Tag Archives: surf

clases de surf en Costa Rica

Las mejores clases de surf en Costa Rica

Salty Sols ofrece las mejores clases de surf en Costa Rica

Eric Atkinson creció en Misuri (Estados Unidos) lejos de las olas pero viajó alrededor del mundo buscando los mejores lugares para surfear. Finalmente, encontró su casa aquí en Tamarindo, Costa Rica.  Ahora, es el dueño de Salty Sols Surf School, cuya oficina está ubicada en nuestro hotel.  Como Eric ama surfear y enseñar creó Salty Sols, las mejores clases de surf en Costa Rica. . Allí comparte su pasión por el océano.  Una gran ventaja es que Eric habla perfecto inglés y un casi perfecto español. El Sr. Atkinson también tiene tres atributos importantes que comienzan con las palabra «P»: paciencia, percepción y persuasión, realmente importantes para ser un buen instructor.


Entrevistamos a Eric y nos contó algunas historias interesantes sobre las clases de surf en Costa Rica.

Tamarindo Vista Villas (TVV): ¿Qué es lo que más te gusta de enseñar a surfear?

Eric: Ver la exitación que produce el surf y disfrutar de la conexión  con el océano. Todavía puedo recordar mi primera ola y la increíble sensación de surfearla por primera vez. Esto me trae de vuelta a esos días.

TVV: ¿Qué es lo que menos te gusta de enseñar a surfear?

Eric: Los días que hay muy buenas olas y en lugar de poder surfearlas, estoy empujando a mis alumnos.  Eso sería lo único malo, y no es realmente tan malo. Tenemos un montón de días increíbles para surfear. Si los alumnos tienen una de esas «grandes sesiones», naughtee entonces eso es genial. Además, fetishbank por lo general, a pocos metros están viendo a surfistas experimentados.

Hay días en que la corriente puede ser fuerte y el agua puede estar fría. Pero si vienes de un lugar de agua fría, el agua siempre te va a sentar bien en Costa Rica. A veces puede ser frustrante si hay un montón de gente en el agua. O si las condiciones no son las mejores.  Pero lo que realmente no me gusta de ser un instructor de surf es el momento en el que pisas una espina muy fea justo antes de intrar al agua por dos horas.

TVV: ¿Cuáles son los principales sentimientos de tus estudiantes durante las clases?

Eric: Creo que antes que nada, sorpresa.  La mayoría se sorprende de enseguida se están levantando y montando las olas. Muchos creen que van a ser horribles o no que no están lo suficientemente capacitados. Tal vez  tienen miedo al agua. Pero después de una explicación del salto, la práctica de la técnica, y la ayuda del instructor en el agua,  está surfeando y sonriendo de oreja a oreja. Así que creo que los sentimientos van cambiando varias veces durante la lección.  Los sentimientos pueden ir desde el miedo o el nerviosismo, a la sorpresa y la emoción, a la exitación de montar ola tras ola y terminar con una sensación de satisfacción propia loanscast.co.uk.

TVV: ¿Qué es lo que principalmente hay que saber antes de tomar clases de surf en Costa Rica?

Eric: ¡Nada! Realmente, no hay necesidad de saber mucho, sólo es necesario relajarse y divertirse. Tal vez eso podría ser algo que cambia tu vida para siempre … Y lo digo de manera literal.  ¡Una persona de  Misuri podría terminar mudándose a Costa Rica!

TVV: ¿Hay algún consejo que desee darle a alguien que quiera aprender a surfear?

Eric: ¡Tenga la seguridad de que con algo de paciencia y práctica va a surfear! ¡Y que nunca lo tome demasiado en serio, se trata de divertirse y ser un niño de nuevo!

 

Eric enjoys one of the top 5 surf spots at Costa Rica.

Top 5 surf spots at Costa Rica

We asked our friend Eric Atkinson, founder of Salty Sols Surf School, which were his top 5 surf spots at Costa Rica. This is what he wrote for us. Enjoy the waves.

