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Friday, December 28, 2007

Dawn Patrol at Playa Grande - Thursday


5:30 am on the last full day in Costa Rica came very early this morning even though everyone was moaning into the rack at 9:00 PM the night before. Surprisingly, Jonathan and Meddie were up for the morning trip. At 6:00 am we had a short bus ride and then a 20 minute boat ride to Playa Grande. The waves were inconsistent but they had plenty of height. We were all catching some decent waves but unfortunately having some pretty terrific wipe outs. Med had a spectacular "pearl" - burying the nose of her board into the bottom of a 6 foot wave and then having the wave collapse on top of her. Dan (still struggling with some of the basics like positioning) popped up perfectly on a good size wave only to find myself dead-center at the top of too big of a wave. The board went down the face faster that I did, leaving me to get buried. Our Boat Captain (Chilio) was also surfing with us and had some great laughs at our expense. Its all good....

Back at home base we wolfed down a breakfast (or two) and then went about various mid morning activities. Steven, Nolan and I went for a run, Jonathan and Meddie for a walk, Med went out to get a present for Jonathan's birthday. After a lunch at the local bakery we were all in bed and napping by 1:00 pm.



Wednesday, December 26, 2007

Surfing at Avenellas


Yesterday, Christmas Day, we spent a quiet morning at the camp. We were all still pretty wiped out from our day at Ollie's and Witch's Rock. In the afternoon we went to Avenellas to surf. It was the best day of surfing we have had so far. Avenellas is a beach break. This particular day the waves were between chest high and head high, beautiful lefts and rights for as far as the eye could see. We got to the beach at around 1:45 with the intention of surfing for about two hours. We did not get back into the van until almost 5 pm. Everyone was catching waves. Jonathan and Stephen, our two nephews, really started putting it all together here. Dan had a great afternoon. I even got inside the barrel or at least that is what people say. Generally it felt like I was getting crushed by the wave, but I held on for awhile.
We were so toast by the time we got back that we ate dinner and crashed. I was asleep by 8pm. The rest of the gang held out a bit longer. We didn't take any pictures from this beach so there is nothing to really show you. But we promise to take some surf shots before the end of the week.
Pura Vida.

Tuesday, December 25, 2007

Costa Rica Pictures

Motley Crew on a hot afternoon


Italian Ice Cream store manager Flaminia who befriended us


Slick bike that Jonathon talked Adreas (surf instructor middle) to let him ride through Tamarindo to give Ricardo (surf instructor left) a ride home.


Witch's Rock Surf Camp's outdoor patio

Group Photo on the last day


Smallest cousin always gets the short stick


Preparing for the next wave...


Nephew Steven Catching the wave

Nephew Jonathon catching a Wave
Down Time at Witch's Rock


Cattle taking an afternoon stroll on the beach!


A Costa Rican home on the beach. This is located on the beach just before Playa Conchal.



Costa Rican wildlife - largest grasshopper that I have ever seen... A full 6 inches end-to-end.


Walking back from Playa Conchal.

Baby Howler in Playa Sugar.

Her Mama!



One of the thousands of hermit crabs that invaded our spot on the beach. Yes it was a little creepy. You could hear them walking there were so many.


Outrigger trip back in Portero at Playa Sugar.

Feliz Navidad

Merry Christmas from Costa Rica. While we are waiting for high tide to surf ... we are looking over the beach having breakfast and preparing to open a few gifts hauled down from the states.

Witch's Rock



After climbing out of the water at Ollie's we wolfed down a packed sandwich (marginal) and some fresh fruit (excellent) and guzzled as much water as we could get out hands on. We hauled anchor and headed south along the dry coastal cliffs of Santa Rosa. Numerous sea turtles lazed in the water and gave us ample opportunity to get a quick shot.





















We arrived at Witch's and took a quick tour of the Rock as the guide explained that the local people believed the rock to be haunted. Though exquisite to look at, you can imagine that it's ominous presence could conjure up dark thoughts and perilous stories.



We anchored off of the 4 mile beach and paddled into the surf. A nice swell was coming in with a mixture of left and right breaks. For most of the afternoon there was no one but our group of 6 in the waves. We all got some good rides but the arms started to fade as the surf started to build. This is not a preferred combination! As the waves reached an overhead state, I began to sense that my strong paddle had diminished to a weak imitation of a dying turtle. Arms loosely flapping in the water. It was time to exit with some sense of dignity. The gringos dragged themselves out of the water and onto the boat, barely able to get up the ladder. The Ticos of our party continued to catch wave after wave. David and Jose amazed us with their ability to catch a wave, ride it all the way in and get back out and in position for the next wave of the set only missing one wave. They would do this continuously!!


They finally paddled back to the boat as the waves started to get "mushy".


We then had a 60 minute boat ride back to the beach. A FULL DAY!

Monday, December 24, 2007

Witch's Rock and Ollie's Point



At 5:25 am the day before Christmas I rolled out of my bed and reached for the Ibuprofin. We were leaving in20 minutes for the famed Witch's Rock. I wasn't sure that I could swim across the wading pool let alone manage through any sort of big sets. Meddie, Nolan, Med and I were not well educated on what to expect for the day. After a 1 hour car ride we got to Playa Cocoa and then packed the boards onto an open fiberglass fishing boat and launched. Little did we realize it would be 8 hours before our feet hit dry ground again.

The boat ride to Witch's and Ollie's point took about an hour. The seas were fairly flat except for the last twenty minutes which consisted of a pounding over the swells that rattled us to the bones. We ventured past Witch's Rock and on to Ollie's point as the tide tide was low and Ollie's is much better at low tide. Ollie's is a right point break that begins at a small outcropping of rocks on the far right of the beach. The swells were not huge but nicely formed. There were a couple of other boats hanging around in the water but no one was actually in the water yet. Our tour guide David, a young Tico, pulled on his wetsuit and plunged right into the surf. So with nothing else to do we followed. I would love to say that we riped out there but the truth of the matter is that with an incredible strong offshore breeze we all had some difficulty paddling into the waves. Meddie actually showed us all up including the seven other guys(ticos not included) that were in the water by this time. Eventually we all manged to catch some waves. We hauled out on the shore a couple of times to catch our breath and warm up our bods. There is a beautiful river that flows right out into the break which we explored a bit. We lasted a couple of hours and then, with shivering bones we paddled back to the boat for an early lunch and some needed water. It was only 10:30. We had hours to go still!!!

Witch's Rock and Ollies' point are two of the most famous breaks in Costa Rica. They were both featured in the Endless Summer 2 movie. Most people take a boat to the breaks as they are located off of a National Park (El parque nacional Santa Rosa) which only has road access with a four wheel vehicle. Our guide informed us that there are some hard cores that make the four hour walk to the breaks carrying their boards. The boat seemed a good way to go for us.
From Ollies we headed back south towards Witch's rock...