Tide tables for Costa Rica

The quality of the waves is highly effected by the tide. Depending on the surf spot, the waves may break better with a higher tide and and an increased depth of water or a lower tide and accordingly a decreased depth of water. At some spots waves become extremely fast with less water. On the opposite some swells won't even break if the water is too deep. And do not froget to leave out of consideration tha some breaks become extemely dangerous when the reef becomes shallow or even partially exposed.

How good a certain surf spot will work on a certain day depends on many factors. For example the swell and the wind. Those two factors are difficult to predict, closer to the future the predictions become more accurate. On the contrary it is possible to predict tides very accurate a long period of time ahead. The bad thing is that is not possible to predict when certain wave is going to break in the perfect way. But it is possible to rule out when conditions are not going to be good. For example if you plan a surf trip to Cosa Rica and plan to catch the biggest waves at Roca Loca, you can rule out the the morning with high tide. Because the waves breaks at low tide and best conditions, less wind, are usually in the morning hours.

There is a big tidal range at the pacific coast of Costa Rica. This depends on factors as water depth, topography, shoreline, size of the ocean basin and others. The Pacific Ocean is the largest and deepest of the world ocean basins. Therefore the difference between low tide and high tide tends to be greater. The Atlantic Ocean is the second largest basin, but contains less than half the amount of water than the Pacific Ocean.