Post-surf sess, Esterillos Este, Costa Rica
I’ve decided that 2014 will be the year of the Costa Rica surf camp.
It’s a trip I’ve wanted to take since 2007 when my best friend Krista and I embarked on our epic two week road trip along the California coast (you know, the trip that inspired my travel writing). We took a couple of surf lessons in San Diego and Santa Cruz, and we were hooked.
Of course, seven years later, I’m still a fledgling surfer, at best. Even though I grew up in Newport Beach, California surrounded by some of the best surf spots in the country, I never actually attempted to surf. Weekends at the beach were a huge part of my childhood, and I spent my time in the water boogie boarding and body surfing or swimming out past the breakers to float on top of the waves.
It wasn’t until I moved to Key West–an island notorious for having no waves–that I found myself surrounded by a bunch of surfers. We all worked on boats together, and during our time off, we did our best to simulate waves with other board sports, like wake boarding, paddle boarding and long boarding. But the way these guys waxed poetic about surf trips to Hawaii, Peru, Puerto Rico and Costa Rica, made me want to become a surfer, too.
So on that California road trip, I took surfing lessons. And I learned how to catch a wave, pop up and ride it into shore. And it was basically the most fun thing ever. If I could figure out the basics in one afternoon, imagine how much better I could get if I had an entire week, I thought. Even by the second lesson, I already felt more confident on the board. I figured if I had a week of instruction as a primer, I’d have the skills I’d need to become a real, self sufficient surfer. Through the years, I’ve managed to get on the water and catch a wave or two, but it’s never been very consistent.
I can’t remember why Costa Rica stood out in my mind as the place I wanted to learn. Maybe it was advice someone had given me or an article that I read. After searching online, Witch’s Rock Surf Camp in Tamarindo on the Pacific Coast was the camp that looked the best to me. They provide seven days of beachfront accommodations and daily private surf lessons for around $1,000 (give or take, depending on the season and number of people in your party).
I finally had the opportunity to travel to Costa Rica for the first time this June for a three-night stay in Esterillos Este at Alma del Pacifico and I discovered firsthand that Costa Rica is drop dead gorgeous. The landscape is so lush and green, and the scenery, along with the people and their pure vida spirit, immediately put you at ease. It’s a place I’d love to retreat to for an entire month. We went horseback riding, zip lining, sailing and, yes, I got to take another surf lesson. The beaches are unlike anything I’ve ever seen before. They’re uncrowded and remote with black sand, endless shoreline and amazing sunsets. The water’s warm and I managed to pop up and ride the first wave that I caught. I was hooked again.
With this momentum going, now’s the time to make my surfer girl dreams a reality. In 2014, the weeklong Costa Rica surf camp is happening, some way, somehow. I’d love to go with a partner in crime, but if I have to make the trip solo to make it happen, I will. Miami might not be the best surf town there is, but I do know there are plenty of days when I see clean sets rolling in from my balcony on South Beach that are totally ridable. And I intend to get out there and ride them.
Have any of you been to a week long surf camp in Costa Rica or elsewhere? Tell me about it! I’m dying for advice.
