Kitesurfing in Punta Chame
Punta Chame is Panamas main kitesurfing location and is receiving more international attention in the last years. During the Panama summer from December until April, the northerly trade winds blow consistently and get accelerated through local land breezes during the day. Summers are hot in Panama and water temperatures are pleasant with board shorts and bikini or a thin shorty wetsuit for mornings and evenings.
Kitespot Map
Punta Chame offers a range of Kitesurfing Spots.
Main Kite Beach
Right in front of the kite house is the giant sand beach with a prevailing cross-on wind direction. There is a significant tidal movement over the course of the day, with flattest conditions when the tide is lower and dropping. With an incoming tide, we get more waves. It is a great kite spot for all levels with varying conditions and lots of space.
Sand Bars
Punta Chame becomes a world class flat water spot for a few hours either side of low tide around full and new moon, when the tidal range is the greatest (Spring Tides). The sand bars stretch out from Isla Taborcillo, it is a great adventure to kitesurf over there, taking around 10-20 minutes, or take our boat shuttle to the sand bars. On neap tide, there is also another great sand bar we visit.
Lagoons / Inlets
The are a few lagoons in Punta Chame that are best at mid/high tide. There is a mini one a 5-minute ride away downwind from the guesthouse. There is a larger one 10 minutes away and then the river mouth take around 15 / 20 minutes to get to. They can all create nice flat water areas.
Kitesurf & Wind Season Panama
The season in Punta Chame is from December to April, when the northerly trade winds bring consistent wind between 15-25 knots.
Sand Bar Chart (Low tides only)
Our Sand Bar calendar below show the best time to kitesurf the main sand bar (Spring tide sand bar) that shown in yellow. The tidal range is even bigger a new moon rather than full moon so that twhen the sand bar is at it longest. During neap tides (Blue & smaller tidal range) there is another big sand bar and flat water area we also run trips to.
Kitesurf Rental
If you don’t have or don’t want to travel with your own Equipment, you can book on a rental extra to your stay and use our pool of equipment. We use the latest Equipment from Duotone and Core Kiteboarding and have a range of kites available from sizes 6-17m and a range of twin tips & strapless surfboards in different sizes.
We also have kite foil boards with short and long masts. You can either use them with your own kites or book the full kite rental and additionally the foil board rental. For 2023 onwards we now also have some wing foil equipment for intermediate/advanced riders, Equipment details are below.
Kite Rental Package
Harness | Twintip | Bar | Kites
-for fully independent kiters-
| Kite Rental | 👤 |
| 5 Days | $300 |
| Extra Day | +$60 |
Surf / Foil Board Rental
Foil or surf / strapless board only, no kites
| Foil Rental | 👤 |
| 5 Days | $200 |
| Extra Day | +$40 |
| Surfboards | 👤 |
| 5 Days | $100 |
| Extra Day | +$20 |
| Wingfoil set | 👤 |
| Half day (3h) | $75 |
| Full day | $110 |
More info at bottom of the page about the wing foil equipment we have in stock.
Kitesurf lessons
We have a team of fully qualified instructors available to teach beginner and advanced kitesurfing lessons.
In our kite courses every person has their own kitesurfing equipment (you don´t have to share the kite with another student) and radio headset and we aim to get you up and riding and to the highest level possible throughout the course.
You can also book the private lesson upgrade if you prefer private tuition.
You can add on the below packages to your booking. If you would like to book only a few private kite lessons, you can let us know when making a booking and we can arrange it once at the kite house.
Beginner Package
10h Kitesurf Lessons over 5 Days
Includes Rental equipment after day 5
-for complete beginners-
| Beginner | 👤 |
| 5 Days | $500 |
| Upgrade | +$400 private lessons** |
| Extra Day | +$60 |
Intermediate Package
6h Kitesurf Lessons over 3 days
Includes Rental equipment after day 3
-learning to board start and ride upwind-
| Intermediate | 👤 |
| 5 Days | $450 |
| Upgrade | +$240 private lessons** |
| Extra Day | +$60 |
Refresher Package
2h refresher lessons on the first day
includes full Rental Equipment
-people that can kite, but not fully independent yet-
| Refresher | 👤 |
| 5 Days | $410 |
| Extra Day | +$60 |
* Lesson prices are exclusive to people staying at the Panama Kite House with a minimum of 5 nights stay. Different pricing applies to external clients or shorter stays.
** In case of non favourable conditions or if we feel you are progressing better with group lessons, we may switch you to course lessons and refund the difference paid for private tuition.
Kitesurf Trips
With a range of different kitesurfing spots around Punta Chame, there are some great kitesurf adventures you can explore the surrounding area on.
Guided Downwinder
Join us for a 20 km guided downwinder starting at an Island upwind of John Waynes Island, cruising down the picturesque jurassic parc like coastline passing multiple Islands and crossing back over to the Kitehouse.
Specific conditions required
$50 pp - min. 4 people
sand bars
The Sand Bars stretch out up to 2km from John Wayne Island on the best days, making it a world class flat water spot. Experienced kitesurfer can kite the 5km over to them or you can take our boat shuttle.
- 2 hours on either side of Low tide -
Boat Shuttle incl. rescue: $20 pp - min. 4 people
River mouth - included weekly
The River mouth is a nice spot to cruise down to from the Main Kite Beach. The downwinder is around 7km and passing small lagoons on the way, we pick you up with the minibusses from the rivermouth.
Mid tide to 3/4 of high tide or vice versa.
Wing Foiling
We now have one set of wind foiling gear available to rent suitable for some for people that can already wing foil.
We have the following gear available to rent, we will plan to get more equipment for the following season:
Board & Mast: fanatic sky air premium 5.0 & 80cm masts
Foil wings: Fanatic aero high aspect 1750 / 300 & Aero Carve 1150 / 250
Wings: 4m Unit & 5.5m Unit
full day $110 / half day (3 hours) $75
