Best Road Trip

Out of respect for the locals I won't name it, but I surfed it once 20 yrs ago when in college. Awesome mysto wave. Has to be BIG for swell to line up.

Looks like many new homes built up around it. I wonder if parking is still lackadaisical like it once was. I remember just parking on some sh!tty road and walking through some summer cottage yard to get to it.

 

Definitely man. I got a uncle down in OBX so i go down there allot. Know the area pretty well and he always fills me in on how certain sandbars are working and other local knowledge. Only been to RI a few times to surf but know enough to be able to find great waves there too. If there's swell ofcourse. I got the vacation time set aside just for opportunities like this. If its looking possible I'd be down!

 

The first time I went to CR, two buddies and I flew into San Jose, rented a 4 wheel drive SUV, and hit the mercado, stoking up on all the native junk food and libations. Three harrowing hours later we were in Jaco. It was really cool going over the crappy bridges with saltwater crocs below.

We pit stopped in Jaco, so Greg could rent a board, John and I brought a couple each. We got out of Gemorrah by the Sea and headed south thru Capos to Ocho Rios, stayed overnight in a eco lodge, and I could hear the surf booming like freight trains thru the mountains.

Dawn patrol the next day at the Point in Dominical, almost drowned in DOH plus swell due to improperre leash tie. Surfed in town and drank at night for a couple days, then headed south thru the jungle, thru the palm groves, across the river in the ferry and cable, to Pavones. Stayed across from the soccer field, surfed perfect HH plus half mile long lefts for a couple days, watched the videos of us surfing, at night, at the Manta Ray Bar,then it got small so we surfed well OH Punta Banco a few miles south off a smugglers airstrip, then we wandered into Panama by mistake.

On the way back north we hit Dominical againe, I traded some home made tee shirts for great jah, zipped lined thru the canopy, then stayed and surfed soft shoulder high long peelers at Esterillos Oueso near the mermaid statue sticking out of the ocean, then dropped the boart off in Jaco, then back to the airport in San Jose. It was a truly awesome experience. I was amazed by the hospitality and grace of the locals. The food was off the chain. The waves were superb, although it was rainy season so the water quality was poopy. Really really poopy.

My two buds were great travel companions, no drama, we always awarded one of us a wave of the day by consensus (free beers at dinner) to keep the stoke alive. Pura Vida!

 

That's it... it was SOOOOO long. My cousin caught one that he rode for at least a hundred yards, then got down on his stomach and paddled some more, then stood up again. Seemed like the wave was half a mile long. If only RI was more consistent.

 

Costa Rica is conspicuously absent from my surf travels. That sounds like a great trip. I hope to hit cr sometime in the next few years.

 

When I went in '06, I heard how great it was in the 90s, how cheap property was to buy and how uncrowded the surf was. It was still cheap and uncrowded when I went, and everyone now says it's overpriced and crowded compared to Nica and El Salvador, but it's way more civilized, and still sooooo many waves, they never stop coming, so it's uncrowded even if there is a crowd. My buddy just got back from Nosara and Maipais and said he had an epic time.

Toonces, if you go, watch out for all the reptiles, they like to eat cats.

 

LOL, I'll do that.

I did get to Salsa Brava, but it was flat as a lake, nay, a pond even, while I was there. Went snorkeling on the reef, though. That would be a really bad place to fall and hit the reef. Covered with fire coral and I even saw a couple of lionfish.

 

No Baja stories? Every Baja trip is an adventure, and not always a succesful one.

I went down one winter to hit seven sisters about halfway down. 2 gnarly days driving through the desert, down long washboard roads in my buddy's 2WD pickup, we finally rolled up late on a cobble stone reef that looked a lot like trestles with a light sea breeze. Dust crusted and burnt out we set up camp under a palm tree sunset and dreamt of the morning super session. Other than the local cowboy living in a hut down the point, there wasn't another soul around for a hundred miles. Just the 2 of us, rippable head high walls in both direction, and no competition for em.
Later that night I heard a tapping on my tent. It woke me up and I recognized the sound immediately. I zipped open my tent and was met with a crash of lightning. The thing about Baja is, there is really only 1 paved road from the top to the bottom. Everything off that main highway is a mud dried dirt track, and I don't care what your driving, when it rains hard in Baja it shuts everything down. Everything.

