After graduation I got the chance to spend a month in Costa Rica on a month long surf trip, and damn it flew by. It was my 6th time in the country, and every time I go down there I have more fun.
I went down there with 2 of my good friends, Robbie and Paul. We started out the first week in Hermosa, and got a room at our favorite hotel down there, Outback Hermosa. The first couple of days were relatively small(chest high or so), but by the 4th day a huge south swell came in, so we had the opportunity to surf Caldera, and Boca Borranca a couple times each.

We headed to Dominical for a few days after that but we weren’t digging the place too much so we headed up to Nosara, where we spent another week surfing 6-8 foot waves with some occasional 10 foot faces rolling in. Definitely a lot gentler and mellower wave than Hermosa but still had some punch especially at low tide. Long paddle outs! The hotel we were staying at, Casa Romantica, was awesome. I definitely recommend it, especially to somebody who is taking a girlfriend/wife.

Our next stop was Tamarindo, where we spent our 1st and 3rd times in Costa Rica. We didn’t ever surf the Tamarindo river mouth, as it is not exposed to the south swells that Costa Rica picks up in the summer, but staying there did put us 20 minutes away from Playa Grande, which is one of the most consistent breaks in the country. It only breaks at a mid to high tide, and will go from waist high mush at low to firing head high on a mid incoming tide. We surfed Grande for three days, the third day being the best and the least crowded. I had head high peaks all to myself for 3 hours - awesome!

After our 3rd day of surfing at Grande, we discovered the maid where we were staying, Hotel Milagro, had jacked about $30-40 from each of our wallets. We dipped out immediately and headed back to Hermosa, where we spent the last 10 days of the trip.

We got back to Outback Hermosa, and got the top room of the place, which was super spacious, and had a great view of the beach. It’s definitely nice being able to pop your head out the room to check the surf at 5am. The waves the last 10 days of the trip were definitely the best of the whole trip.

My surfing definitely improved drastically over the trip, especially going backside. I’m able to pull some hard carves, cutbacks, hit the lip, throw a little spray, and even pulled a backside floater one of the last days of the trip.
When we weren’t surfing we were playing poker. We must have played about 100 games throughout the whole trip, using the Costa Rican currency(Colones) as our poker chips. I opened up a PokerStars account where I’m playing (with play money haha).
It felt strange the first couple of days back in the states, basing my life around a clock instead of the tide charts, and having actual responsibilities. Our biggest things we had to worry about while we were down there were “Hmm, what kickass break are we going to surf today” and “Do I feel like the fresh caught seared ahi tuna or some dank ass burritos tonight?”. I was sad to give up surfing 6 to 8 foot glass every day, but I am excited about moving on with the next part of my life now that I am a college graduate.

Things have been hectic since I’ve been back. The day after I got back from Costa, which was September 19th, I have been moving out of the house I’ve lived in the last 5 years for college, and on top of that searching for a full time job.

Here’s a couple pictures for now. I’ll be posting up more pictures from the trip as soon as I get them from Robbie.

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Anyways, I’d write more but I feel like I’ve written a novel, back to work. Peace out.