Map › Watamu village, between Blue Lagoon and Watamu Bay › Watamu
Spot · tier 3 · Kenya
Watamu
Watamu, a UNESCO Biosphere Reserve fishing town about 110 km northeast of Mombasa, is regarded as one of Kenya's leading kite destinations thanks to a lagoon system of shifting sandbars that give flat, glassy water at most tide stages, with reef waves further out for advanced riders. Kenya's two trade-wind seasons apply here — Kaskazi (NE, roughly Dec-Mar) and the generally stronger Kuzi (SE, roughly Jun-Sep) — and conditions change significantly with the tide, so operators run sessions from several different named launch points around the bay.
beginnersfreestylewave riding
Wind
| dominant direction | NE (Kaskazi) / SE (Kuzi) |
|---|---|
| typical knots | 20 |
| thermal or synoptic | synoptic |
Water
| type | mixed |
|---|---|
| notes | Large sandbars create flat, glassy shallow lagoons at various points along the bay, with small-to-medium reef waves 300-500m offshore; conditions are strongly tide-dependent, and several named sub-spots (plots/sandbars) are used depending on the tide. |
Levels
| beginner | yes |
|---|---|
| intermediate | yes |
| advanced | yes |
Launch & crowd
| 0 | m |
|---|---|
| 1 | e |
| 2 | d |
| 3 | i |
| 4 | u |
| 5 | m |
| description | Multiple beach/sandbar launch points along the bay depending on tide and wind; several are used commercially by watersports operators. |
| space | huge |
Hazards
- reef
- large tide swings expose coral
- currents around the reef passages
Travel basics
Sources: tribe-watersports.com · kiteactive.com · kitejungle.com · en.wikipedia.org