WorldPanama › Colón › Isla mamey

Isla mamey 41.0

#4687 of 5756 surf spots in the world · 🇵🇦 Panama · Colón · near Colón

Needs the right swell, wind is the enemy here, peaks in February.

Warm waterBeginner
Isla mamey, Panama
Photo: Venusicaza05 · CC BY-SA 4.0 · source
Surf score41.0 /100
Surfable days30% of the year
Clean days1% groundswell + friendly wind
Groundswell2% period 11 s+
Typical size0.5 m 1.7 ft median
Water28°C boardshorts

Best time to surf Isla mamey

The best time to surf Isla mamey is February, April, July. It rarely works. In February the water sits around 27°C, so pack boardshorts, and the typical wave is 0.6 m. The nearest airport is PTY (66 km) and the nearest town is Colón (41 km).

MonthSurfableCleanSizeWaterSuit
Jan54%0%0.6 m28°Cboardies
Feb54%2%0.6 m27°Cboardies
Mar46%0%0.6 m28°Cboardies
Apr27%2%0.5 m28°Cboardies
May22%1%0.5 m29°Cboardies
Jun15%0%0.5 m29°Cboardies
Jul28%2%0.5 m28°Cboardies
Aug17%0%0.5 m29°Cboardies
Sep17%0%0.5 m29°Cboardies
Oct22%0%0.5 m29°Cboardies
Nov31%1%0.6 m29°Cboardies
Dec33%0%0.6 m28°Cboardies

What is under Isla mamey

Eight kilometres out along its swell window the sea floor is still shallow, 24 m. Alongside the bank the survey finds a channel, 33 m against 24 m, deep enough to bend swell onto one peak instead of spreading it along the beach.

Depth 8 km out24 m
Depth 4 km out20 m
Channel beside it33 m

Measured, not estimated: NOAA ETOPO 2022 global relief at 15 arc-seconds, about 460 m per cell, sampled along this spot’s own swell window. At that scale the survey sees passes and channels; it cannot see a reef ledge, so nothing here is said about how the wave breaks.

Why 41.0

Seven parts, each normalised 0 to 1 and multiplied by its weight; the sum is scaled so the best spot in the world scores 100. Wave quality and what the spot does on its best days carry more than half of it, which is what separates this from a ranking of where the water is warm.

Wave quality 34.7%
20.9
Best days 22.4%
1.7
Clean days 18.4%
0.0
Consistency 10.2%
3.0
Season spread 4.1%
0.4
Water comfort 6.1%
6.1
Access 4.1%
3.4

The detail

Faces 350° with 53% open water around it. Friendly morning wind 64% of days. Mean peak period 11.3 s. Days over 3 m: 0%. On its best tenth of days it reaches 0.7 m, with a peak period of 15 s. Mellow days (0.4 to 1.2 m): 91%. Months that work: 2 of 12. Coordinates 9.618, -79.601 (OpenStreetMap).

What it costs to be here

Living here
€1,070/ month
typically €942 – €1,200
Rent, one bedroom€565
Groceries€225
Eating out€130
Getting around€75
Phone + internet€80
Renting by the month, cooking most days, local transport.
One month here
€2,090/ month
typically €1,840 – €2,340
Somewhere to stay€1,240
Eating out€440
Car, transfers, fuel€285
Data + extras€135
Short stays, eating out, a car or transfers.
49% cheaper if you live here instead of visiting

Estimate: World Bank PPP price level for Panama (2025, United States = 1.00) applied to a fixed surfer basket, then adjusted for how remote the spot is. Your own number moves with the season and how you live.

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