| Featured surfers in the Surf Collections include (top row - left to right) Timmy, Jon, Chris, Rylan; (bottom row - left to right) John Leaf, Blake, Mike, and Danny Cruden. There are also a few of us lesser known folks (like me) that made our way into the surfing lineup. The following is just a sample of our surfing lineup. We had 24 of us on the roster for this trip and plan go back again next year. |
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The surf was 4 to 6 feet plus for the entire 9 day trip. Early mornings had light offshore winds from 5:00 AM until around 8:30 AM when moderate onshore breezes kicked up and signaled it was time for breakfast. Then, in the late afternoon the wind would slack off, signaling it was time for the evening surf session. Below is Timmy on the left and John Leaf on the right ripping early morning glass. |
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Below top row - Mike on the left and Chris on the right.
Bottom row - Danny on the left and Jon on the right. Jon buckled his
10 foot nose rider and switched to that red 8 footer for the last few
days of the trip.
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Below is a two-shot sequence of Rylan..
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And now for some of us not so famous souls - that's
Rosso the Ripper on the left and Kimmie Vee (aka: Surf Mom) on the right.
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For this trip we stayed in the central Playa Guiones
area at the Guilded Iguana.
The Guilded Iguana has very reasonable rates, both open-air and air
conditioned rooms, a nice pool, well landscaped grounds, and very good
food. They definitely add new meaning to the term "cheeseburger
in paradise" (and it costs less than $5.00 including the fries).
We stayed in the open-air rooms this time, but I think air conditioning
would have been very nice during the mid-day heat. Nights were comfortable
under a ceiling fan.
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It gets light around 4:45 AM and by 5:00 AM it is time
to start thinking about the morning surf session. If you are the first
one to walk down to the beach, the pathway is often covered with some
very colorful creatures.
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There are now three surf shops in Nosara. The newest
addition, Panchos Surf Shop,
features some very nice boards shaped by Steve Dunham. I ogled at his
longboards at least 3 times during my short stay. The surf shop is on
the hill up behind Panchos Grocery, Restaurant, and Hotel.
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May is the beginning of the "green" season
in Costa Rica, and this May opened with a torrent. The paved roads were
full of pot holes and the dirt roads very bumpy. But we never had to
engage the four-wheel drive. I may just go with two-wheel drive next
time unless I plan to do some back country exploring.
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