MapEcuadorSanta MarianitaSanta MarianitaSanta Marianita

Santa Marianita

Manabí · Santa Marianita · Manta

also known as Playa Santa Marianita, Playa Bonita

Part of Santa Marianita →

JanFebMarAprMayJunJulAugSepOctNovDec

beginner-friendlylow crowds

On this page

The spot
Wind
Forecast
Month by month
Water
Level
The scene
Launch
Schools
Tips
Getting there
FAQ

Riding essentials

Season

May–Jan

Months riders and schools name

How windy

15-25 knots

Character: thermal

Room to launch

huge

access rules on record, below

Water

mixed

21–24 °C in summerOpen-ocean sandy beach rather than a lagoon, with wind chop, small to medium waves, and wave sections

Hazards

Reported by riders

Level

Beginner to advanced

With a caveat: see Your level

BeginnerIntermediateAdvanced

Crowds

low crowds · busy Jul Aug

Schools

named at this spot

From the airport

Manta (MEC)

Transfer times under Getting there

On the clock

11:00 · 16:00 · 17:00

Thermal, and reliable about it. The wind comes in around 11:00, is at its best through early and mid afternoon, and fades by about 16:00-17:00. Mornings are calm - use them for surf, sleep or the drive from Manta.

The marks are the clock times the record names, laid on a 24-hour day. The bar between the first and the last covers those hours; it is not a promise of wind.

Santa Marianita has no other spot on this map within 40 km of it, and none other in Santa Marianita. straight-line distance

Backup spotsWhere riders go when the wind doesn't work here.

Crucitano page yet
El Murciélago (Manta)no page yet
Bahía de Caráquezno page yet
San Mateono page yet
Barbasquillono page yet
El Murcielagono page yet

The spot

Santa Marianita is Ecuador's most established kite beach, a rural parish and beach area just south of Manta in Manabi. It is open Pacific: a long sandy beach, no lagoon, room to rig anywhere, wind chop and small to medium waves. The season is May to December, driven by the difference between hot inland air and cool Pacific water, and the wind sits at 15-22 knots out of W/WNW/NW, sometimes given as southwest-to-west, which puts the angle mostly cross-onshore.

Beginners

Several schools and all that sand mean beginners are welcome, but this is open-ocean learning with shorebreak, a tide line that moves and no rescue on record. Schools keep learners on the northern end; the water in front of Punta La Barca and the offshore reef sections belong to wave and foil riders.

Travel

Travel is easy, with Manta airport and bus terminal close and beds ranging from simple kite-house rooms to coliving stays.

Launch rules

No municipal kite zoning or permit turned up in city material, so ask a local school what the current beach practice is before you launch.

The wind

locals call it stable trade wind

Direction

cross-onW

Direction to shore

cross-on

Kite sizes

67891011121314151617

metres · typical quiver highlighted

The quiver, in words

For a 75-85 kg rider the working range is 9-12 m: 12 m on the 15 kt afternoons, 9 m once the thermal tops 20 kt, and 8 m on the strongest days. Quivers reaching 14 m are also quoted, which fits the lighter end of the season rather than a normal afternoon.

Character

thermal

When it fills in: see above ↑

Average strength

15-22

Typical strength

15-25 knots in the dry/windy season; typical range is also reported as 15-20 or 15-22 knots.

Generally consistent thermal wind in season, but still an open-ocean forecast-dependent spot with chop, waves, and occasional lighter transition-season days.

The main kite season runs May to December. Good wind reportedly holds into January, and January turns up as a best month while December reads as a transition. Foil wind reportedly works year-round except March.

Forecast

Live forecast

Windguru Windfinder Windy

Month by month

riding season from the spot record · the wind series here holds no strength figure

No month-by-month share of windy days is held for this spot. The months riders and schools name are May, Jun, Jul, Aug, Sep, Oct, Nov, Dec, Jan.

