Costa Rica!

[kitesurfer]

Ok due to the ever increasing numbers of requests to hear about my trip to costa rica that you may have already heard about and also due to the occasional comment on the already published photos that i may have actually just stayed in the uk as the surf was looking just a tad on the small size in one or two of the photos, i bow to public demand and give a brief tale of my trip!



Now where to start!
Oh yes as allways my connecting flight on the way out to costa rica was delayed at madrid so instead of arriving for my first time in central america at the rather sociable hour of 6 in the afternoon i arrived after 26 continous hours of travelling at 12am!
Great no idea of where my accomadation, was whether or not it still be open or how many taxi's were going to rip me off.

Still my fears were unecessary as the taxi#'s from the airport are all official ones and its impossible to get ripped off here.
My B&B the hotel los volcanes near to the airport was still open and would defo stay there again. Cheapish with a good breakfast and free taxi back to the airport in the morning.

1st morning in costa and something ive been looking forward to for weeks. A re-nactment of the single engined journey to Tamarindo as seen in the endless summer 2. Bit expensive compared to the coach but way faster and way more fun.

Tamarindo from the air.





and yes the landing/flight is just like it is in the film, fooking hairy!



Unfortunatley couldn't find a sea plane to try that landing out but hey ho you can't have everything!

[kitesurfer]

First week was spent at the Witches Rock Surf Camp and whilst a tad on the expensive if you want to surf all the breaks in the north of costa rica and more specifically witches rock and ollies point then these guys are good.
We got boated and driven to most of the better breaks in the area and didn't have to lift a finger and the guides were fookng good surfers too. 4 boat rides where we didn't even have to paddle out!
Unfortunatley this led a lack of photos of the surf from the beach as we were allways coing in from behind!
Tamarindo itself is very touristy but is still a good place to go and party but it's also very busy.
1st day in Tamarindo and after 4 beers i surfed the river mouth. Good longboarding wave, Phil you'd have like this one. Very fast too as the swell picks up but due to it's proximity to tamarindo it gets really busy. Would have loved to have surfed it big though as it would be great. The early morning or late evening surfs i had here were allways the best as they were quietest.

The surf camp!



The end of my first day in Tamarindo.



The inevitable rain each day! Lots of thunder storms in the rainy season!



The view from my room!



...

[kitesurfer]

Early morning surfs were as they nearly allways are the best due to the glassy conditions and most days the wind would go onshore for the afternoon.
Next day we got boated down the coast to check outt several breaks. Playa Negra (yep the one in endless summer where wingnut rides his board upside down), playa avallanes and playa Marbella.
We ended up at Marbella a pretty heavy beach break with an outside reef that when we got there was breaking with what looked like 10-15ft faces!
Eeeek i was more than a little nervous paddling into the line up from the back for the first time having no idea what sized waves were breaking!
But no problem paddled over took off on my first waved wiped out got worked lthe leash to my board came off, lost the board and promptly hasd to swim in to find it!
GREAT!
Just the start i needed. Still got on with it caught some more waves took a few sets on the head and decided that it was the boards fault not mine and would change boards later!
No photo evidence i'm afraid as we were far to bust surfing plus we had to swim to get the boat and couldn't take cameras so you'll just have to take my word for it when i say it was 6-8ft faces and clean as.

Couple of random photo from the week.

The surf bus.



The occupants of the surf bus.



The locals at the surf camp.





...

[CheeZee]

aw man .. how sweet does that place look

excellent piccys my man and still stoked for ya ! .. " so your glad to be back then bro huh?!

[greg@hoodatsurfco]

awesome pictures.

i need to get down to costa rica.. its only a 400 dollar round trip flight for me.

[Stone Fox]

I SO want to go there now!

[essex sucks]

i want too go too but where are these big waves we where told about then ks

[Stone Fox]

i want too go too but where are these big waves we where told about then ks

Yeah!



(Not that there aren't loads of top pics in it already!)

[kitesurfer]

i want too go too but where are these big waves we where told about then ks

Patinence, they didn't arrive till later on in my trip, plus my the camera i borrowed as my first one died has a stupid memory card i can't read with my card reader and it also uses a weird usb lead so you'll have to wait to see...

Anyway you doubting thomas's back to buisness.
Day 2 in costa rica and yes finally after 15 years of waiting i'm off to witches rock!



It takes an hour by van and then a further hour by boat to get to witches rock but needless to say it's VERY exciting. Again your all going to moan that there's no photos of the surf but we boated in again so could only get these photos.
The surf wasn't great when we got there, waist high maybe and not really breaking in the 2 peaks that witches in known for. But sitting in the line-up at witches with the words of our guide ringing in our ears:
"I've seen it up to a solid 15-20ft here, we don't surf it when it get sthat big!" Erm is that face height or wave height? "No that's wave height!"
WHAT YOU'VE SEEN 30-40FT FACED WAVES HERE!
Was certainly enough to keep my eyes on the horizon the whole time i was in thel ine-up.
Anyhows we all got some waves before the sets started to come in. First you here this slapping noise as the waves hit the underside of the rock, then the boat bobs up and down, then you start paddling like mad. It got up to head high but what a poweful wave. No barrels to be had but what a place to surf, good long lefts and rights and allways in the back of your mind your thinking i hope the next ones not 20ft.

