Playa Venao

Playa Venao is on the Azuero peninsula in southern Panama, near Pedasí, a two-kilometre horseshoe of dark sand facing the Pacific. It is a surf beach that has become something more in the last decade.

The wave is the foundation. Venao's bay shape and consistent swell give it a beach break that works at almost all tides and in a wide range of conditions, which is rare — it is forgiving enough for beginners and big enough to hold international contests. Panama's Pacific swell arrives from the south, and this coast catches it reliably from March through October.

The sand is grey-brown volcanic, the bay is enclosed by headlands, and the water is warm. Currents run and there are no lifeguards outside contest periods. Behind the beach is dry tropical forest, and the Azuero peninsula generally is drier than the Caribbean side of the country — this is cattle country with a Spanish colonial history that is distinct from the rest of Panama. The Azuero peninsula behind it is the driest and most deforested part of Panama, settled early and farmed hard, which makes the contrast between the interior and this stretch of coast unusually sharp.

Development has been rapid: a strip of hostels, hotels, restaurants and a music venue along the bay, growing from almost nothing in the 2010s. Isla Cañas nearby is a major olive ridley turtle arribada site, where thousands of turtles nest simultaneously between July and November.

A horseshoe that holds swell from almost any direction, which is why the surf here works when the rest of the Pacific coast does not. The Azuero behind is the driest and most farmed part of Panama, and the contrast between the interior and this bay is the sharpest thing about the drive in. Isla Iguana, a marine reserve half an hour offshore by boat from the next bay north, has the snorkelling this stretch lacks.