Return to SR's - Rod's 2006 Report

Return to SR's - A Taste of Pura Vida

Rod's Report, March 22-30, 2006

(Click pics for larger image)

Here's just a brief synopsis of my trip to Costa Rica

(L) Rod and wife, Miami International Airport.

(R) Paul, Rod, Brett and Mike

Wed
March 22nd

Up at 4am and off to the airport for a 6:10am flight, BWI-MIA-LIR. We arrived to Liberia Int'l Airport around 12:10pm. Luggage pickup and customs went quickly and smoothly, as did our vehicle rental pick-ups. About 3 hours later we were at our Villa overlooking SR's cove, including a stop at the mercado in Filadelphia.

Checked in, unpacked the necessities, finned the board, waxed up and paddled right out to wash off the travel dust. We headed out to SR's for our first session and later headed over towards The Rock, which would later be coined, The Wash, a left that became our daily staple. Surf was kinda sloppy. Paul earned the "ride of the day" honors, Brett the "first one out" honors, Mike the "slicky boy" honors, and I simply surfed crappy my first session out (good to get that out of the system early!). We feasted at the villa for dinner, knocked back a few celebratory drinks and hit the sack early. The boys traveled by "the rule" on this trip - no longboards, we're here to find and ride some SURF! They each brought two boards, a short board and a quad-fish, and no regrets.

Paul is checking out his "waterproof" camera
with plans to shoot many pics of off-the-lip
tube riding. He did shoot some sweet pics...
before losing the camera in the whitewater.

Thu
March 23rd

We were all up early, ate an early breakfast and waited a short while for the incoming tide to start working. We paddled out to the rock and rode The Wash, all lefts, for several hours. The Wash gets its name for the wave and whitewater breaking over the rock and forming a whitewater washing takeoff. The wave provided a long ride, ranging from 100 to 150 yards. It wasn't very punchy until hitting the reef at "Inside Wash" where the wave transformed itself into a top to bottom cruncher. Nonetheless, the long walls and reforms provided plenty of funs with many turns, re-entries and trims.

Waiting for the tides to fill-in at The Wash	The reefs at The Rock as swell begins to fill-in
Boys set up at The Wash-I am ready to paddle out!	RocaRigo Right starting to do its magic!

Brett and I started eyeing a right that broke on the southside of The Rock, next to a line of lava rock outcroppings, over a shallow coral and lava reef. I paddled over first and caught a few before Brett joined me. This wave was a right that broke more top to bottom with a nice face to work--sideslips, tight tubes, hard turns and re-entires. A lot of fun! Scraped my knee and the board's fins at one point as the water sucked out during mid-tide. Caught lot's of waves in the 4-6' range.

Paddled out to Outside Wash reef for an afternoon session. The outer reef was showing some punchy 8' lefts several hundred yards out. We didn't time it right, waiting too late into the day as the tide changed and the sun started to set. Brett caught the only wave ut BLEW IT having neglected to strap his leash before jumping off the lava reef on the southern end of the beach. The sets were only breaking about every 15 minutes and it was difficult to find the line-up spot with no good experience at this break. Next time!

Fri
March 24th

Another morning session after 7am breakfast, timed just right with the tides. Waves today were probably in the 3-6' range. Caught my first cover-up of the trip, riding Rocarigo, all to myself like most of yesterday. Paul and Mike had also checked it out but preferred the left (Paul is goofy) and avoiding the shallow reefs. Today's waves were more powerful and ton's of fun.

Dining Room

Yesterday the boys and I drove down to the village and along the coast checking out the possibilities, but it looks like we have as good a swell angle as anywhere else and it is RIGHT OUT FRONT, with nobody else!

We are all accumulating our quota of sun and redness. It is time to start lotioning my buring scalp with some decent SPF 15 lotion.

Paul walking over for a surf check...
...after the boys' naptime

Beth and I walked the beach southward this afternoon with our buddy, Biscuit, beachcombing and checking the sandbar break just around the point. Later, the boys and I paddled out for an afternoon session. Not much working at Rocarigo so I joined the "crowd of 3" for several waves at the Wash and Inside Wash.

Sat
March 25th

At 6:45am, my wife looks out our window and announces, "It's flat, oh well..." The swell does look very small. The boys talk about surfing around the point where the San Diegans said it was bigger yesterday. I commented that yesterday it was small when they first paddled out but within the hour, when I paddled out, the surf steadily increased in size as the tide rolled in. I watched and waited for the corduroy lines to start to form within the incoming. The swell jumped from 2-3' to 3-6' and the 10' coastal tides worked their magic. I started out at The Wash as Rocarigo was very inconsitent early... and then it started pumping, pumping, pumping. Caught several shack ries and one huge cover-up this morning, along with a few collapsing lips as I cruised right through them.

Swell begins to rock!

Our room with a view a view

Posers in front of their room

A Tico joined the boys at The Wash later in the morning... by that time we were noodle arming and ready to catch our last waves in. We have been averaging about one "guest" at the Wash each day, except for an hour yesteday when four Ticos joined us. I have had Rocarigo to myself each day :)

The boys and I drove into the pueblo for lunch at a restaurant on the beach watching a pounding shorebreak. Beth and Sue watched over the Canadian couple's young kids. Relaxed the balance of the afternoon and hit the sack around our usual 9pm bedtime, if not earlier. Isn't it great to not have TV, phones or any other distractions!

Winding down after a good day of surf...