Measured at Manta, ~14 km from the spot.

How this was measuredmeasured

The source named below holds no month-by-month figure for this place, so no season is drawn from it. The season is the one the spot record names.

A station this far away — often inland or at an airport — can understate accelerated local wind. Highlighted months are the riding season from the spot record.

Manta · Windfinder

The water

Type

mixed

Standing depth

No documented standing-depth flat. This is an open Pacific beach with a shorebreak: clean sand underfoot, no rock or shell to speak of, and swimming depth not far past the inside waves. Exactly how far you can wade at low water is unconfirmed, and no local source publishes a figure.

Tides

Semidiurnal open-Pacific tides, with predictions published against the Manta station about 16 km ENE, so the local timing can differ a little. The practical effect is on land rather than in the water: at high tide the usable strip of beach for launching and landing narrows noticeably.

Temperature

Summer (°C) 21-24 in the cooler dry/windy season; summer sea surface temperature is also reported as low as 18-21, so check locally if sensitive to cold water.

Winter (°C) 25-28 in the warmer wet season; nearby Manta monthly averages are commonly mid-20s C.

Wetsuit

Usually boardshorts/rash vest or shorty; around 24 °C no wetsuit is needed, though shorts/shorty with a thermal rash guard suit colder days.

Currents

Unconfirmed - no current pattern is published for this beach by any school or local authority. Treat it as an open Pacific coast: expect along-shore set and rip channels through the shorebreak, and ask a school before riding away from the launch area.

Conditions

Open-ocean sandy beach rather than a lagoon, with wind chop, small to medium waves, and wave sections; a reef wave breaks about 200 m offshore, and the easier northern school area is separate from more advanced waves in front of Punta La Barca.

Your level

BeginnerIntermediateAdvanced

Local schools teach complete beginner through advanced/foil/wing programs. The beach has ample sand and schools use the northern area for beginners, but learners still deal with open-ocean chop, shorebreak/waves and changing tide space rather than standing-depth flat water.

The scene

What riders come here for

freerideintermediatefreestyleprogressionwave ridingfoilwing foildownwinders

Who it suitsbeginnerlearning

A fishing village that turned into a small kite town next to Manta, with Ecuadorian riders, travelling kiters, seafood cabanas on the sand and a handful of schools. Flyfest 2025 filled the beach for a day, but an ordinary day here is not crowded.

Launch and rules

three ways on to the water, and what each one asks of you

With a school or a boat

3 schools name this spot

See who they are

On your own

Room to launch: huge

Read the access rules

Somewhere else

No neighbour on record

No other spot in the atlas sits within reach of this one.

Rescue

No public rescue service, lifeguard or posted emergency contact is published for this beach.

Schools decline to run lessons in unsuitable conditions and one of them sits on what it calls the safest kite section, but that is a business judgement, not cover for independent riders.

Arrange your own backup: ride with someone, agree a downwind pickup point, and put a school's number in your phone before you launch.

Launch

Long sandy beach launch in Santa Marianita with kite schools on or near the beach. Soft sand with no major rock/shell problem and ample rigging space; the beach is about 7 km long, with reduced room at high tide.

Hazards riders report 14 reported

Wind

Wind is normally side-onshore to cross-shore from W/WNW/NW; still confirm the forecast before launching, especially as a beginner, since no source documents regular offshore days.
Wind is normally side-onshore to cross-shore from W/WNW/NW and no source records regular offshore days, but check the forecast before launching anyway.

Waves and currents

High tide can reduce launch and landing space.
Shorebreak matters for beginners: on the northern side the waves break close to shore, which is where learners train, while the water off the point suits advanced riders and its waves arrive from farther out
A reef/wave feature is reported about 200 m offshore.
Shorebreak on the beginner section at the north end, where the waves break close in; off the southern end, in front of the point, the waves arrive from farther out and the water suits advanced riders.
A reef and wave feature roughly 200 m offshore.
High tide narrows the strip available for launching and landing.

