No shoes, no shirt, all the service you need.
I want to spend the rest of my life in bare feet or worst case, flip flops.
Day 1. Arrived at the surf camp mid afternoon. Settled in to our room and checked out the scene. Nice waves right out front at the Tamarindo beach break 100 yards from the camp.
3pm, first tour of the trip. Play Grande. Considered one of the best beach breaks in Costa Rica. It’s a long stretch of beach just north of the Tamarindo River mouth. A town of about 500.
We’re told we need to paddle out to the boat, maybe 300 or so yards out I guess (past the beach break). The biggest swell of our trip was just building this day. As this was our first day, I took out a 9′2″ Hobie longboard, figuring it was my best chance at waves.
The paddle out was nice and not difficult, although there were both faster and slower people in the party. Once the boat was full, we went north across the river, past Casitas and Wilson’s point (both break at Playa Grande) over to the main Grande point. We watched the waves break from the back, and they looked somewhat big. Hard to tell given I have no baseline for this type of thing. We made our way into the break, and slowly, waves behind us started to get steeper, and push us in. My first drop was an overhead a-frame bomb where my board felt like it was straight down on the drop and bottom turn. I survived with stiff legs, rode it out, and got back outside. I immediately thought holy shit, this trip is for real. I managed to catch a couple other waves of smaller size, and get held under countless times before the weather started to shift to rain. We loaded the boat, and they dropped us off on the south side of the river mouth where we surfed in strong rain and offshore winds until we were tired. The adrenaline was very high and kept us all going as most people arrive and leave on a Saturday.
We paddled in, showered off outside at the camp and got some water and food. 15 minutes later the food came back through the entry way. Nice.
Day 2
Morning arrived. Fortunately for this week the tides lined up perfectly for sunrise and sunset sessions allowing for two – three surf sessions a day. Most beaches required high tide to generate good waves.
I grabbed a 7′10″ Walden magic model and headed out in front at sunrise as it looked to good to resist. Caught a bunch of nice lefts. My buddy Shane was in the water with his video camera and caught a nice little ride I’ll share later. Kept this session short as we had a morning tour scheduled around 8 am. The sun rose about 5:30 in the morning and was bright enough to wake you up.
As a side note, I put the Walden back on the rack, but in retrospect, should have held onto it as it was a fun board with no repairs. I inquired days later when I never saw it again, and was informed it snapped in half at Witches. Apparently many boards get broken at Witches. Later in the trip, I saw the surf board medical ward, it had a lot of patients. Chilo (guide) performed the repairs. Not to our typical standards, but good
enough to keep the boards in rotation. Several dings and breaks happened during our stay.
Off to Playa Marbella, on the Nicoya Peninsula. By car, this took over an hour to reach. Once at the beach, we were the only people present outside of a few couple’s spread along the sand. No other surfers. Next to Playa Grande, Marbella is the biggest waves we saw on our trip.
This was our first trip with one of our favorite guides, ‘Killian’. Killian is 19 years old. A French born, Costa Rican Citizen who was a nationally ranked, sponsored surfer for some time. Over the course of our trip Killian consistently threw and landed 360 airs and just flat out amazed everyone in the water. A great kid and fantastic guide. Probably the best surfer at the camp and most of Costa Rica from what I could tell.
Once we arrived at Marbella, we took it all in. Huge, way over head waves. The group was Shane (Seattle), myself, Stacy, Shirley and guy from Manly Australia names Jason. Jason stated he hadn’t surfed in over a year and half.
Killian advised us to watch him paddle out, and then decide the best approach. He gave us a solid overview of the beach and the left point break. He pointed out nice inside waves, as well as where the major rock cropping were. If we didn’t want to head all the way out. The beach break area was simply too heavy.
Jason and Killian paddled out and immediately started to catch the outside waves. They were enormous. We all watched Killian get a great tube ride on the left point. Jason tore it up.
Shane and I went out into the inside break and managed to catch a couple pretty fun rides on a 7′6″ egg I rode frequently during the trip. I ended up getting pulled a bit north, took a couple on the head that pushed me to the bottom. I got a pretty solid scrape from a rock across the back. Fortunately only a surface wound.
The session ended fairly quickly and we decided to head back up north to Playa Avellanes. This was a spectacular beach, with a nice shady restaurant right next to the parking lot. About a half hour south of Tamarindo, and is a great collection of lefts and rights on both beach and reef. Home to well known right on the north end called Little Hawaii. At least 4-5 peaks extend on this beach.
