The surf at Playa Santana

Fill out the following questionnaire and you can win a free week stay in Rancho Santana!

The winners will be invited to stay in Casita Bella Vista, a one bedroom cottage with a great Pacific Ocean view. The small house is fully equipped with wireless internet, TV, DVD, Stereo with Ipod port, air-conditioning and a full kitchen. Just fill out the following questionnaire. The winner will be drawn on Tuesday, july 1, 2013.

Rancho Santana is on the South West coast of Nicaragua. This area boasts some of the best surf in Central America. Here is where a surfer can still find a great ride without having to jockey for position amongst dozens of other surfers. The beaches are often deserted and many times you can have a great wave all to yourself.

There are two great breaks right here at Rancho Santana. Playa Santana is the beach break that you'll see streaming on Surfline.com. It works best on the hours closest to high tide. The first peak is similar to a reverse Sebastian Inlet like A-frame. The second and third peaks are A-frame barreling beach breaks with lots of good lefts and rights.

Right around the corner from Playa Santana is Playa Rosada. It's a left point reef break that works best at low tide. Playa Rosada holds up to double overhead.

Playa Rosada's reef break

Surf nearly every day of the year!

The effect of the nearby Lake Nicaragua makes this area a surfer's dream with offshore winds about 330 days a year. There are well known and unknown breaks along the whole region. No matter what the tide is or the swell direction there is always a spot that's working. There are A-frame beach breaks, classic point breaks, and outside reef breaks with waves large enough to invite tow-ins.

Santana Area Surf Breaks

• Playa Santana - Beach break lots of both right and left hollow barrels. Works best around high tide
• Playa Rosada - A short walk South from Santana left point break. Works best at low tide-
• Panga Drops - Rights and lefts deep water reef break, A short walk from the South end of the property
• Playa Colorado - Access from South end of property rights and lefts. A frame barreling beach break
• Popoyo -About a 20 ride up the coast rights and lefts slab reef. Holds any swell. Most consistent break in Nica
• Astillero - twenty five minute drive North rights and lefts - River mouth barreling beach break
• Lances Left - Just North of Astillero, Left point break with 200 yard rides works best on bigger swell
• Manzanillo - Accessible by boat left point reef break with a barrel section

From the South end of Playa Santana, you have access to 2 more great breaks. Panga Drops and Colarado's, two well known waves, are just a short walk down the beach. Colorados is a river mouth beach break with lots of stand up barrels. Panga Drops is a slab rock reef that can hold a very big swell. Usually you can go left and right on the same wave.

Surfing Colorados

Popoyo is another great spot just a few miles to the North. Popoyo features an inside rock reef break and the epic Outer Reef which by some is considered the best wave in Central America.

Besides the ones mentioned there are plenty more great surfing spots all up and down the nearby coastline. Many are obscure and don't even have names. You can take a Panga with a local surf guide who will take you up and down the coast to these secluded breaks that are difficult or impossible to access by car. You often end up having the whole spot to yourself.

Since you're already on the water, you can always troll to and from the breaks. If you do, nine times out of ten you'll end up with fresh fish for dinner. The fishing in the area can be spectacular. There are wahoo, red snapper, grouper, yellow fin tuna, snook, mackerel, rooster fish close to shore. Outside a little there is sailfish, marlin and swordfish.

Surfing the Outer Reef

Right now for a North American, the best Surf Real Estate investments in the world are right here on the South West Coast of Nicaragua. It is just a 2-1/2 hour flight from Miami and 3 hours from Houston. The best place in SW Nicaragua is by far Rancho Santana. Luxury living and nature coexist in perfect harmony in this premier ocean front community. It has over 3 kilometers of coastline spread over 2700 acres of spectacular ocean and mountain views just 2-1/2 hours from Managua.

After a day of surfing Rancho Santana's 2 great waves or enjoying some other nearby breaks there's still plenty of ways to entertain yourself. If you're energetic you can ride a horse along the beach or play tennis under the lights. You can go hiking through our 600 acre nature preserve and probably encounter one of the troops of howler monkeys who live there.

Many people just choose to cruise to Coco Loco's Sunset Bar & Grille. The ocean front terraces offer a relaxing way to cool off at the end of the day and enjoy the spectacular Pacific Sunset. The Sea Garden oceanfront restaurant is open for breakfast, lunch and dinner.

Visit Santana. Accommodations start at $25 per person per night

For more information about Rancho Santana or the surrounding area, or if you want to visit please drop a line to Info@SurfSantana.com

Year-round nice weather, warm water and stunning diverse landscape make Nicaragua a Paradise for those who enjoy the outdoors. There are numerous volcanoes for hiking and canopy rides. There are rainforests, rivers, lakes, lagoons and great fresh and salt water fishing.

You can find excellent and affordable accommodations in Rancho Santana and the surrounding area. Inside Santana they start at $25 PPPN. There are Beach Front Condos just 50 yards from Santana Beach. There are 2 bedroom casitas available. These small houses come with a fully equipped kitchen, wireless internet, TV and stereo. You can also have a fully equipped cliff top ocean front houses with great views.

Horses on the Beach!