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Tamarindo, Costa Rica –

I like to longboard – a lot. 99% of the time I can be found surfing the Tamarindo Rivermouth with my 9’4″ longboard. Too much in fact that my 6’2″ “Fun Dip” short board was starting to feel neglected. So this past weekend when I packed up my rental car to visit a couple of surf buddies staying in Playa Guiones two hours South of Tamarindo, I decided to ONLY bring my short board. Almost a week later, I still have not picked up my longboard for a surf session and I have been stoked on riding my short board.

When nothing is going right, surf a left. || Somewhere lost in paradise. Magic Stick by ROBERT AUGUST SURF COMPANY , Mermaid Bikini by MI OLA

So what has gotten into me?! On Monday my friends and I surfed with a surf coach and after our session we reviewed with video analysis. Yes, I knew going into the session that I was privy to have a narrow longboard stance while surfing my short board. But then there is the ugly truth of video analysis – the reason why I am not able to complete my backside turns is my narrow stance, etc., etc. Being the self-competitive person that I am, the very next day out in the water I was even more aware of my narrow stance dilemma and started working on moving my front foot forward on the board. AND bada-bing, bada BOOM! There it was, just by moving my front foot a tad forward, my short board game has been turned up a notch. Backside turns and frontside cut backs, Step Gilmore watch out!

She smiled at the ocean because the waves told her story. – r.m. drake

Happy Friday y’all – it’s almost Thanksgiving!!!

TGIF

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Surfboards. They are not all created equal. Long, short, fun, fish, mini…choosing and riding the right board can get quite completed. Let’s start with the basics.

1. A Longboard ranges from 9′-10’+. Mini-longboards are in the 8′ range and “Fun” boards in the 7′ range. Shortboards are in the 6’s to as short of a “stick” that you can ride.
   

   Courtesy of National Geographic

2. When you just start surfing, a longer board is better. Like 9 + feet. We know, this may seem contrary to what you thought, “Isn’t a longboard harder to control?” Technically yes, but a longboard offers more stability and it’s easier to catch more waves, two keys for beginner surfers.  AND if you decide to stick with using longboards, you can start to do some fancy footwork called cross-stepping (or as I like to call it, twinkle-toeing)!
   

   Photo by Avellanas Surf Photos

3. As you progress in surfing, you can start “stepping down” and playing around with board length.  Smaller boards are easier to carry, you can duck dive with them, and you have the ability to do stronger turns.  But with a shorter board, you have to work harder to paddle and catch waves, and your wave take-off point is closer to the peak – which takes an adjustment.  Don’t sacrifice wave catching ability only so you can say you surf a shorter board!  Sure, the smaller board may be easier to carry down the beach and travel with, but if you are catching fewer waves in the water because your board is too short, then you are missing out on the fun!
4. Wave size and conditions help dictate what board in your “quiver” you should use. For example, Tamarindo is a great longboard wave vs. Playa Grande, a couple miles down the beach, is a better short board spot.  This is because Tamarindo tends to have more of a rideable shoulder, is not as a fast breaking wave as Playa Grande, and smaller wave size.
5. Sound confusing? I like to say, “keep it simple.” Chose one board and ride that board until you get comfortable on that board. Each board has a “sweet spot”, and switching out boards every day just gets too confusing!
   

   Photo by Secondhand Surfer

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Well, technically, waves are always coming, it just depends on when they actually are going to arrive. BUT, waves are actually coming this week…hold on Northern Costa Rica we are about to get lit up!

Good thing my parents just so happen to be visiting me THIS week..looks like they actually get to see me surf!

Since I have chatted about how waves are made (aka swells), where and what direction they break, wind conditions, now we can delve into swell direction.

Swells come from all different directions (North, South, East, or West), depending on where you are located in the world and where the storm that is generating the swell.  Swell direction is also further forecasted in degrees on a compass. For example, a South West swell is coming from the South West (and heading to the North East) and you can see from the diagram that the angle would be 225 degrees (numbers on the outside edge).

A quick break down on degrees is:

• North Swell (0 Degrees) = Heading South
• East Swell (90 Degrees)  = Heading West
• South Swell (180 Degrees) = Heading North
• West Swell (270 Degrees) = Heading East

Then we need to consider what direction your beach faces (North, South, East, or West). For example, my home break Tamarindo faces North-West.  The best waves usually are generated from a North or West swell.  These swells typically come from Alaska during the Northern Hemisphere winter at 265°- 310°. If you cross the river mouth here in Tamarindo and surf Playa Grande which faces South-West, the best swells come from the South at 170° – 240°. These swells are usually generated during the Southern Hemisphere winter.

So what happens if you live in Tamarindo and there is a South swell???  There is potential for the swell to refract and still produce waves in Tamarindo (in general the swell angle needs to be greater than 210°). The waves will be smaller since the swell is not a direct hit to Tamarindo, BUT some waves are better than no waves!  And, at times the swell can be too powerful and direct for Playa Grande, so  more surfable waves happen to be in Tamarindo.

