We examine the combined effect of spatially stationary surface waves and the presence of fluid inertia on the free convection induced by a vertical heated surface embedded in a fluid-saturated porous medium. We consider the boundary-layer regime where the Darcy-Rayleigh number, Pa, is very large, and assume that the surface waves have O(1) amplitude and wavelength. The resulting boundary-layer equations are found to be nonsimilar only when the surface is nonuniform and inertia effects are present; self-similarity results when either or both effects are absent. Detailed results for the local and global rates of heat transfer are presented for a range of values of the inertia parameter and the surface wave amplitude.