Photos from my week at Witch’s Rock Surf Camp in Playa Tamarindo, Costa Rica, with daytrips to the Arenal Volcano and Playa Avellana.

After spending nine days in SoCal, I’m off to Costa Rica for another a week of surf, beer, and nachos at Witch’s Rock Surf Camp. More on that trip (and North Korea, China, Central Europe, and London) when I return. In the meantime, I’ll be posting photos from Costa Rica on my Twitter account.

So, back to my Costa Rica trip, which I returned from over a month ago.

We stayed at Witch’s Rock Surf Camp, a beachfront hotel run by surfers, for surfers. WRSC was founded by Joe Walsh, a Californian who decided to move to Costa Rica following his graduation from UCSD. He bought an old school bus, convinced some friends to accompany him on the trip, and eventually ended up in Costa Rica. Thus, Witch’s Rock Surf Camp was born.

The perfect location – right on the beach

I loved everything about WRSC. The staff members were incredibly helpful and the guests were laid back (Well, of course they would be. They are surfers, after all). The great thing about WRSC is that it caters to surfers of every skill level, from someone who has never been on a board in their life to a surfer who has been catching waves since he was a kid. All beginning and intermediate surfers receive daily lessons (in groups of 2-3 people) while the advanced surfers spend their days traveling by boat or van to different breaks in the region. Since I am not skilled enough to even think about surfing some of those breaks, I was content to take my daily lesson with the WRSC instructors, many of whom have surfed, or still surf professionally. I learned a great deal from these guys, who helped me break some of the bad habits I have managed to pick up over the years. I caught some great waves and also had some spectacular wipeouts that would make you grimace. I’ve always thought that if you’re not going to make the wave, you should at least go out in style.

“And today, we will work on your turns.”

My lesson group

The view from my room. The rooms at WRSC are very simple…bed, bathroom, chair, nightstand, and framed surf posters on the wall. If you are looking for a flat screen TV with on-demand movies, room service, and 1200 thread count sheets, then this is not the place for you. But if you could care less about all of that and just want to surf with a great group of people, then WRSC is where you want to be.

Best shower design ever

The view you enjoy while eating breakfast/lunch/dinner or just drinking beer. Another great thing about WRSC is the free breakfast at the camp’s restaurant, “Eat at Joe’s.” When I hear the phrase “free breakfast”, I generally think of the lackluster selection of pastries you typically encounter at an early morning business meeting. At WRSC, however, you can select any of the breakfast plates on the menu. I usually opted for the eggs, bacon, toast, and gallo pinto (rice and beans), drenched in salsa verde with a cup or two of coffee on the side. It was definitely a great meal to have after a 6am surf session.

This damn bird stole a piece of my bacon

Looking out towards the main street of Tamarindo

California pride!

I love nachos. I really love a plate of nachos as big as your ass. When we weren’t eating dinner at a place down the street, we were at Joe’s. You really couldn’t go wrong ordering something here. The nachos, tacos, burgers, sushi, and smoothies were all great, and the beer was always ice cold. Seriously, the WRSC crew should be incredibly proud of the food they are serving.

Darcy

Entrance to WRSC/surf shop/board storage area. WRSC has a huge collection of surfboards, and if you are a student there you can check one out anytime. I mainly surfed a 9′2″ or 8′6″.

Rian and I

These guys were everywhere

Listening to Tico Hendrix.

No matter what time it was, you could always go downstairs to Joe’s and find someone to have a beer or nachos with.

For our last night, the WRSC staff threw a “graduation party” and served up a delicious feast.

Happy camper. Literally.

I had such an incredible time at WRSC and met a lot of great people there. I think about it often while I am sitting at my desk here in DC, working on spreadsheets or whatever. I have a feeling I’ll be back there sometime next year.

A few shots of surfers enjoying an afternoon/evening session at Playa Tamarindo.

Carlos, a WRSC instructor

I love this dog. He belonged to one of the WRSC instructors and whenever his owner went out to surf he would sit on the beach and wait for him to come in.

Post Gidget invasion, and Dora’s nightmare.

(Allan Grant, 1961)

I recently finished David Rensin’s biography of Miki Dora, All for a Few Perfect Waves: The Audacious Life and Legend of Rebel Surfer Miki Dora. If you have any interest in surfing, or the SoCal of the ’60s, or are just looking to read a bio of one of the strangest, enigmatic, and most fascinating surfers to exist, I’d highly recommend this book.

