Check-in and luggage pick-up went smoothly on both ends, but I had to pay $50/each way for my paipo board, something I have not done in over 15 years -- the same price as an 8' board bag jammed with 3 surfboards -- or an unwrapped bodyboard. My board sustained a minor rail ding on the transit south, but several rail dings cracks or serious abrasions on the transit back north -- the worse damage in my last 20+ flights. There is not much recourse for reimbursement on a charter flight... we shall see. Next time I will book the Delta flight.

The Toyota 4-Runner is the vehicle to use in Costa RIca, during rainy or dry season. These vehicles are ruggedized for Latin America. During my trip 14 years ago, one of these 4-Runners worked wonders as we traversed through raging streams and rivers where bridges had stood the day before. Our vehicle was adequately sized for the 5 of us traveling to and from the airport with all our gear (paved roads). As it turned out we didn't *need* 4-WD on this trip, on the edge of the green season, but it useful for driving up steep and rocky dirt roads, sported ruggedized tires, and provided extra clearance, all features that could be lacking on a smaller 4-WD or a standard 2-WD vehicle.  Our vehicle had standard roof racks, a real plus. Combined with rack pads and extra long straps this combo worked like a charm.

Green season can be a completely different ball game (as I know so well from my Oct 1988 trip).

We surfed a ranges of beach, rivermouth, point and reef breaks. The beach breaks featured gradually sloping sand bottoms. The reef breaks included coral and lava rock bottoms, from smooth to jutting.

Our first few days featured strong offshore winds (20+ kts); the last couple of days the winds were lighter and vairable. Winds were usually calm until 7:30am and then picked up again after high noon before calming towards sunset.

Water in Playa Tamarindo was cool (68F-70F?) the first couple of days due to upwelling, but warmer south towards Playa Negra. Water temps ranged in the low- to mid-70s for the balance of the trip.

If you eat comida tipica, or local Costa Rican cuisine, you can do very well. The food is reasonably priced, tasty, and nourishing. You can also eat gringo food for much more, although Tamarindo features several good Italian eateries where you can buy inexpensive pasta, sandwiches and pizza. We choose NOT to eat gringo-style when we travel so pizza was off our list. They say you can eat for $3/meal, and it's true, but we ate like KINGS for about $5.00-7.00/meal. We talked to some other Americans who said they couldn't find a meal for under $20......HUH?

Basic foods:

Fishing:  Pat hired a fishing boat on the last day of our tirp and ventured solo. If we'd had a flat swell mid-trip or were going to in Costa Rica longer others in our group would have loved to join him. The prize catch, a 20 lb. yellow fin tuna, graced our dinner plates that evening.

Canopy Tour/Zip Line: We didn't know what to expect or where this was located. Turns out that it's located in the nearby Tamarindo-Langosta dry forest hills. From the main site you have an excellent view of Tamarindo Bay and Langosta. You zip via a harnesss on these steel lines from station-to-station (tree to tree) in an old growth forest, about 8 stations total. Exhilirating. An excellent way to spend an hour or two during down time.  See the pictures in the photo section.  Cost was about $30 to $35 per person.