Kata beach restaurants
That's no idle claim: Kata is in fact the top surfing beach in the country. Not that Thailand is known as a true surfing destination. However, during each monsoon season there are regular breaks in the weather that provide fair to excellent surfing conditions for a few days at a time.
Each time the monsoon winds die down after a stormy period, the Indian Ocean swells continue to roll into Phuket. It's that combination one needs to catch for the good to excellent waves: after-storm swells, and little wind. This allows the swells to come together over their long journey and even out. It create great surfing conditions that typically last for 3 or 4 days, until the swells have died right down, or the winds have picked up once again.
Kata has no off-shore reef, giving it a smooth, sandy bottom that reaches far out. That, plus the funnel effect from its bay helps the formation and break of waves – no tubes, but still, sometimes they shape up excellently for a good ride t the beach.
Calm, clear breaks in the monsoon weather come regularly. They do not provide the on-going day-in, day-out swells needed to put a beach onto the itinerary of the world's top surfers. But for those in the know, hanging around in Kata, waiting for the right conditions is fun in itself. Kata's back-of-the-beach entertainment is way more fun than that in most top surf spots around the world, many of which are off remote and desolate shores where there is little to do but swat sand flies on windy days.
The funky and fun bars and restaurants at the far south end of Kata, particularly Ska Bar and its neighbouring restaurants, now entertain small groups of surfers every monsoon season.