I leapt out of my tent and yelled at my friend to wake up. We had to get the hell out of there or be trapped at the end of a long dirt road until the road dried up enough to get traction. It can be dangerous. Water and food ration kind of dangerous and we were Too deep to hike out. The light rain blossomed into a monsoon. I remember my friend was in the truck trying to get it turned around and I was grabbing all of our camp **** and slinging it into the truck which was sliding everywhere, its headlights traveling the thickness of rain and the swelling grounds. I dashed into the truck, soaked to the bone and started shouting GO! GO! GO! The dry trail we rode in one was now a deeply uneven slushy, slippery mess. going as fast as we can with our 2WD getting thrashed in the cab cause we can't slow down and risk getting stuck and trapped. After an hour of punishing the life out of that old truck we hit the main road. It was 2am and we felt like we finished a marathon. We slept needs to the road sitting up in our seats.

The next day the whole peninsula was flooded. We drove through swollen rivers and washed away roads to get back to the us. We tried checking a spot a few hundred yards off the road and got stuck halfway down it. Some locals with shovels and plywood rescued us. They didn't ask for money, just a community that comes together when things like this happen. With all the sketchy **** that Mexico offers it still has some lovely people.

Not sure what I left on that beach in the middle of nowhere but my 3 day surfless trip to central Baja was one of my favorites nonetheless. That was the first and last time I took a 2WD truck, but it was well worth it.

 

Honeymoon trip in '87 up the Central Calif coast via PCH and 101 from Ventura to Monterey.

 

College daze in the late 70s and weekend backroad trips in Central Calif. involving beer and firearms.

 

Some good stuff in this thread. Wish I had some similar stories. I clock about 40k miles per year in travelling for work (mostly by plane) but need a surf trip.

I've surfed quite a few destinations around the world, but most of my stays in one place were very short, sometimes just for a day and on to the next place rather quickly.

 

if you can score a plane, I can help you get that proper surf trip. I know a couple epic spots with runways

 

Like bethany's diner on block island or billy mitchell. Those two are perfect setups for a little plane. But this is a road trip thread.

I have had many trips all to the same place, uncrowded, no wetsuit, good surf virtually every day, perfect weather, perfect company, my wife, my family, my friends, local friends, perfect accommodations, perfect weather. Just had that for 11 days late june/early july. Buxton, Cape Hatteras.

 

The Caribbean is where I'm talking about. Couple of remote islands with solid set-ups, runways and no cars. Need bikes tho

 

Done some pretty epic road trips. Surf wise drove to Mexico twice......once all the way down mainland pac coast to Salina Cruz then back up center of country.....other time again down mainland pac coast to zihua then ferried across to baja.....score scorpion bay pretty damn good.

Non surf.....Cambodia and Vietnam up to China on a Minsk 125cc two stroke. This summer did the indian Himayalas on a Royal Enfield 500cc up to Tibet border then to Pakistani border.....India is nuts...especially on a moto

 

That sounds pretty suite! I wouldn't mind doing something like this one day! Although if I'm taking a trip that far, I'd rather be surfing!

 

You must of had lots of near death experiences on Indian roads I'll bet.

 

Mavericks sounds safer than that.

 

Yes...the roads up in Ladakh were insane. Left hand side of the road, lots of crazy cliffs and trucks to deal with..but great food and people...and views....I took a lot of video might put it together at some point and will post

 

On a road trip right now. Meeting up with my family in Florida. I was teaching summer school all summer and my wife took my kids south to visit the folks about 10 days ago. So it's a solo trip down the coast.

Looks like I will score in MD and Outer Banks and then I'll hit the interstate because not much happening south of North Carolina.

Hopefully we'll get something over the next week on the Gulf but not looking too promising. I brought my paddle board in case its flat.