Tamarindo now in full swing - surfers start your boards...

Well, it’s pretty much official – the tourists have returned to Tamarindo in the past week, and we are really seeing some busy beaches.  This is what we all (well, most of us) wait for and now is the time to start gearing up for a busy Christmas.

And the other way I can tell that its tourism season is that the southern hemi’s have backed down and the waves are smaller.  This week, for example, the big ‘swell’ will be hitting us mid week at 5’ at 15 seconds.  Yippee?  

Look for really South facing breaks and do everything to avoid the main break in Tamarindo where lessons will be in full force.

You might want to try Marbella in the mornings on an incoming tide, or even Grande at sunrise.  And look for onshore winds to hit around 11am everyday this week.

And the water has been somewhat cold with the offshore’s blowing all the warm water out and creating this upwelling – suggest a spring suit (shortie) or long sleeved rash guard.

Here are some of the forecast shots from MSW etc.

Kelly Slater wins his 10th ASP Champoinship at 38

At the age of 38, Kelly Slater earned his 10th surfing world title this weekend with a dominating performance in Puerto Rico against fellow surfers half his age.

The ASP tour has been giving out world titles for 30 years, and he has won 10 of them.

And in a befitting tribute to a falled friend, he dedicated his win to Andy Irons.

A terrible day for Tamarindo - a terrible day for surfers

We have had a couple of terrible days here in Tamarindo and I guess living in a small town really puts an emphasis on how close we all are here.  

No matter our differences, we are a tight knit community that is effected by things both good and bad.

A good friend and member of the local surfing community lost his baby daughter a couple of days ago.  And we are talking about one of the greatest couples in the world.  He is someone here in town that makes every person feel like a million dollars, and when I first moved here, was one of the few locals to make an effort to get to know me out on the territorial breaks.  Our prayers go out to his family.

Then this morning, I heard two fire trucks race into town at 6:00 am and 6:30 am.  Well, we don’t have fire trucks or real EMS here in Tamarindo, so they had to come from the towns of Santa Cruz and Filidelphia; each an hour’s drive away.  I dressed quickly and drove into town to see the firefighters battling to put out Sharkey’s Sports Bar and Costa Rica Surf.  By 730 am as the smoke cleared, it was a no brainer.  They were gutted and will have to be leveled.  I had to get away from it because the acrid smoke of 200 burning surfboards was choking my throat while the sight of seeing good friends in tears made me feel nauseous.

Here are the pics:

Sharkey’s was a relatively new place that opened a couple of years ago with Ben & Katie at the helm.  It was a place that featured every sport possible on their giant screens, making it the only sports bar in town (not including Langosta).  It was the kind of place that was small and intimate, so no matter how many people were there, it seemed busy.  And most importantly, they showed hockey.  Of course, karaoke Tuesday was always a time to see ‘everyone’ in town make an ass of themselves.  Not only is a business lost, but it also displaces those who worked there, and whose families depended on it.  Even the parking attendant was there and one could only sense the feeling of dread he had knowing that the few dollars he eked out were now gone. 

Costa Rica Surf was the place that I first rented a surf board when I came here five years ago, and then was the first place that I ever bought a surf board.  Owned by Sabrina and Diego, it used to be called Banana Surf and the place was always a welcome home to both locals and tourists alike.  I still take my boards there to get dings fixed and bought a custom made quad there in July.  And let’s not forget the schwarma’s and falafels that were sold there.  Costa Rica surf has a second location near Aqua, which doesn’t make it easier, but does provide them with some hope now.  Knowing Diego and Sabrina’s Argentinean strength, we’ll see them smiling on the break at Playa Langosta in no time.  

Finally, although not from Tamarindo, Andy Irons died yesterday at the age of 32 from Dengue.  A great surfer and three time world champion, he commented once that I try changing my surfing, which is the absolute worst thing you can do. Everyone surfs their own way. If I try to surf like someone else I look like a dork.  What brings this close to home besides the obvious surfing connection is that he died from Dengue; something that is a problem here in Costa Rica that has struck most everyone that I know here.  