Again Killian and Jason paddled out and scored some nice waves. I caught one inside left that ripped me down the beach over the rocks. Stubbed my toe pretty good getting out. This was the end of the first day of tours. We stayed at the beach through sunset drinking cervazas and watching the locals get totally stoked over the huge swell. They owned this day for sure. Back home to a well needed rest. Outside of the morning session out front, I caught one ride each at Marbella and Avellanes.
By the end of the first full day at camp, I surfed 4 breaks. The swell was peaking, but not very organized.
Day 3 (Monday)
Looking for smaller waves for the group, We went just south of the Tamarindo beach to an area known as Capitan (El) Suizo due to the nearby hotel where you park. Took out the 7′6″ egg again. Waves were small and fun, but we had a crowded session of about 7 people. Killian somehow managed to tear it up on a 6′ short board in knee to waist high waves.
The afternoon session was at what became one of favorite spots, Casitas. Casitas is the first peak north of the river separating Playa Tamarindo from Playa Grande (technically part of Grande). Each peak on every beach seems to have a specific name. Consistency was starting to show. We paddled across the river, which had a pretty good current due to the swell. Took about 5 minutes of paddling, and about a 5 minute walk on the beach to reach Casitas.
I took out the 9′2″ Hobie again and had a great time. Stacy caught some great waves and we really started to appreciate the trip and the guides. The wave was steep, but not hollow, and broke consistently in the same place. The peaks on Playa Grande grew consistently as you went North.
Day 4 (Tuesday)
Back to Casitas by car. This took over a half hour for something we paddled across to the previous day. This was the last time we would go by car. As we would learn, this is a favorite spot for some locals. However, we consistently surfed this peak nearly alone.
In between sessions, Killian took a group out to the river mouth do some body surfing which he said is a key activity in understanding wave dynamics. I took in a lot of water.
Evening session was back to Playa Grande. Way too big for me, and most others. During the session a tremendous thunder and lightning storm hit causing heavy rain. Most people sat in the car, but Jason and Shane stayed in the line up and took some huge drops. I sat on the beach after a couple drops frustrated with it being too big and eventually got in the car. The lightning and thunder did not help matters.
Day 5 (Wednesday).
5am. What is lined up as the pinnacle of the trip is a session at both Witches Rock (Playa Naranjo) and Ollie’s Point (Bahia Potero). We drove north about an hour up to Playa Del Coco where we launch by boat with Stacy, Shane, Jason, and Tomo (from Japan), myself and two guides (Chilo and Luis) for the hour long boat ride. The order in which you surf each spot is dictated by tide. For our session, Witches was first on the list.
As we rolled up from the back of the waves, it was very small. Slowly as the tide changed, the waves picked up into very nice, hollow lines. Playa Naranjo is a 3 mile stretch of beach. The best waves are directly in front of Witched Rock. Here an estuary meets the ocean creating nice sandbars. The session was fun until about half way through when a wave of nausea came over me. It started with getting tired, so I took a short nap on the beach and then paddled back out to the break. Soon after, I got sick on my surf board, which unfortunately was caught on video by my friend Shane.
I remained incapacitated the rest of the day, just wishing it to be over. I slept on the boat bench and did my best to not get sick again. The rest of the group came back to the boat and we were off to Ollie’s Point. This is a famous right point breaking for several hundred yards just in front of the beach it wraps into. The wave angle is soft making it mostly a long board wave. Stacy and others had a great time catching really long rides
(while I continued to sit on my back in the boat).
Once the Ollie’s session was over, the boat was loaded up and we headed back to Playa Del Coco. The guides pointed to a huge storm in the distance and instructed us to cover our packs with plastic bags they pulled out. With no windbreaker, and only a rash guard, we went head on into the storm for about 30 minutes. Cold, pelting rain forced us to sit on the floor of the boat for a bit. I was starting to feel better by this point, but just wanted the trip to be over. The sun was already going down. The rain was so hard we ended up at the wrong Marina and had to back track to the awaiting van. Back to camp after sunset and straight to bed for this kid.
Day 6 (Thursday).
