly then make a mental note of the wave energy from the surf forecast table each time you go. Very soon you may start to choose your surf days based on the wave energy alone combined with our forecast of favourable offshore wind conditions. Our star ratings will help here and of course you will also find the usual wave height and period predictions on our surf forecasts as well as a full break down of the swell components under our advanced users option (to reveal that, click the little Einstein character under the tide times).
Further information to help with frequently asked questions about our surf forecast for Playa Santa Teresa may be found under the help tab on the top menu and also by moving your mouse over the question marks on the surf forecast table itself. Please always bear in mind that the forecast is for near-shore open water and local factors at each surf break influence the actual breaking wave height, such as the beach / reef profile, water depths offshore and shelter.
Playa Santa Teresa is 51 km (32 miles) from Puntarenas. If you plan a holiday in Golfo de Nicoya, look for hotels and other accommodation in Puntarenas. Puntarenas has rooms for a wide range of budgets as well as car hire and transport links.
Nearest