The waves are hot in Costa Rica
I was tired. The surf was big — between 6ft and 8ft — and I’d been in the water for four hours. My son, Harry, had called time on this, our final day’s surfing in Costa Rica. I watched him ride a wave smoothly to the shore, and envied him as he stood on the beach of Playa Grande, palm trees waving gently behind him and the setting sun warming his seaward gaze.
There were just a few surfers left in the line-up. Suddenly, a lump on the horizon loomed, heralding an outsize set whose waves would l be 8ft or higher. The sensation, as I caught the best wave of the set and jumped to my feet, was an exquisite blend of bliss, adrenalin and fear. I flew down the face. The speed was phenomenal, but better yet, the wave peeled for up to 70m. It was one of the rides of my life.
My two-week surfing holiday in Costa Rica had provided scores of good waves. I had been lured there by the former Miami Vice scriptwriter Allan Weisbecker’s “road trip beyond the end of the road”, In Search of Captain Zero. In Weisbecker’s book, a cult classic, the renegade author sets off from Montauk, New York, on a surf trip that takes him down the coast of California and Central America before, in search of a long-lost friend, he ends up in Costa Rica. He never leaves — not because of a rekindled friendship but because of the surf. As he puts it: “I had found the perfect place on a perfect wave, and I had remained there endlessly. For ever.”
Weisbecker gravitated south, to the legendary left-hand point break of Pavones, but in his wake the hordes followed. I wanted to surf Costa Rica’s waves, but was looking for an area that would offer uncrowded sessions. I was also mindful of the boredom factor when waves fail to appear. Where to go, then, for both surfing and other activities?
The answer was Playa Grande in the northwest province of Guanacaste. This is a well-known surfing beach, with a nearby surf break, Witches’ Rock, being one of the most famous in the world. It featured in Bruce Brown’s 1994 surf film classic, Endless Summer II, but the entire coast either side of Playa Grande abounds with top-quality waves. The town of Tamarindo is near by and, just a few hours away by car, is the region of Arenal. Here the Parque Nacional Volcán Arenal was sure to prove diverting if the surf went flat.
The Una Ola Surf Camp at Playa Grande, where you can hire boards for all ages and abilities and get lessons for all levels, had promised good surf. “Don’t worry, you’ll get waves,” said Colin Briers, Una Ola’s cofounder. Briers, 42, quit California for Costa Rica four years ago, drawn by its climate, high standard of living and surf. Before arriving in Costa Rica he had been a private investigator, state lightweight jiu-jitsu champion, hypnotist and boxer. Throughout his various incarnations, Briers had surfed. He had taught surfing, too, in both California and Costa Rica, before deciding to set up Una Ola in November 2008. His business partner, Justen Chitmon, brings a similarly eclectic skill-set to the surf camp, having been a licensed racing driver in America.
As our first morning dawned, Briers was already on the beach. He greeted Harry, then 13, and I with a smile and a shrug of the shoulders, as if to say “I told you so”. Surf-speak best describes what we saw: pumping, peeling, head-high surf, held up by a gentle offshore breeze and warmed by the early morning tropical sun. In other words, it was as good as it gets.
The days settled into a paradisiacal routine. Each morning at 5.30, Harry and I would go surfing. We’d finish at about 9.30am and join my wife, Karen, and younger son, Elliot, for a breakfast of fresh fruit at our hotel. Then we’d sit by the pool, read, relax and swim. A little later, we’d go to the beach as a family since Elliot, not being into surfing, loved every inch of Playa Grande’s expansive beach. In spring, it is a prime nesting site of leatherback turtles; we missed them by a matter of days, but their arrival guarantees government protection for the area’s surrounding forests and mangrove swamps. Cycling on the trails behind the beach was a delight.
With the surf dropping midway through our stay, we travelled inland to the Arenal region. Here Volcán Arenal towers above Lake Arenal and its surrounding lush rainforest, erupting daily and creating one of the most spectacular firework displays on earth. Arenal’s ceaseless energy is mirrored by the array of activities in a national park that is one of Costa Rica’s chief attractions. We hurtled around on the zip wires of the Arenal Sky Tram, hundreds of feet above the jungle floor; rappelled down precipitous canyons; swam in the icy cold waters at the foot of the torrential La Fortuna waterfall; and swam in hot springs with howler monkeys chattering in the trees above us.
Back at Playa Grande, Harry and I scored some more great waves in what was to be my last overseas surf trip. Since then I’ve undergone what the medics know as “anterior cervical discectomy and fusion” (ACDF) — in other words, a serious spinal operation. Surfing is on hold — and if it becomes a part of my life again, it probably won’t entail sessions in 8ft surf. But guess what? The only surfer I’ve heard of who has had ACDF and recovered to surf again is based in Tamarindo, Costa Rica. His name is Mark Price and I aim to paddle out in Costa Rica with him again one day. Meanwhile, like Weisbecker, I recall my last Costa Rican wave, one where I found the perfect place on the perfect wave, and remained there, endlessly, for ever.
Need to Know
Getting there Trailfinders (0845 0505892, trailfinders.com) has return flights from Gatwick to San Jose, Costa Rica, via Atlanta, from £697pp. The Una Ola Surf Camp at Playa Grande offers tuition and boards for hire (unaola.com).
Further information on activities and things to see: anywherecostarica.com.