After 3 hours of witches we went up the coast a further 40mins and surfed ollies point. How remote is this place? Accessable only by boat and just the 5 of us there. Waist to shoulder high waves again peeling for 100m down the point. Needless to say we surfed for the rest of the day till we just couldn't paddle any more and even then it was hard to stop.
Without doubt the best surfing experience ive had to date. Not the best surf but definatly the best day! Sooo stoked.







and then on the way back we spotted these little buggers having a bit of how's your father in the water!



KS

[greg@hoodatsurfco]

is there a reef at witches?

[jethrodog]

Looking good kitey.

Ooh, I can hardly wait for the rest!

[pat42]

Nice photos Chris!!

Good to see you had a good time

Now you know why I dont take many photos of the surf, on my trips.................all I want to do is get in the water, and taking photos wastes valuable surffing time

Welcome back!

[kitesurfer]

Indeedy Pat, how you doing anyway chum? Not heard a bean from you for a while!
Oh and stop press news I have solved my IT problems and have got all my piccies onto a USB stick. So just as soon as i get the chance (believe it or not i'm really busy at work at the moment!) i will continue the tale!

But just as as a little view of whats coming.



If you look right in the middle of the photo you'll see my head bobbing around and if you listen carefully you'll hear my screaming
"I HATE BEING CAUGHT INSIDE!"

KS

[kitesurfer]

As far as i know there isn't a reef at witches. The wave we surfed and the one in the endless summer 2 breaks on sandbars created by the estuary.

Spent a week in Tamarindo surfing the area and partying as Tamarindo is very good for that. Lots of good bars and clubs to frequent, one of which had a half pipe and skateboards to use so you coul really injure yourself late at night.
The surf took a turn for the worse towards the end of the first week and as all the people i'd met that week headed home it was time to move on.
Being the welllseasoned traveller that i am i decided to not opt for the bus journey with 4 changes and a ferry boat ride and booked myself a taxi to drive me all the way down to mal pais direct with air conditioning. Still took 5 hours, must remember to take enough cash for helicopter ride next time.

Enroute in the taxi i remembered Jethrodog's warnings about the roads and the driving here as lorry after lorry overtook us on blind corners and hill summits!



only to be stopped at the next intersection by morning traffic (and yes gywn i know ive shown this one already)



This is one of the better roads!



KS

[pat42]

Indeedy Pat, how you doing anyway chum? Not heard a bean from you for a while!

yeah, good mate...........just working hard, paying sh*t off and trying to save a bit

Bet you're depressed being back..........or have you been bitten by the travel bug and cant wait to go again?

[kitesurfer]

or have you been bitten by the travel bug and cant wait to go again?

Yes nasty little bleeders those travel bugs. Yes several bit me and i now have this very strong urge to go to south african next year for 3 weeks.

Jeffries Bay here we come.....

But in the mean time....

Mal Pais, Santa Teresa and the Nicoya Peninsula. What an area to spend some time in. Laid back, not to hectic, not to built up but with lots of cool places to stay and more importantly waves every day. Oh yes and being the wet season it also rained every day, usually at night but it was allways hot usually30 degress.
Stayed here for the rest of my trip as why move on when there's sun and surf every day???

So here's the photos...

First couple of days spent here the surf was big and confused. A couple of storms had come in and closed the main international airport and the beaches were messy, lots of flotsam not quite the tropical paradise i had at first envisaged but it only lasted for 3 days till the surf cleaned up and the sea got bluer.





The local lava rock point break, unfortunatly didn't see this break, the locals said it needed a big swell to work. Well i saw upto double overhead surf while i was here and it still didn't work so i guess it needs a really BIG swell to work.



Oh and anyone who thought sunday's paddle out at putsborough was hard work, this guy in the bottom right hand corner of the picture knew how to duck dive and clearly knew how to surf, but 50 plus duck-dives and 3/4hr he was still making his way out-back.....



So i hired a shortboard and spent 2 days surfing mush and learning how to duck dive. Just a tad frustrating so i resorted to beer o'clock and a bit of socialising

[kitesurfer]

Anyway after much socialising, eating, drinking and not alot of sleeping the surf had shown no sign of getting smaller or better, even the locals were moaning as it was way too messy it was time to take action.

I kept hearing talk of this left hand point break that works on high tide when the swell at mal pais is big.
So with the help of a certain suiss girl i'd met who's spanish was way better than mine we hired a 4x4 and went in search of a more rideable wave.

New surfing buddy and linguistic expert Loraine



The 4x4 making its first of 3 river crossings in search of this point break.



Happy that we hired the 4x4 and not some dodgy old car as the roads weren't looking too good..



Oh and more of the natives eating their dinner...



KS

[kitesurfer]

Looks like some the last surfers to try and find this break didn't fare so well...





But after much trekking through the rain forest and a few wrong turns and a couple of encounters with some angry crocodiles we eventually found what we were looking for.
A bay with perfectly formed waist to shoulder wiith occasional head high waves.
Except on one side of the bay was a left point and further off in the distance we could also see a righ point breaking.
Not big or hollow but after 2 days of duck-diving i didn't really care...





KS

[kitesurfer]

Surfed these breaks about 5 times in total and here are some of the photos.

Me adopting my lazy stance on my first ride..









Me again showing that lots of kitesurfing doesn't work wonders on your surfing stance, but having fun still. Nice long rides too upto 100m.









KS

[kitesurfer]

More photos from the same day.









KS