I spent last June in France, including a week in the Basque Country. I’d wanted to visit Biarritz for ages and it absolutely lived up to my expectations. The quaint fishing village transformed into a lavish seaside resort thanks to Napoleon’s wife, Empress Eugenie, who vacationed there as a child. Napoleon built her a villa in 1855 that, today, is the HĂ´tel du Palais overlooking the Grand Plage. A favored retreat of Coco Chanel, she opened her third boutique in Biarritz in […]
Posts categorized: Surfing
My dear friend Eunique Fowler recently launched Stranded on Land, a website connecting travel and outdoor adventure sport enthusiasts. She was kind enough to invite me to be profiled on her site. Eunique recently embarked on a solo cross-country road trip from Miami to San Diego to put down roots on the West Coast and pursue a new passion. I can’t be more proud of her for having the courage to strike out on her own. As someone who’s made similar […]
Mar 30
2016
2016
Snapshots from a Nicaragua Surf Vacation
Yes, it’s been like… What? Almost two years since this epic surf trip to Nicaragua. Organized by the “Thankful Crew” (aka ThankYouMiami & ThankYouSurfing), 10 of us shacked up in a gorgeous, just-built 5-bedroom villa called Fort Walker right on the Panga Drops surf break and just down the beach from Colorados. With my sister in Nicaragua this week and the possibility of my maybe-just-maybe return in May, well, I’ve been Nica dreaming. And I realized I never wrote about this […]
140 Character Overview: Funky boutique bungalows on remote stretch of CR’s Central Pacific Coast. Black sand beach, swoon-worthy sunsets. At one with Mother Nature. The Vibe: This place is magical. With roughly 20 colorful private bungalows lining the beach, Alma del Pacifico is what California architect Sherill Broudy imagined Costa Rican vernacular architecture to look like when he designed the resort. Made of stucco, polished wood and mosaic tile all in cool colors, the roof lines have a […]
Man! Life has a way of getting busy, and these last few weeks… months… this whole year?? has been one hell of a ride. From whirlwind travel to burning the midnight oil, meeting deadlines and the everyday hustle of freelancing, I’m not really even sure where 2014 starts and stops. I know whenever there’s a little extra time in my schedule I love updating this blog, but on a recent midweek afternoon, I found another way to fill my time. […]
It’s easy to forget that Manhattan is an island surrounded by water and one of the country’s earliest port cities when you’re tucked inside a cozy West Village bar or caught in the bright lights of Times Square. It was Melville who wrote in the opening chapter of Moby Dick, “There now is your insular city of the Manhattoes, belted round by wharves as Indian isles by coral reefs—commerce surrounds it with her surf. Right and left, the streets […]
On a recent trip to New York City, I did something I’d never done before. I took the LIRR to Long Beach for a morning surf session. Ever since returning from my weeklong surf camp in Costa Rica, I’ve been dying to hit the waves, but they haven’t exactly cooperated in Miami. A bunch of my surfer friends are from the tri-state area and they helped me realize that there are indeed waves in New York. I considered the […]
There’s nothing quite like travel to get you outside of your comfort zone, turn your typical routine inside out and shake you from complacency. That feeling of being out of your element, without grounding, can be uncomfortable at first, but it often opens the door to unexpected discoveries and even bliss. I was in an adorable yoga studio in Tamarindo, Costa Rica last week called Mermaids and Sailors owned by a woman from New York who married a Tica man (see, […]
My trip to Witch’s Rock Surf Camp in Tamarindo, Costa Rica was literally seven years in the making. I had my first surf lesson way back in 2007 (boy does time fly!) in Mission Beach, San Diego with my best friend Krista during our two week road trip up the coast. We both caught on pretty quickly and managed to stand up and ride a few waves. Yes, we were hooked. As we made our way up the winding […]
Surfers search the world over for “the perfect wave,” and Costa Rica’s Pacific coast is a destination on everyone’s list. With legendary breaks, like Witch’s Rock and Ollie’s Point, and laidback surf towns, like Tamarindo, Jaco, and Dominical, lining the coast, there’s always a gnarly wave to catch. The endless black sand beaches and warm waters of the Pacific Ocean also make Costa Rica an ideal destination to learn to surf. Brett Schroeder of Brett’s Board Rentals is an American ex-pat […]
