After travelling to Costa Rica for over the past 8 years, I've had the chance to visit the paradise of Pavones the last two years...it truely is heaven on earth. The people, environment, and story of Pavones is a great one. I recently found a website that tells the story of Dan Fowlie...the true founder of Pavones...and thought I'd share it with all of you. Check out the movies and articles written about this magical place...oh yea the wave ain't so bad either http://www.thefactsaboutdanfowlieandpavones.com/en/index.php Pura Vida!
Easiest way is to fly into Golfito but since I have a place in Jaco we drive. We stay in Dominical for a night and surf there then head down to Pavones. Jaco to Dominical is a nice 2 hour drive and Dominical to Pavones is a 4 to 5 hour drive. Of course there is never any hurry...the roads are in great shape and paved most of the way. Once you get to the town of Rio Claro and you make the turn towards Golfito and after about 15 minutes you hang a hard left towards Pavones...this is the end of the paved road. From the turn off all the way to Pavones, the road is a combination of dirt, rock, graded gravel, and anything else you can think of...its a fun drive though. This part of the trip is about 1 1/2 hours...4X4 highly recommeded!
Ah... My favorite wave in the world. We drove down from dominical in 2010. We caught it big and perfect thanks to the grounds keeper of the house we rented, this tico named Alan and his brother Gato took us down there and we SCORED. He said they had maybe seen it that good two or three other times in their lives. This word gets overused a lot, but it was "epic". I'll be going back one day. The drive wasn't bad at all aside from the 6 foot wide wooden bridges and knee deep river crossing. Took about 3 1/2 hours I think. I bet in the rainy season ( summer / early fall) the place is a mess.
Yea...bridges are a bit shady...til you see those talented school bus drivers take a load of tico kidz over them!!! They got major balls!!!!! Just being there is "Epic"
I camped infront of the take off point in 01. Had been in country for a week and hadn't talked to the wifey. It was dusk and My "friend" told me to cross the river, go thru the jungle, across a soccer field to a soda. I said, I'll take the truck, drive around. when I got to the road, there was a giant snake stretched all the way across. thick as my arm with a diamond pattern on it. could tell which end was which until it started moving. I asked a guide in Carate weeks later who told me it was a Mata Buey (ox killer) also known as Bush Master.
Needs a big south so obviously in the summer would be best time to go. I went last year and ended up going across the bay to Matapalo on the Osa Peninsula which was unbelievable. As a swell arrived people came out of the woodwork at Pavones and it was over 100 people spread down the point. We went across to Matapolo and the crowd was very light. There are 3 perfect right hand point breaks which one, Pan Dulce, once it got close to double overhead resembled Punta Roca/Rincon. 300 yard rights.. Pictures are of Backwash (two diff angles) which is in between the pointbreaks on the OSA *****ula, h
jml7140....How much was your boat to Mantapalo and what was the name of the local who took you? This is the one place we haven't gone...All my friends are regular foot but I'm goofy so I'm content at Pavones but would still like to check out Mantapalo.
Man this is unbelievable, whatever happened to the rules of traveling? Certain things do not need to be talked about at all, if people go, let them figure it out. Seriously man, this whole post is wrong.
Nothing is sacred with the internet...just tryin to help some brothers out...you haven't even been out of the country let alone the jungle so back off punk ass!!! Oh yea...Pavones wasn't a secret after ohhhhhhh 1994...the dawn of the internet. It comes down to who has the balls to actually go there and experience it...that wouldn't be you *****! Las olas muy bueno en las Pavones!!! See you in the line up...
There are hundreds of miles of "secret spots" along that coast, but pavones and metapolo are no secret.
Pavones is great and everything but things have changed in the past 10 years. The wave remains the same but the culture of the little town is very different now. Someone was murdered over a fight in the water in the nearby town of Pilon just last year. Drugs have become a huge problem as more and more people show up in town every summer. Pavones is used as a dropoff spot for drug dealers to get their drugs into CR and move them throughout the country. Brazilians and Jelly Fish infest the place on every real swell.....The cantina was burnt to the ground last year and the price of everything is going through the roof. There are snakes down there that have poison so powerful it could kill 30 people with one bite, you are 4 hours from the nearest hospital, there are no doctors in town. Its hard to get to and will cost you at least 2 and a half days of your trip just to get there and get back. You are better off just to stay in Hermosa or Grande.
I know its no secret, because people like you are everywhere down there. why wouldnt it be me? You see Imperial, im one of those people that go and post up for a month. ( you know, those kinda trips that people like you only dream of) but you wouldnt know that, just like i dont know anything about you. you went and got all tough over the internet, which is pretty funny, all i was saying is that you dont need to be talking about places, especially if you liked your experience there, because if you want to go back and have just as good a time, but find it to be more like hermosa you can only blame yourself. the place doesnt need advertisement. be well my angry friend. Oh yeah, you'll see me in the lineup, i will be the one on set waves,
So Loggerhead u must have discovered pavones? That's amazing... I'm sure the Ticos down there love to see u show up and paddle out. Surfing is all about sharing the stoke