Still recovering from the previous day I skipped both tours which included Playa Grande at a peak swell. I had a late morning session (7am) right out front of the camp. Rode a 9″6″ single fin and caught some really fun lefts. I surfed again in the evening at sunset, but it was much more crowded , typically the case for the evenings in Tamarindo. I am not sure the exact day, but one boat at the camp sank. No one was injured. I heard it took on water outside the Tamarindo beach break. For the rest of the trip, only one boat was in service, and most tours were by van which typically took much more time, but allowed you to bring more
provisions for the day.
Day 7 (Friday).
Back in action. Stacy and I (Shane and others missed the morning session due to a few too many cervezas the night before) were taken by boat to Wilson’s point. This is a break about 200 yards south of the main Playa Grande peak. In front of Wilson’s house. Killian’s dad used to surf with Wilson, who Killian described as kind of a dick.
The waves were still very big. Not like the waves at Marbella or Grande days ago, but nonetheless basically the biggest waves Stacy and I ever rode. We had an unbelievable patient guide names Chilo. He is one of the main boat captains and prefers to not have a second guide. He normally anchors the boat and surfs with the guests.
In this case, we expressed the waves were too big and asked if we could go to Casitas (a few peaks south back towards camp, which is consistently smaller). Chilo talked us out of it and got in the water. He called me into a couple waves which I promptly did not take due to the large, hollow nature of the take off. He sort of shook his head, told me in broken English with sign language that they did not close out. I took his word and dropped into the biggest waves of my life on a 7′6″ egg. Maybe just slightly overhead, but hollow and fast. I caught a few and was really stoked. Chilo saw Stacy having a hard time getting her nerve up to paddle
into her first wave. He paddled over to her as she was about to back out of paddling in as it appeared Chilo was going to take the wave. He pushed the back of Stacy’s board and put her right into it. She had a great ride and the whole session opened up for her and she got some nice waves. A great session for both of us, and Chilo got a nice tip. It was just us 3 for the entire session. About 20 people surfed the main Grande peak 200 yards down that was bigger.
We went back to Wilson’s Point for the afternoon tour with Jason, Shane and Stacy. I rode a 9′4″ bill steward epoxy pin tail which I held onto the rest of the trip, this became my go to board. Jason called me into some fun sized waves and we had a blast. I outran several barrels. Very stoked after this day, but looking forward to a bit more moderate waves.
The old swell has faded and became more clean and organized as the week went by. The following week was followed by consistent back to back SW swells of perfect size.
Day 8 (Saturday).
No morning session. On Friday night, the camp hosts a party for the students and shows a bunch of pics and videos. After wards, they show pics from the tours as well, which typically include some great shots. The guides hang out and then go to local bar for pretty much an all night party. Most people are leaving the next day and new guests arrive. We had a great time as the vibe is awesome for everyone.
Back to Playa Aveanes in the late afternoon, which was becoming a trend. High quality waves. Good sunset and nice place for beer after. Really fun left and rights on the Stewart. Met Kate and Rick from New Hampshire. Rick is a dentist and surfs all winter in NH. He and Kate both charge. I was thoroughly impressed. We spend most of the next week surfing with these two and having a great time. First single session day of the trip.
Day 9 (Sunday).
Skipped the tours and paddled across to Casitas on the Stewart. Ones of the guides told us it was going to be a great morning there and it turned out to be true. Stacy and I surfed by ourselves for an hour before the owner of the surf camp showed up and shared some waves. We surfed for about 2 hours with maybe 4-5 people on two peaks. Constant waves.
In the afternoon I paddled out in Tamarindo on a 6′6″ epoxy short board, figured I’d try to learn to duck dive. Caught a couple drops into close outs until Killian came over during one of his other lessons and pointed out a perfect spot to pick up the wave. After a few squirly pop ups, I caught my first good face rides on a short board.
At sunset I took the short board back out for a third session of the day, but not much luck.
Day 10 (Monday).
Tour was scheduled for El Gulfo. This is an open ocean break 2 miles offshore of Playa Avellanes. In the previous tour, the surfers were warned not to get caught inside. One surfers leash broke and he lost his board, 2 miles from shore. Fortunately another person in the group on the inside recovered it, but the scene was not pretty. The previous group did not like the break, so I decided to skip the tour as I was not feeling it. I took the short board over to Casitas (paddled the river, which took much more time). No real good waves, but Stacy let me ride her 8″6″ Southpoint at the end to not make it a total loss. When we returned, we were informed El Gulfo was not working and the group ended up at Grande. We made the right choice.
