Seasons and tides in the South Pacific Region
This could be almost anywhere in the lower elevations of Costa Rica, but it’s the view from our villa in Dominical…
When is the best time to go to Dominical?
While we’ve been to Dominical in every season with the exception of December holidays, I don’t think we could pick a “best time of year”. However, when you look at the prices and availability of rental properties in the area, it appears that mid-December to mid-April are very popular, generally drier than the summer and fall, and may also reflect that lots of Americans and Canadians are trying to get out of the cold and snow.
The following rainfall graphic is from an exceedingly good company, Costa Rica Guide, and their website is full of helpful information regarding the rest of your trip, after you’ve visited Caballitos del Mar. For example, they have a cool rainfall map that allows you to see the rainfall in different locations around the country for every month of the year.
I have selected Dominical in the map above, so you can see that it rains some in the summer, but it really rains in the “Green Season”, including September and October. In fact, some businesses close for several weeks to a month during this time since tourism is at a low ebb.
Another source of climatic information is WeatherSpark, which has a ton of information about just about anywhere in the world. I copied a few of their charts below, but I recommend that you go to the site and see the wealth of information they offer, especially for travel planning.
Note that this information is for Quepos, which is about 40km north of Dominical, but it’s the closest city for which WeatherSpark has information. This generally confirms that the wet season is May through October.
However, and it’s a big however, we love the rain, and the electrical storms and downpours are exciting and can be a relief on warm evenings. Generally, you’ll wake up to clear skies, and clouds will begin to form in the early afternoon. Rain may start an hour before sundown, and it occasionally really lets loose. In return you get lush, tropical forests and extraordinary biological diversity.
Surfing?
One of the biggest draws, after the wonderful diversity of plant and animal life in Dominical, is surfing. The water is warm, the waves are wonderful, there are all sorts of schools and camps to get you started, and you can walk, with your board, directly from Caballitos del Mar.
First, a word about the tides. There are two high tides and two low tides every day (semidiurnal tides), and the difference between them varies from about 8 to 9 feet, depending on the cycle of the moon. Unlike many places on the West Coast, they tides are virtually identical, as the following graph shows. This information is from SurfLine, and is actually calculated for Bahia Uvita, which is about 11 miles (18 km) south of our villas. Incidentally, we tried to get a SurfLine camera installed at the villas, but could not find a suitable line of sight due to the trees.
Water temperatures vary very little during the year (about 2 degrees F). You can expect the ocean to be 83 to 85°F when you surf or swim.