...relaxing and ready for dinner and sleep

Sun
March 26th

Breakfasted on scrambled eggs, Spanish homefries, gallo pinto and a giant fruit plate of pineapple, mango, watermelon, cantelope and papaya. We could tell the swell had increased overnight... just waiting for tide to roll in before packing for our drive to Tamarindo. Surfed for a few hours -- everyone scored multimple great rides -- we were by ourselves until the end of the session when four Ticos paddled out. Brett scored the wave of his trip, a nice inside out tude ride. I rode The Wash early with the boys and then paddled to the Inside Wash where the shallow reef produced grinder lefts, before paddling over to RocaRigo. A nice 8' set rolled through during my paddle over. I caught some macking 6' drops that were throwing out a good lip onto the reef. Lot's of water today -- extra high tide and swell surge made it difficult to line up along the secondary RocaRigo reef takeoff zone. The rights were hard breaking and easier on the eyes than the lefts which were full of spray from the northeasterly Papagayos.

Rod, Paul and Brett Kicking Back

...Mike wonders if it is the quad fish or the stubby

We had arranged for a late checkout for one of the rooms and had moved all of our gear over there. After lunch at the villa we packed the vehicles, drove into the pueblo to show the girls and then headed to the Jardin del Eden. After a couple days of Papagayos the termperatures are now reaching into the high 90s and 100F. Ate casados for dinner at the circle restaurant.

Mon
March 27th

Tamarindo has become its new cliche, TamaGringo. It is very, very busy with construction, shops, restaurants and hotels. Crowded as hell -- maybe in part because of the proximity to Spring Week. Nonetheless, the town increasingly has all the amenities that an Orange County resident might need, like TCBY. Our hotel has also renovated extensively, including a free internet station (I haven't touched it yet - still on vacation!). The breakfast offering at Jardin del Eden is about half what it used to be -- still not bad, but not the extra draw. Free cafe, bread and toast, cereals, cheese and meats, fresh fruits and juices (not as much selection) gallo pinto and home fries. Not bad! Eggs, waffles, etc., are extra.

We drove over to Playa Grande after breakfast (watching the tides). The paved roads are terrible: much worse than the dirt/gravel roads - an asphault rut or pothole can wreck havoc are tires and rims, not to mention the ride. Takes about twice as much time to make the trip. Surf was 2-6' with strong offshores and rather unridable except for one small section breaking on the inside just south of the main parking area. This area became extremely crowded with wild shortboarders, several longboarders and a bunch of bodyboarders. Best that they are here and not SR's!

Mike caught the wave and ride of the day! I didn't catch a single wave worth noting. Everyone in our group was rather disappointed... We also checked Langosta but not much was breaking. The consensus was to return to SR's the next day.

The highlight of today's surf trip was stopping for lunch in Villa Roxana at the little carport restaurante which featured the same tasty, inexpensive food.

Tue
March 28th

Breakfast at Jardin del Eden at 7am, on the road at 8:15am. We checked a couple of the usual suspects along the way - no real swell showing yet as the tide had not started to turn its magic yet. On to SR's. Checked with the front desk at the Villa SR's and they smiled and said, sure we could park, hang out, go to the beach. All of us boys bought trinkets in the guest shop for our special ones back home (or back at the hotel). We then caught some pool time and drinks while we waited for the tide to fill in with the day's waves. Paddled out around 11am - Biscuit followed us down to the beach. The Aussie staying at the Villa never paddled out - guess he went somewhere else.

The day's session proceded to become a rather epic with consistent overhead lefts, long rides to the inside reef - my guess is 100-150 yards. Everyone scored great waves and rides. I caught some nice vertical drops on the south side of The Rock and a solid 8' clean-up set on the northside with a super clean drop and wave barreling all over my tail. After so many consistent and long rides I started breathing very hard from all the turns! Bushed and beat, we used the outdoor shower overlooking the breaks and lunched before heading home. SCORE!!!

Hot Wash: Lot's of sun this trip - everyone is burning. I am wearing long sleeve lycra everyday now but am all burned under the eyes and next to the left ear - missing a couple of spots with SPF and going light one day are coming back to haunt me.

Wed
Mar 29th

Drove down to SR's after breakfast at Jardin del Eden. Surf was much smaller today, breaking way inside at Inside Wash. Nonetheless, many of the waves were approaching head-high as they jacked up on the inside reef. Tide was extremely high - waves were really jacking up and we caught and rode them much further in than normal. Many of the late jacking takeoffs were harder to catch but when you did it was a hell ride packing some punch. Biscuit followed us down to the surf and soaked in the shore until we paddled out. Met the local Tico, Rad, who we'd seen a couple of other times.

The boys lunched pre-session and I had some great chickn nachos and super margaritas post-session. People at the Villa SR's treated us very well.

We feasted on our last dinner in Costa Rica at Jardin del Eden. Everyone dined on one kind of lobster dish or another (except me of course - allergies) -- I feasted on a wonderful green peppercorn and mushroom filet mignon.

Thu
March 30th

Getaway day. Long, last breakfast. Packed up and hit the road to Liberia. No discount coupon for future visits to Jardin del Eden - doesn't really matter as we have settled on Villa SR's, nice and quiet and right on the surfing reefs.

The road from Tamarindo to Liberia has gone to hell. What used to be a decent, if bumpy at times, paved road is now a series of gutted, rutted, potholed sections, alternating between graded gravel and pot holed asphault. The last 10 kilometers was ok.

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Last updated on 07/04/06