As of now, I am officially worked.
Day 11 (Tuesday).
We had been inquiring about a trip to Nosara as last week a group did go but it was not common due to the distance. It’s a very nice beach break with a forgiving wave. The tour was scheduled with Stacy, me, Rick and Kate for Marbella. In the morning, Killian basically told the driver we’re heading to Nosara (2 hrs+ from Camp). I could tell the driver (Ulisys) did not seem too happy but complied non the less. Kate and Rick were stoked to make the trip as we asked early if they minded the change but they were excited to see a new area. We did not want to change unless everyone was on board.
We got to Playa Guiones (aka Nosara) and it looked huge. Slightly overhead. Killian stated take the channel right in front and it’s no problem to the line up. He said the waves are big but forgiving.
Stacy and I tried to catch some smaller inside waves while Killian, Kate and Rick made it out to the line up. There were a hand full of locals and it wasn’t looking like we would have much luck. After getting pounded in the beach break for an hour, Stacy and I went back to the beach. I was getting frustrated so I decided to try my luck again. By this time, it was only our group in the line up (3 people and our guide). I made it out mostly and started to drift into some crashing waves, Killian directed me and I was in the line up. Rick called me into a set wave which I skipped and caught shit for. I got the next smaller inside wave which seemed about head high. It was perfect, soft and clean. I got stuck inside a couple times and had to ride white water all the way in, but managed to consistently get back out to the channel once I got it dialed. I finally got into the set waves with Rick and rode some of the largest, most fun waves I have ever been on. The angle was forgiving and the crashing wave was much softer than the hollow breaks of Playa Grande and Avellanes. I caught amazing lefts for the next hour plus until I was exhausted and sunburned. We got lunch and came back to have another look, but the sun was blazing and the winds were picking up. We decided to make the long drive home just in time for sunset cervezas.
Day 12 (Wednesday).
Back to Avellanes. We thought the waves would be too big again and planned on Casitas, but the guides talked us into going. At first, we thought perhaps because they wouldn’t get to make the trip if we didn’t go (Stacy and I were the only tour people), but we were proved wrong. One of the surf shop employees, Andreas, said he would look out for us and put on a good peak called Palo Seco about a solid 10 minute walk north at Avellanes. He did us right as the session was amazing. Perfect size and shaped waves for both Stacy and I and one other person at the camp they let poach the session (this was common if there was room). I got barreled for the first time at the end of this session. For a moment I thought I was going to get covered up, then the bottom of the wave completely dropped out, I rolled twice. Steepness grew with the changing tide. Good fun.
Day 13 (Thursday).
Paddled across the river to Casitas on the Stewart. Really fun lefts and rights, Stacy got lots of waves. Tide now preventing decent evening sessions (mostly, as the river mouth always broke fast and hollow, even at low tide).
As sunset rolled around, the waves got really good out front. I kicked myself profusely for not getting into the water, thinking I was letting one more change at a session pass. The only upside was I got some great shots of our friends Kate and Rick surfing at sunset.
We treated a couple of the guides to pizza this night and just had a good time reflecting back on the week.
Day 14 (Friday)
Our shuttle to the airport was scheduled at 9:20. Like every other morning except 2, we were up by 5:30 with the sun. I ate, socialized, said good by’s and watched the water at low tide. About 7:45 the waves started to pick up. I ran out as quickly as I could and scored 2 rights and a nice left before heading back in to shower and get ready to leave. I was so stoked to squeeze in one more session this morning before departing. Before we left, our favorite guides came to the camp in the am to say goodbye. The hospitality was truly amazing.
Several nights on the trip, Killian (who lived with another guide ‘Flash’), would have us over to their home. We cooked steaks one night, and mostly just partied with other guests and their friends. An amazingly hospitable group of people. We left feeling like we made some great friends.
Over the course of the week we would do things like private bbq’s and bon fires where the guides would set it up and get to eat for free (as they would bring a big group of people to whatever place providing much needed business in the off season). We had some of the fresh seafood and overall just a great time.
What we learned over the course of the week is tipping drives your whole experience. We were not sure the protocal so figured we would do it at the end. Fortunately one of the other guests gave us some general guidelines. Basically $1/hour for the drivers and $10 for the guides for the session. What became clear to us quickly through the first few days is which guides were generally interested in your experience and other solely focused on expecting a tip regardless. One particular guide never provided any information at the breaks.
