whats goin on everyone? i'm trying to make my way to costa winter break, who knows any killer spots a couple college kids could shred for a couple weeks?
winter is offseason so go to Playa Hermosa which picks up more swell than other beaches / areas. it is costa rica's "most consistent beach break" Enjoy
There is a great place in Playa Hermosa(the one close to Jaco), near where i stayed. it's called Hermosa bungalows and it's a compound of about 30 4 person bungalows with kitchens across the street from the beach. the can squeeze up to 7 at pretty cheep rates. http://www.hermosabungalows.com/ fly into San Jose and rent a car or get a cab to Playa Hermosa which is only and hour and a half drive. or you could try to find a place up in Tamarindo.
Playa Hermosa is the definitely a hot spot for surf, and Playa Joca up the street is a fun town with restaurants and bars. Check out the Swellinfo costa rica surf trip rentals for options on places to stay in Jaco or Hermosa.
check us out www.surfcosta.com we offer discounts to swellinfo members. we are 10 minutes from the playa hermosa referenced above in earlier posts. email for info. rvb@surfcosta.com
I am going with some friends in november...Where I am going is no secret, but I'm not going to announce it in the forums. My best piece of advice for you is not to stay in tamarindo unless your primary motivation for going there to party. There are no good breaks with an easy walking distance besides playa grande and even that is more than a mile away... check out spirit airlines for cheap flights, use nature air or sansa instead of renting a car ( unless you plan on traveling to a lot of different breaks) , check out vrbo.com for good places to stay, renting a board is usually an option and always cheaper than bringing your own, bring plenty of sunscreen, and go for as many days as you possibly can because once you get there you'll never want to leave! Finally, use the internet to your advantage. There is so much information available to you for research prior to committing to where you going...
head south.......no crowds. chex out my pics from may. hermosa's a joke.....theres 15 hermosa's in costa rica. jaco is a POS. in the south....great food, great waves, sexy women! Enjoy
Couple weeks with a rental car you could cover alot of ground. The caribbean can be pretty incredible...salsa brava in puerto viejo is a pretty serious reef break, 20 minute walk down the road you have a pretty nice beach break in playa cocles. Even if it's a flat spell, the place is beautiful. Only caution is the caribbean is more rustic than the rest of the country. You can get pretty good, consistent surf on the whole pacific coast. Hermosa is nice, jaco is average IMO....lots of prostitutes, drugs, and more americanized than anywhere else. The biggest draw is that it is the closest major beach town to san jose. My suggestion is go to visit manuel antonio for a few days, there are average breaks there, but to the south you can go to dominical which can get good. Manuel antonio is another place, though, that is really beautiful. If you go north, go to nosara, santa teresa, and mal pais (all pretty close to each other). Point is, with a few weeks to play with, you can get around that whole country and see some really varied landscape/surf spots.
yeah do yourself a favor and head down to Pavones. If you can afford a rental, it's worth it. If not, well just hold on to your gear on the bus or make friends with someone who has a car. Dominical is a nice stop along the way with cheap rooms and food, though the surf isn't all that great. There is a nice little beach a few miles south of Dominical though that has some fun waves and not a lot of crowds. Just be wary of theft anywhere south of Dominical as it gets pretty rural. Once you get to Pavones though you'll be in heaven. I think you can even fly into Pavones (or somewhere near Pavones) from San Jose. There are a load of point breaks down there in addition to the famous left, so there is plenty of opportunity for waves to yourself.
i agree southern costa is badass, possibly the best waves I have ever surfed were in Pavones on a big south. However, you have never experienced a view of the jungle from a green spinning tube at Hermosa if you dare disrespect it. Sorry you got skunked, or went to the wrong one ( i have surfed at 3 playa hermosas, the one near dominical is sick too!), but in size, hermosa (near Jaco) is a serious wave. think.... big hatteras or small/med puerto escondito. SOmeone brought up a good point, that time of year the carib. side is firing! get you some!
That is a pretty nice place. Although I walked around the houses knocking on doors, even to Eddie's board rental, trying to borrow a phone to call a cab and nobody answered. I guess it doesn't help that I look like a Tico who may be robbing their house.
My wife and I have a place in Jaco...it's in the SwellInfo surf trips vacation section...Costa Linda is the name....anyway I know the area very well after staying there for the last 8 years. Hermosa is THE spot...especially in the winter when the southern hemi swells back off. That said Hermosa is a wave magnet due to is location and always has waves. The winter months are the smallest with wave hights averaging waist to head (3 to 6 foot. Places like Jaco will be flat as a lake yet if you drive 5 minutes around the mountain to Hermosa, it'll be waist to chest. There are many other breaks within a short drive of Jaco other than Hermosa. Bocca Barranca is the second longest left in Costa Rica and is a short 40 minute drive north towards Punteranes. This is a big river mouth that can break up to 500 -700 yards but this needs a BIG swell to work. Other areas close to Jaco are Esterillos, Bejuco, and Escondido (reef break just north of Jaco). Jaco is a great base camp because it has all the comforts of home like 2 grocery stores, gas station, bars, restaurants and surf shops. Jaco is an easy drive from the airport in San Jose. The new highway is open and you can be in Jaco from the airport in about an hour and ten minutes. If you want the in's on where to rent a car and any other information just send me a message and I'll hook you up. Costa Rica is my second home and I'm always happy to share my knowledge of this beautiful country with great food and wondeful people. PURA VIDA!!!
I stayed at Costa Linda in Jaco last May, and I went to see Playa Hermosa when that big south swell peaked. The place looked scary, 6-8 ft close-out beachbreaks, only saw one guy out and he didn\'t catch a thing, the whole time he was waiting for a wave small enough and makeable enough to take him in. I was with my wife and we didn\'t hit the restaurants that much. Did the popular Adventure Dining at the pura vida gardens which didn\'t impress me that much. I miss the fruit vendors along the sides of the roads. You can\'t beat 25 cent mangoes when they cost close to $2 each here.
thanks for all the feedback brothas, i hope to put this to good use in the fall... any arising questions, i'll be sure to contact a couple of you.. once again, thanks for the help & one love
I really liked Playa Guiones. Great waves every time I was in town. I have always wanted to hit Pavones it looks fun for the Goofy footer of the world.
5 main options, cant go wrong with any combination thereof. (in order of my opinion of their epicness) 1. pavones. Longest left around. best waves that I have ever seen and ridden in my life. Ride a wave for over a minute and your understanding of surfing is changed forever. But, lock you car. To a pole. Seriously. It's funny, nobody gave a sh*t about me until I set up my camera after the session. I had people eyeing me down from the second it left its case to the second I drove away. Dollar signs in their eyes. 2. Hermosa. heavy beachie. You can stay in Jaco and drive in everyday to surf, it's about 5 minutes. I am yet to see any of the fabled green tubes there but have had my share of foamy brown ones. This place on average is like macking hatteras, and on a big day is comparable to escondito. Broken boards line the beaches on DOH days here. 3. Tamarindo area- includes a few to the north and a few to the south. Lots of fun waves around here but nothing that hangs with hermosa or pavones, IMHO. 4. Mal Pies & Santa Teresa - I didn't really score here but this part of the country is incredibly beautiful. Looking at a map and some pics online, the place has potential for serious surf. 5. Dominical / dominicalito / uvita. Lots of good waves here, very few great ones. Dominical is a pretty cool town too. Not quite to the extend of Jaco or Tamarindo, but cool. All of that said, on even a decent day the whole coast blows the shorts off of anywhere around here Pura vida!
I would say even on a crappy day, the whole coast blows the shorts off anywhere around here (especially recently).
