The ocean doesn't care about your sprint planning. That's the first thing you learn when you try to combine surfing and remote work in Las Palmas de Gran Canaria. The good sessions come when the swell, wind, and tide line up, and your calendar has to bend around them, not the other way round.

The good news is that Las Canteras makes it easier than most places. The surf is in the city, the beach is a short ride from your desk, and once you've built a couple of habits, a morning session and a 10:00 standup stop competing with each other.

Planning the day around the water

Most surfing on Las Canteras happens at La Cícer, the southern end of the beach. It's a beach break that suits a wide range of levels, and on a decent morning you'll see longboarders, beginners from the surf schools and a few people who clearly have a laptop waiting for them somewhere.

The northern end is a different story. Around La Puntilla, the reef that runs along the beach keeps the water much calmer, which makes it a great place for a swim or a paddle and not much of a surf spot. If you want a real reef break, El Confital sits just around the corner of La Isleta, but it's a serious wave for experienced surfers when it's on. Don't make it your first session.

From FICO in La Isleta, La Cícer is roughly three kilometres along the Paseo de Las Canteras. That's around 30 minutes on foot or 12 to 15 minutes on a Sitycleta, and the boardwalk ride is honestly half the fun.

My suggested routine looks something like this:

  • The night before: check the swell, wind, and tide forecast. Conditions at La Cícer change a lot with the tide, so look at when it's actually working, not just whether there are waves.
  • Dawn patrol: if the morning looks good, go early and keep the first meeting at 10:00 or later. An early session gives you the water before the wind picks up and before the beach fills.
  • Block the calendar honestly: a session is never just the time in the water. Add travel, a rinse, and changing. A one-hour surf costs closer to two hours of your day.
  • Protect the afternoon: put deep work after you surf, when you're back at the desk and not checking the forecast every ten minutes.

If you're new to the local breaks, the surf schools around La Cícer know the conditions far better than any app. Ask our friends at Mojo Surf; you can even get a discount with our code FICOWORKING15.

From wetsuit to client call

The awkward bit of work-and-surf life isn't the surfing. It's the 45 minutes after, when you're carrying a wet board and a wetsuit and have a client call in an hour.

A few things make that transition painless. Bring a changing poncho so you can get out of the wetsuit on the boardwalk. Pack a dry bag for the wetsuit so it doesn't soak everything else. Rinse off at the beach showers along the Paseo before you head back.

Then think about where your board and wetsuit live during the workday. Ask your workspace what they allow before you turn up dripping. If you're renting a flat near the beach, dropping your gear at home on the way is often the simplest option.

Finally, give yourself 15 minutes of buffer before any call with video on. Wet hair is fine. Arriving flustered and out of breath, with the wrong tab open, is less fine.

Getting back to work without crashing

Surfing is physical work, and plenty of people find the hour after a session the hardest one of the day to be useful in. I'm not going to give you a nutrition plan. I'm not qualified to, and your body will tell you more than I can.

What helps me is simple and boring. Drink water before and after. Eat something real before sitting down instead of living on coffee until 15:00. Save the post-surf hour for lighter tasks like email, code review, and planning, rather than the hardest problem on your list.

Your desk setup matters more after a session than at any other time. A chair you can actually adjust, a monitor at eye level, and the option to stand for a while will feel a lot better than a laptop on a café table when your shoulders have been paddling all morning. That's a big part of why I like having coworking near Las Canteras beach: the waves are close, and the proper setup is waiting when you get back.

If you're curious about the quieter side of this, I wrote about the productivity benefits of working near the sea, even when you never get on a board.

The lunchtime paddle-out

Some of the best sessions aren't planned at all. The forecast changes, someone notices it's glassy at La Cícer, and suddenly three people at the next desks are working out whether they can get away before their next deploy.

That only works with a bit of coordination. A shared community chat where someone posts "looks good at 13:00, anyone?" turns a vague idea into an actual plan, and it means you're rarely paddling out alone.

A few ground rules keep it from wrecking anyone's day:

  • Never surf in the middle of a release. If something is deploying or a fix is going out, the water can wait.
  • Tell your team. A quick status update or a calendar block saves you from the "where are you?" message while you're sitting on the board.
  • Agree on a hard return time. Lunchtime sessions work because they're short. Decide when you're leaving the water before you go in.
  • Respect the lineup. La Cícer can get busy. Spontaneous doesn't mean careless.

Work and surf in Las Canteras isn't about squeezing a dream lifestyle into a calendar. It's a handful of habits: check the forecast the night before, block the time honestly, pack the dry bag, and come back to a desk that's ready for you. Get those right, and the ocean stops being a distraction and becomes part of the week.