1- Witch’s Rock

One of Costa Rica’s best beach breaks, if not the best!!! Beautful location, most people that are going to surf this spot will go by boat leaving from Playa Coco (about a 40 min boat ride) or from Playa Flamingo (about an hour and half boat ride).  Some people prefer to make the drive in from National Park Santa Rosa, which you will definitely need a 4×4 as the road is pretty gnarly to get all the way down, if driving in, you may want to bring a tent and some supplies to camp a night or so and surf as many barrels as you can possibly handle!

Upon arriving in boat you are already anxious enough as you have seen videos and heard stories of this amazing place, and if you are going when there is a decent swell in the water, you will really start to get pumped as you are flying in the boat over the open ocean swells and know that you are gonna score this place good! You see the big huge white rock that serves as your barrel heaven backdrop.


Witch’s Rock has several main peaks that work pretty well depending on swell direction and tides, it is a very consistent beach break that works with Swell direction from the South and North and lots of offshore winds hit this part of the coast. More often you will be surfing with good strong offshore winds, beautiful lefts and rights, surfing it with long period swell in the water expect some serious paddle outs and for the barrel hungry.

This place has big ones and plenty of them! And then if you want to surf one of Costa Rica’s juciest right hand point breaks, just go 20 minutes north by boat and, if the swell is decent and out of the South West, Ollie’s Point will put a smile on your face for days!!! If you are going with kids, see a list of some awesome baby travel essentials to invest in here.

The nice thing about these spots if you go by boat is that Wtich’s Rock is usually surfed at higher tide and Ollie’s at the low tide. So it is a full day of surf and fun for everyone!

2- Nosara (Guiones)

Playa Guiones is another of the top 5 surf spots at Costa Rica. It has a  really consistent beach break that has a wave for everyone. It seems like it’s one of those places that people go and even if the conditions aren’t the best, they always have fun. This area is very pretty, the beach itself is about 7 kilometers long, with waves for every skill level, fun for shortboarders and longboarders alike. It can get busy here, but since there are so many peaks, you can usually pick a spot that is less crowded and just paddle out and always score some waves.

The winds aren’t as consistent here as they are a bit North of here, so usually the early morning hours and sunset sessions will be the most consistent, with light offshore or glassier conditions, although in the dry season this area can also see some hard offshore winds as well, and works ok with low tide and the high tide.

3- Santa Teresa

Santa Teresa and Mal País is another top 5 surf spots of Guanacaste. It is located in the Nicoya Peninsula. It host a number of good breaks, from juicy fat longboard waves, to fast hollow beach break, reef and points. Playa Carmen in Santa Teresa is a favorite amongs the intermediate surfer, longboarders and those who want an easier paddle out and not too strong of current with lots of fun waves, lefts and rights and a pretty consistently good sandbar. Further north up the beach, usually the heavier, faster and more hollow the waves become and usually surfing more at lower tide and incoming. There is some more easy going beach break and an offshore reef break in Manzanillo that is a bit fickle and needs lots of swell to work. Mal Pais has a couple of reefs that work nice with some decent swell, can be shallow in some areas to see more info visit https://pariuricasino.com/ twin spin.

4-Avellanas

Avellanas is one of those beaches that also offers a bit for everyone and every skill level. Situated in Northern Costa Rica, this is another beach blessed with alot of good strong offshore winds in the dry season, and works well with swell out of the south and the north.

Avellanas has a variety of waves. With some decent swell in the water you can see nice peeling lefts in front of the parking lot «La Purruja», left hand reef break that isn’t always super consistent, but when breaking can be a really nice wave. Most people tend to surf out in front of Lola’s restaurant and a bit north of there at Palo Seco, here is beach break offering both lefts and rights and works best mid-high tide. These waves can be fast, fun punchy waves for the shortboarder, or just drop in, pick your line, cross step to the nose on your longboard and get those 10 little piggies over the tip and style your heart out!

