The face of surfing has changed since the days of the pioneering adventure from up north…
Surf in Costa Rica
The pacific and Caribbean coastlines of Costa Rica offer hundreds of miles of stunning coastline with scores of consistent year-round breaks waiting for the wave hungry. On Guanacaste’s Nicoya Peninsula, there os a variety of surfer-friendly lodging, tours, and services for surfers of all levels, ages, and dispositions.
According to Tara Thompson, manager at Witch’s Rock Surf Camp in Tamarindo, the clients that they see these days ranges from young families to retired grandmothers to suit-and-tie types looking to escape the grind of the corporate world. “I wanted the same thing”, she says. “To live on a pretty beach and surf good waves and I so found the right spot.”
Tamarindo is Guanacaste’s surf hub and first stop for many visitors to the area. There area numerous big name breaks ones all along the peninsula and scores of lesser-know spots, particularly in the south. This is due to the less-than-perfect conditions of some stretches of coastal road, especially during the rainy season. Besides traveling in a 4-wheel-drive, another option is to hire a boat, cruise down the coast, and stop off at the breaks of you choice.
Costa Rica’s pura vida (pure life) philosophy and beach culture are perfectly matched, creating and environment for surfers that is relaxed and accommodating. They are also attitudes that are refreshingly escapist, invoking you to loosen up, let go, and thank your lucky starts that there are still places on the planet this beautiful to be catching the perfect wave.
Surfing in Mal Pais
More over football… For the first time in its 34-year history, national students were able to compete in surfing at the 2006 Student Games now that it has been included to the National Curriculum. Thanks to the efforts of bodies like the Surfing Federation, the popularity of the sport among the young has been rising steadily and Costa Rica has been moving up in the international rankings. The Circuito Nacional de Surf (CNS) which was founded six years ago is the national competitive tour and has been key in discovering and fostering home grows talent. In the words of one observer of Costa Rica’s gold medal-by-a-landslide performance at the Campeonato Centroamericano de Surf Adrenalina this year, “All of a sudden, surfing in Central America is at a world-class level. Surfing here is so young…what’s going to happen next?
The CNS season runs from November to March and tours beaches all over the country.
Highlights
Playas del Coco:
No waves, but for surfers this is the main point of departure for boat trips into Santa Rosa National Park.
Ollie’s Point ( Potrero Grande):
Santa Rosa National Park, boat access only. O amenities. World class right point break with fast, hollow waves. Best al low ride. An advanced wave. Named after the infamous Lt Col Oliver North, who managed the illegal CIA smuggling operations to Nicaraguan rebels in the 80s.
Roca Bruja (Witch’s Rock):
Santa Rosa National Park, boat access of good 4WD. Basic camping facilities with no potable water. World Class beach break in both directions. Fast, heavy and long. Best with incoming high tide. Suitable for experienced surfers.
Playa Grande:
Las Baulas National Park. 20 min drive north of tamarindo, or a 45 min walk up the beach after crossing the estuary. All amenities. Fast beach break in both directions. Best with incoming high tide. Also one of the world’s primary nesting grounds for the highly endangered Leatherback Turtle.
Playa Tamarindo:
Hub of North Pacific surfing set a developing tourist town. Complete range of services and amenities. Suitable for all levels but especially good for beginners. Variety of surf spots including point, beach and river mouth breaks. Best with incoming high tide. Good fun wave especially when there’s swell.
Playa Langosta:
Easily accessible, located 1 Km south of Tamarindo. Large, strong, right and left point break that curls off the river mouth at the north end of the beach. Suitable for experienced surfers. Sadly not the same class of wave it once was, owing ti the illegal development of the present day Barcelo Resort that affected the drainage into the estuary.
Playa Avellanas:
40 min in 4WD south of Tamarindo. Essential services and amenities avaible. User friendly breaks spread out along a gorgeous white sand stretch: beach breaks (best with rising high tide), estuary break and the formerly secret reef break, ‘Little Hawaii’ (up to 18 feet with swell, for experienced and expert surfers, best on low to medium tide).
Playa Negra:
Located 20 mins in 4WD south of Avellanas. Essential services and amenities avaible. Very fast world-class right tubes coming off the reef break that should only be attempted bye experts.
Playa Frijoles:
Black sand beach found at the town of Marbella. Crescent shaped beach break notable because it is just at the wind line, south of which the offshore Papagayo winds do not blow.
Playa Guiones:
The beach at the town of Nosara. All services and amenities available. A beach break with lefts that produce barrels with swell. A consistent, year-round surf spot with fewer crowds.
Mal Pais:
A specific beach breaks at this town of the same name. Other spots include El Carmen. Los Suecos, Punta Barrigona, Santa Teresa, Playa Hermosa and Manzillo.
Surfing is best at Santa Teresa the north end of this long beach.