Being told what to do was never an expectation, but knowing what hazards exist and getting a general explanation of the area were generally needed (and provided). Several areas had significant rocks. We took good care of the good guides, and they took great care of us.
There is also a main person that waxes and maintain the boards, Maxi. We tipped him well and after a couple days he took Stacy to the storage room and let her pick out whatever brand new board she wanted out of the stock quiver. She took a 8′ egg and rode it the rest of the time. He would also ensure no one else took the board if you did not happen to take it to your room. He clued me into which boards were in the best shape.
We had so many sessions with only us and our guides. We dawn patrolled every day (5:30-6:00am) to get un-crowded glassy waves. The camp typically always had 1-2 tours going each morning and never missed a beat. The locations changed frequently based on what was scheduled the night before. If the guides felt better waves existed for your ability elsewhere, things changed on the spot. They looked out for you and maximized your experience.
By day 2 I no longer put a brush in my hair or showered on a regular basis. On the last day after I cleaned up to leave, one of the guides made a comment on the neat condition of my hair and we all had a laugh.
WRSC was worth every penny and I would do it all over again. It is a world class operation, for a bunch of dirt bag surfers.
We spent time with the owner who always said hi when we saw him on the street and he shared waves with us as Casitas.
We never made it to El Gulfo or Langosta, but otherwise covered an amazing stretch of coastline from Guanacaste down through the Nicoya Peninsula.
I cannot wait to return to Costa Rica.
I believe I had about 20 sessions give or take over 14 days covering 9 specific breaks, with no days off. I wore a rash guard less than 50% of the time, only to block the sun. I held up great, and pretty much rash free, I am not sure how I pulled that off.
The water was the same temperature as the air. About 80.
Too many other stories to tell that I am sure I will remember later.
I’ll leave you with this perfect little barrel I woke up to the day before I left. Right out front at the Tamarindo beach break.
Pura vida, peace and hair grease.
Costa’s alright. Spent a lot of time there in the early 90’s and haven’t been back since, although wouldn’t mind taking my wife and daughter down there. Always with just a backpack boards and never any camps or guides. Really wasn’t much of that back then. I eventually moved on, El Salv, Nica, Panama, Mainland, Indo, Auz, NZ, etc. The worlds a big place.
TL;DR
SRSLY
COMEON.
Super good deal on Whiskey right now folks. Xcel 5/4/3 $185.00
Gman’s a spammer.
Support local shops and surfers only. Even though that is a good deal…it’s a deal that’s targeted at killing local “offline” surf business.
Fak Whiskey and there f’n stickers blasting everywhere. It’s called littering.
S-O
thanks for the heads up, just bought one
nice clem and drexefx. yeah, yeah, Sam O I know. I bought the same suit from a ‘normal’ surfshop 3 months ago for 240 which was a good deal. the whole thing sucks but man… 185 is too good to pass up.
i know like 5 headz that jumped on this.
totally down to support the little guy but i need some new rubber. now. gonna be paddlin a beat 5/4 this weekend with a quarter sized hole in it.
luckily i will be full of chili to help keep me warm.
I bought a real snowboard from gman; he’s part of the letter-man gang…not a spammer.
And, proximity trumping everything is a pretty weak motto…there are plenty of factors, right? Considering you’re all fake surfers anyways, who gives a shit?
this is all true… aman and i are in the same gang. sman is in the gang too but sometimes he tries to fuck on aman and probationary status is placed back on the sman.
Cracked a new 5/4/3 Xcell I bought a month or so ago for 240 on Sun. Oh so fresh and so cozy, was actually to warm. I love those suits and have been wearing them for 10 years now. Thats a sick deal fo sho.
sounds like everyone the in NW will be running shinny new XCEL suits next week.
Yeah, I had that in mind last time I bought a suit and I ended up waiting 3 times as long as I should have to get the right suit and paid about $50 more. If Cheekalooka had it’s head out of it’s ass they wouldn’t lose customers to online retailers. Maybe I’ll try Wavehounds next time.
As I get older and jaded I guess I expect little more than a stoner attitude and a shakka from a shop owner.
yeah yeah, it was a tempting offer.
Thought it was spam for sure, but sounds like the otherwise…