Thank god I finally got in the water.
I'm currently in Jaco, in the central cost of Costa Rica. It took me about 2 days to get from my house to the beach, and I was understandably anxious, especially after spending the night in the Orlando airport (pretty nice airport though). I spent the first night in San Jose, which made me even more anxious since I had a standard case of first-day travel jitters.
"What the hell am I doing here?"
It seems like most good travel adventures begin in places like San Jose. Actually, it wasn't that bad. Kind of reminded me of Chile - really upscale for Central America.
I stayed at the Hostel Galileo. Good place, really friendly staff, near the bus stops, but not prime location for doing anything else. They told me not to go out after dark, which was advice I headed only because I'm too cheap to get mugged.
So I made it to Jaco today and got in the water by 12:30. I found a good place by the beach, $10/night, with surfboard rentals that don't seem particularly cheap (15$ for 24 hours). But they let me switch the board as many times as I want.
After getting my ass kicked for about 2 hours I decided I was going to have to buy a rash guard. 5 mil wetsuits in Oregon protect you pretty well from the surfboard, and after about 10 minutes of surfing without a shirt I had red welts on my chest and arms.
But I was stoked. No question about it. This kicks ass.
All the guidebooks and everyone I talked to said Jaco is a sh*thole, but it reminds me of Roatan (which is a very tolerable sh*thole). Plus, I spent 3 hours on surfline in the hostel in San Jose trying to figure out where the surf was best and it looked like Jaco or Hermosa (actually, the Caribbean side looked better for a day or so).
There were some shredders out there: guys pulling aireals and all sorts of crazy stuff. I felt like an idiot, but was having too much fun.
In case you ever want to go to Jaco, it's a dirty town with a black, pebbly beach. There are some good eats and good bars (I'll tell you more about that when I go out to one). There are also some good surf shops where you got talk to people who actually know what they're doing. Like I said, it reminds me of Roatan - a lot - just replace the Scuba Diving with sufing.
Pura Vida!
Clayton
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Glad to hear you made it Clayton. Sounds like you may have to suck it up and buy a board. If Hermosa proper is too heavy, the Esterillos breaks just south of there (if you can find a ride) are mellower, and empty compared to Jaco/Hermosa. If you do make it to Hermosa proper, check the surf in front of Cabinas Las Olas, and if at all possible, grab one of their ahi sandwiches. If there is a lot of swell, grab a longer board and hit Boca Barranca, a super long protected left hand point/rivermouth. I would avoid the reefs between Jaco and Hermosa unless you have a guide. Jaco will be smaller and mellower than Hermosa and the breaks south of there.
-Ryan
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