One thing that Miki was especially good at was mooching off all of his friends. Although he traveled the world to surf, very little of this was accomplished with his own money, as he often suckered his friends into loaning him cash, or ran up a huge tab on his Diner’s Club card which he had no intention of paying off (this eventually landed him in jail). When Dora died in 2002, his friends and family members were startled to learn that Dora had managed to accumulate over $400,000 in cash and investments:

Miki had fooled everyone. According to account statements, he was heavily invested in silver, gold and platinum. He owned shares of mining companies. He had high-interest bearing CDs, as well as positions, for a time, in energy companies such as El Paso, Dynegy, Consolidated Energy, and Enron – on which he made healthy profits, selling in advance of the bust.

One of the world’s biggest slackers trading shares of energy companies (and earning a nice profit as well)? Who woulda guessed?

Try traveling with a surfboard:

Some airlines are now charging surfers as much as $300 to take along a surfboard. That’s significantly higher than the $15 fee that big carriers began charging for the first checked bag, a move that has riled passengers.

The fee, among the highest of airline charges, is grounding some surfers and has created an unusual uproar among an otherwise mellow surf community. Fees for bicycles, skis and other sports equipment have also been rising, but not as much as surfboard.

Surfers note that most airlines don’t charge for golf bags, while surfers are paying as much as $300 a board for international flights. That’s nearly as much as a new board can cost. Avid surfers take as many as four boards in a bag, which can mean a $1,200 bill, or $2,400 for a round trip.

Surfline has an updated list of fees charged by each airline.

Read about this in Surfer magazine today. It was shaped by Rusty Preisendorfer himself. That’s quite an honor. Rusty said that if McCain was a surfer he would make a board for him as well, but we all know that McCain don’t surf.

At 7′6″, this is the tallest board I own (others are 5′10″, 6′, and 6′10″). A bit heavier than the others, too.

Yes, straight from SoCal.

I prefer Sticky Bumps, but I’m not one to turn down complimentary wax. About 10 or so years ago, one of my friends was searching for something in my closet and came across a package of Sex Wax and a Sex Wax comb (“For when your stick gets too slick”). She was completely befuddled. “DUDE, what the HELL is this?!” I could see why that product could be confusing to someone who has never surfed. “Dude, chill, it’s wax…for a surfboard.”

It kinda takes up a lot of space. I’ll probably get some wall mounts and hang it up in the winter. I’ve got a lot of blank space on one wall, so it will fit perfectly.

I’m planning a beach trip next Sunday to try it out. Hopefully the surf won’t be ankle high slop.

‘Cause it was saved:

The California Coastal Commission handed environmentalists a major victory and rejected the pleas of motorists Wednesday, voting down plans to build a six-lane toll road through San Onofre State Beach, a popular preserve in north San Diego County known for its scenery and famous surf spots.

Before a boisterous crowd of more than 3,500 people, commissioners decided 8 to 2 that the proposed Foothill South project violates the California Coastal Act, which is designed to regulate development along the state’s 1,100-mile shoreline. They reached the conclusion following hours of sometimes heated public testimony that pitted protecting the environment against the need to relieve traffic congestion in south Orange County.

[...]

The vote, which was greeted by an enormous cheer, followed 12 hours of public testimony from the crowd, of whom 2,500 made formal requests to speak, the largest number for a hearing in the commission’s more than 30 years of operation.

Some arrived by bus, brought by surf-industry companies opposed to the project. Others came as members of construction unions that support it. Some in the crowd carried surfboards as a symbol of protest. Others dressed as if attending a long-awaited football game.

My favorite sign: “They’re paid to be here” (latimes.com)

Admittedly, I was a bit puzzled by this paragraph in a NYTimes article about the proposed toll road:

Some supporters of the road say it would open up San Onofre State Beach, already the state’s fifth-most-visited state park, to people from inland cities. Right now, they say, the beach is dominated by a clique of territorial surfers.

WTF? San Onofre is the most chill place I’ve surfed. “A clique of territorial surfers” makes it sound like you’ll get hounded out of the water for being an inlander. It’s a STATE PARK.
Everyone’s gotta wait in the same line and pay the same fee to get in. If you want a toll road, move to New Jersey.