Up the beach a bit more you have some nice wave that break in front of El Estero, some nice A frame peaks on it’s given day and at the very north end of the beach, with some decent swell in the water we have «Little Hawaii» This is a right reef break that works best with solid swell and can hold waves up to double over head or bigger, but boards with good volume work pretty well in this wave as it doesn’t tend to be real top to bottom, staying somewhat fat and juicy.

After all this surfing , sit back, relax in a hammock or the wood chairs in Lola’s, people and dog watch and sip a cold Pilsen and pat yourself on the back as you watch the beautiful Costa Rican Sunset!

5- Playa Negra

Pretty awesome right hand reef break, that can hand you one of the sweetest barrels or possibly one of the worst wipeouts you have experienced! Check hbcontrols.com. Negra is a wave that when other beaches are closing out because the waves are too big, this beast just grows, getting scarier, but still holding and pumping out big hollow barrels.

Negra can be a fun playful wave that is chest to shoulder high or triple overhead and ferocious. So pick your days according to your level san diego airport service near me. Playa Negra is pretty much one takeoff zone, so 10 or more people in the water here can feel crowded, and is usually surfed by a pretty skilled bunch. best surfed chest high to a couple feet overhead from mid tide to high tide.

Fishing tours are special for Tamarindo Costa Rica Hotels

Tamarindo Fishing Tours

Tamarindo fishing tours are a great activity because they combine nature, sport and adrenaline.   We talked to  sport fishing tour owners and here is what they  have to say when we asked the following questions:

  1. What do you like most about taking tourists on fishing tours?
  2. What was the weirdest thing/animal that you found fishing?
  3. What is the funniest thing that happened to you on a boat?
  4. What sets you apart from other fishing tours?
  5. What are your services and rates?

Go Fish Costa Rica http://www.gofishcr.com/  +506 8884347491

Steve Quinn is the owner of Go Fish Costa Rica.

  1. I like the fact that we can meet people from all over the world and in a lot of cases fulfill something off their bucket list. People change when they are on the water, it brings the kid out in them.
  2. One day while fishing we found a girl’s jewelry box floating in a large area of floating debris that we assumed was from the recent tsunami in Japan as some of the debris had indicated that.
  3. Watching a client getting his head slapped by the tail of a big sailfish while posing for a photo prior to getting released back into the water. It was funny because it was my 81- year- old uncle. Followed by a client that got too close to the edge taking a photo and after returning to the boat he realized he had lost his shorts.
  4. We offer a personal touch, always making sure our guest’s are taken care of and we meet each and every one of them personally when we can.
  5. We offer a full concierge service to all our clients and guest’s and our rates are all based on the service they require. We will be sure to take of any needs you can throw at us.

Big Mahi Mahi (Dorado) on a half day fishing from Go Fish.

 

Tamarindo Fishing http://www.tamarindofishing.net  +506 8474 5456

Pedro and Jason are in charge of another Tamarindo Fishing Tour.

  1. I like to show the prospective of the land from the ocean as well as the view of all the sea life.
  2. Thousands of Manta Rays jumping in the air doing back flips migrating south.
  3. The funniest was watching 4 people fighting fish at the same time.
  4. Knowledge of where we are fishing.
  5. Half day $325. Full day $625 (4 people max.)  Our service is fishing we include bait rods reels cooler ice Water and fruit.

 

pedros fishing tour
Tamarindo Fishing Tour is a family business company.

 

Blue Fishing CR http://www.bluefishingcr.com/  +506-8355-3770

The company was established in 2003. They offer many years of experience in specialized shore fishing, private snorkeling tours, surfing trips and unique beach tours. Blue Fishing Tours offers differentiated sea tours and fishing trips every day of the week targeting a multitude of various fish including Tuna, Mahi Mahi, Marlin, Sailfish, Red Snapper, Rooster fish and a many more species. Check fish aquarium guides.

blue fishing tours
One of the Blue Fishing boats

 

Coyote Sports fishing http://coyotesportfishingtamarindo.com  +506 2653 0068

Since 1993 Coyote Sportf ishing offers fishing experience for people of all ages that enjoy the art of fishing. Read reviews of San Diego Downsizing here.  Coyote Sports Fishing combine  many years of experience and local knowledge of these water.  The Captain Frank Berrocal is a real fish fan.