Protected areas and rules

Open Pacific beach with chop and waves; not a flat-water or standing-depth lagoon.
Open Pacific beach with chop and waves - not a flat-water or standing-depth lagoon.

Other

No formal rescue service for independent kiters is published.
Strong equatorial sun; cover up even on the days you need no wetsuit
No rescue service, lifeguard or emergency contact for independent riders on record.
Strong equatorial sun, enough to end a session even without a wetsuit.

Rules & access

1 min read

As of 2026 there is no published municipal kite zoning, beach-use permit, seasonal restriction or lifeguard arrangement for Santa Marianita; the city of Manta's own material on the beach is promotional and names no rules.
No permit or fee is required to launch (2026).
What separates users here is local practice rather than regulation: schools keep beginners on the northern section of the beach and leave the water off the southern end, in front of the point, to advanced riders and the wave.
An international kite event, Flyfest, is held here in August - the 2025 edition ran on 18 August with riders from around ten countries - so expect the beach to be organised around competition on those dates.

Access rules drift faster than anything else we hold — check locally, and propose an edit if this has changed.

Schools that ride here

Rider tips

Check the wind angle before you head out. You want side-onshore or cross-shore, and the forecast is what tells you.
Time the day around the thermal: on the beach by 11:00, best wind through early and mid afternoon, packing up around 16:00-17:00.
Check the tide before you rig, because at high water the launch strip gets thin.
Learn on the northern section. The water off the southern end, in front of the point, is set up for advanced riders and its waves arrive from farther out.
Budget around two weeks to finish an eight-hour beginner course if your trip depends on lessons, because the wind takes days off.
Ask a school about rescue and assisted riding before you go out alone, bring sun protection and at least a rash vest, and use the beachfront cabanas to wait out a light morning.

Getting there

Airport

Eloy Alfaro International Airport, Manta (MEC)

Route

Fly into Manta (MEC) from Quito, or take a long-distance bus to Manta, then continue south by road: about 19 km and 20 minutes to Santa Marianita, a little more from the airport. A taxi runs roughly US$10-15 from the city and about US$17-21 back to the airport; the shared camioneta costs about US$1.25 a head.

Transfer

About 20 minutes by taxi from Manta and 25-30 minutes from Manta airport (MEC), traffic depending.

Cost level

medium for Ecuador kite travel. As of 2022, Quito-Manta flights run around US$50-100, 1-hour kite lessons around US$40 and 8-hour beginner courses around US$300. As of 2026, Manta-Santa Marianita taxi runs about US$10-12 and Santa Marianita-MEC taxi about US$17-21.

Staying

Village and beach lodging runs from camping and dorms to private rooms and kite houses. Punta La Barca, Humboldt Kitehouse and Donkey Den sit at the cheaper end, and Humboldt puts the bed and the kite course together.

No-wind days

SUP, surfing, wing/foil lessons, scuba/PADI with Ocean Freaks, seafood beach cabanas, Manta city services/nightlife, Montecristi/Panama-hat craft visits, and whale watching in July-August.

FAQ

When is the best time to kitesurf at Santa Marianita?

The main season runs May to December, driven by a thermal effect between warm inland air and cooler Pacific water.

Is Santa Marianita suitable for beginners?

Yes, local schools teach complete beginners through advanced riders, with the northern beach area used as the friendlier beginner zone.

What is the wind like?

Wind is typically W, WNW or NW at 15-22 knots, usually building around late morning and peaking in the early afternoon.

Are there kite schools at Santa Marianita?

Yes, schools including Kite Ecuador, Humboldt Kites and Ocean Freaks operate on the beach.

What hazards should riders know?

The beach is open ocean rather than a lagoon, with wind chop, small to medium waves, and no verified formal rescue service for independent kiters.

The bigger pictureEverything about Santa Marianita

Last updated: August 2026