Anyways, typical of the infrastructure here, we now have no internet or cable.  And I am trying to send .5 MB files by uploading them to my blackberry external disk, then emailing on the 3G network.  (Which actually works at about 1G on a good day.)  Thank God for the internet connection at Witch's Rock Surf Camp, eh?

Let’s hope tomorrow is a better day here in our small communities of Global Surfers and Tamarindans.

Pura Vida

Cold November Rains and a return of the cold war?

What a beautiful morning here.  Well, not really.  Last night some sort of tropical storm blew through and knocked out power for most of the night.  I guess it’s not bad because we are all in bed, but living here, I like to have the perimeter around my house lit up like a downtown Manhattan. 

Then this morning, we hear that those members of the Nicaraguan army had been seen on Isla Calero, a piece of land on the Costa Rican side of the Río San Juan. Pictures and video reveal a Nicaraguan flag has been placed on the property. The flag is located on the same property, known as Finca Aragón, where trees were cut down and sediment was deposited by a Nicaraguan dredge that is deepening the Río San Juan.

“A flyover this morning above Isla Calero revealed the presence of Nicaraguan troops in national territory, Costa Rican territory,” a Costa Rican ministry official said. “There is a Nicaraguan flag and tents belonging to the Nicaraguan army. ..

As we all know, we have no army here in Costa Rica and the Nicaraguan one has been battle hardened by years of civil war that only ended a decade ago.  They have 15 Soviet made The Mil Mi-8 is a medium twin-turbine transport helicopter that can also act as a gunship and over 50 operational   T-54 and T-55 tanks.

I guess the ‘good thing’ is that we have about 7000 US Marines and about 50 USN Ships here on a drug combat mission.  Along with about 2 dozen harrier Jump jets, 200 helicopters and AWACS that I always see flying over my house on its way to land in Liberia, I don’t see Nicaragua as attacking anytime soon.

Of course, maybe the USA presence has fueled tensions instead of abating them?  Due to the long history of US intervention in Latin America (perhaps most notably in neighboring Nicaragua), the region is clearly justified in its concern over the disproportionate and virtual invasion of troops into an area that could potentially provide such a logistical and geographic striking point.

We hear all about Iran, but very little about our own hemisphere and the increased US military spending down here and in the Caribbean.

Anyways, no point in stressing just yet.

Aqua Claro and the end of the rainy season in October in Tamarindo?

We haven’t really had any bad rains here for over two weeks now, and this morning when I paddled out the water was clear enough to see the reef on the point break where I surfed.

An amber jack (fish) jumped about 5 feet into the air in front of me, and there was evidence of more fish around.  So, my attitude is if the fish are back, then the dry season is upon us. Why?  Nature always knows best!

And we are getting great swell due to the southern hemi storms that are still rolling up the Chilean – Peruvian coast, and some days the waves have been overhead with offshore / cross shore winds!

October is usually wet and miserable here in Tamarindo, and many shops and restaurants simply close their door for the month.  So, without all the tourists here, we are having some beautifully empty surfing breaks.  As an example, this morning there were probably 10 people surfing four breaks in Tamarindo, and earlier this week, about the same amount of people at Playa Grande.

And it should be quiet for a while here, as even the Tico’s from San Jose can’t make it here. With little rain in the forecast many head for the beaches here on weekends. However, it will take up to 9 hours this due to the collapse of Costa Rica's road infrastructure.

The San José - Caldera remains closed betweeen Atenas and Orotina, the Interamericana Norte at Cambronero is still with "paso regualdo" and the Monte de Aguacate (old road to Jacó) cannot handle the volume of traffic.

For example, a trip from San José to Tamarindo or Flamingo can take up to double the normal time trough the Cambronero and Agucate. An alternate is by way of La Fortuna and Arenal to Tilarán and Cañas. In either case, the 4 to 5 hours normal travel time can easily turn to 8 or 9 hours.

The best news this week was the announcement that Starbucks Coffee, ubiquitous in North America, is set to open its first Central American location in San Salvador later this year. Expansion into the rest of the isthmus is in the works, though the company has not yet released specifics.  Maybe we’ll see one here in Tamarindo before long?  Right.