  1. Fishing is my livelihood and taking tourists to fish is something I really like to do because I like the sport and I want my clients to have a good time.
  2. Nothing weird has come to me while fishing on my boat!
  3. I’m always busy so nothing funny happens.
  4. My passion for fishing sets me apart from others
  5. Coyote offers ½, ¾ and full day trips on any one of three boats, with prices from $475 to $1600 depending on vessel and length of fishing time.

coyote sport fishing
Coyote Sports Fishing´s catch

Salty Sols Surf School

Great surf lessons in Costa Rica

Salty Sols is the best place for surf lessons in Costa Rica

Eric Atkinson grew up in Missouri, USA, with no waves nearby but he traveled around the world looking for surf spots. He finally found his home here in Tamarindo, Costa Rica. Now, he owns Salty Sols Surf School, surf lessons in Costa Rica. Eric loves surfing and teaching so he created Salty Sols to share his love for the ocean with all his students. You will enjoy his class because he speaks perfect English and almost perfect Spanish.  Mr. Atkinson also has three important “P” attributes: patience, perception and persuasion, really important for a good teacher. We interviewed Eric and he told us some interesting stories about surf lessons in Costa Rica. Tamarindo Vista Villas (TVV) : What is it that you like most about teaching mccarthy how to surf? Eric: Seeing people feel that «stoke» for the first time and enjoying the connection with the ocean. I can still remember my first wave/waves and the awesome feeling of riding for the first time on bez deposit. This brings me back to those days. TVV: What is it that you like least about teaching how to surf? Eric: If the waves are pumping and perfect and I’m pushing someone instead of being able to pull into a barrel myself !!!! That would be the only bad thing, and that’s not really bad. We get plenty of awesome days to surf. If the students happen to have one of «those» sessions in their lesson then that’s great for them. Check out swipenclean.com.  Also, they usually are witnessing some amazing surfing from the experienced surfers at the same time. There are days when the current can be strong and the water can be cold. But if you are coming from a cold water place, the water always feels like bath water here in Costa Rica. Sometimes it can be frustrating if there’s a ton of people in the water. Or if the conditions aren’t the best. But the number 1 thing I don’t like about being a surf instructor is when you step on a really gnarly thorn right before going in the water for the next 2 hours!!! TVV: What are the main feelings your students get during the lessons? Eric: I think first of all surprise. Most are surprised that within a short amount of time they are actually getting up and riding waves for application for adjudication. So many have these feelings that they are going to be horrible or they aren’t skilled enough. Maybe a fear of the water. But after some party in the sand with the «pop up», technique practice, and the instructor´s help in the water, before you know it, they are up and riding and smiling from ear to ear. So I think feelings are changing several times in the lesson. They go from fear or nervousness, to surprise and emotion, to stoked and super pumped that they are now getting wave after wave and ending with a feeling of self satisfaction. TVV: What is the main thing somebody needs to know before taking  surf lessons in Costa Rica? Eric: Nothing! Really, no need to know much, just know how to relax and have fun. Maybe that it could be something that changes their life forever…If they live in landlocked Missouri, they might end up moving to Costa Rica! TVV: Is there any advice you want to give for someone who wants to learn to surf? Eric: Be confident that with some patience and practice you WILL be surfing! And never take it too seriously, surfing is all about having fun, it is about being a kid again!

surf lessons in Costa Rica
Eric Atkinson surfs with one of his dogs.

Surf lessons in Costa Rica
One of Salty Sols´ students riding a wave.