Sound a bit confusing? Don’t worry, just like weather forecasting, surf forecasting can be wrong. My rule of thumb is to just show up and the beach, paddle out and have some fun!

Tamarindo during a NW swell, January 2014.

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First, since the wind is howling offshore today in Tamarindo, let’s chat about wind conditions:  The wind can either make or break your surf session.  An easy way to know what direction the wind is blowing is to check the direction that a flag is waving in relation to the ocean and land.

Offshore Wind comes from the land and heads in the direction to the ocean. (Think that that the wind is come off the shore onto the water.)  Offshore wind is the best for surfing.  It ensures that the waves rolling in are well formed and break cleanly.  A quick way to know if is blowing offshore is if you see the “plume” spray from a crashing wave, like in the picture below.

See that plume?

BUT, just like anything in life, too much offshore wind is no bueno. Too strong of an offshore wind makes the wave close faster and the paddle into the wave super difficult. Picture the strong wind pushing you back off of the wave and the spray from the water blowing into your eyes!

Strong offshore wind. Hold onto your hat!

Onshore Wind comes from the ocean and onto land.  That refreshing breeze from the ocean on a hot summer day?   It’s bad for surf conditions.  There could be a really nice swell, but a heavy onshore wind can make all the waves crumble and have no shape, making the waves un-surfable. No fun!

Slightly onshore at Ollie’s Point, but still surfable.

Cross shore wind is not desirable either, not giving shape to the waves.

Glassy is when there is little-to-no wind at all, and the ocean looks like a pane of glass. Glassy conditions usually happen early in the morning here in Tamarindo. Glassy conditions are pretty awesome for surfers!

I told you glassy conditions are fun!

Glass-sea!

Lefts and Rights:

Next you have to know which way a wave is breaking, because riding straight is not as fun and carving up the face of a wave.

A wave can be either a left or a right, depending on which direction the wave breaks from the point of view of the surfer catching the wave.  When a surfer is paddling to catch a wave and the surfer will have to turn left to ride the wave, then this wave is a left.  The peak of the wave is on the surfer’s right shoulder as she catches the wave. (From the beach the wave will be seen to breaking to the right, but the surfer’s point of view counts here!)  Vice versa for a right.

Going right in my playground, Tamarindo Rivermouth.

Backside bottom turns…AKA going left.

If you are a regular foot surfer (you surf with your right foot back), going right is your frontside and going left is your backside (because your back is to the wave). For goofy footers it is just the opposite; going left is your frontside and going right is your backside.

Lucas learning to go straight.

Don’t worry if you are just starting out surfing about going left or right; You have to learn how to get up and go straight first before you start doing the fancy stuff…like perfecting the art of wiping out!

A beach break wave can either break left and right at the peak or in just one direction. If it’s breaking both directions, you can often have surfers riding the wave on both sides!  Point breaks are either a left or right.  Never both. Or, depending on the conditions, the wave could be a closeout and break all at once. Surfers don’t like closeouts because they have no face of the wave to ride.

Ollie’s Point: A right point break.

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OK, so now I am on this 5’11’ saying to myself that I am out of my mind to try out this wafer. Next thing I knew, a wave was coming at me and boom, I caught the wave! What?! The next couple of waves were not so pretty, which I attribute to how soft the waves were, but a little seed was planted. The next couple of months passed, and on occasion I would borrow and test out a short board. After a while, I was intrigued. I had to get my hands on a short board. I emailed my favorite surfboard shaper, Robert August Surf Company (I may be a little bit influenced), and after some discussion, my board started to come to life.

Because I was getting a custom board made, this meant that I could do anything design wise to the board. My wheels started spinning; initially I contemplated a design with my postcards but seeing that the board was being shaped in California and I was in Costa Rica, this made the design process a tad difficult. The solution? Since I was already printing my images on fabric for The Beach Bazaar, I decided to print two of my images on super thin cotton to inlay into the board. Fast forward almost a couple of months later and my board finally arrived in Tamarindo via special delivery from Sam August.

So what did I get?! A 6’2″ Robert August Surf Company “Fun Dip”. After all, my rule has always been that my boyfriends need to be taller than me!

Pure STOKE. Thanks to my awesome friend Cheri Seconhand Surfer for capturing this beauty xoxo

Caught in the act…

A very special thanks to Sam August, Lisa Carden, Mike Minchinton and Aloha Glassing!

Pura Vida,

Kristen

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W-A-V-E-S!!!

If you are a frequent peruser of Samba to the Sea, then you most likely have deduced that I am obsessed with A) chasing sunsets, B) standing on my head, C) hiding behind my Nikon DSLR, and last-but-not-least, Z) twinkle-toeing.

Dancing in my playground. Photo by Surf With Leo.

And in order to twinkle-toe, you gotta have waves, or as they are called in Espanol, olas. Given that I like to talk about surfing and waves quite a bit, why not study up on them and learn how waves are made? Thanks to my trusty friend Señor Google and my blog post for MI OLA a couple of weeks ago, I can give y’all a mini lesson!

So just how are waves formed?

Waves are made when wind transfers its energy from the air to the water. Three factors influence how big the waves get:

1. Speed of wind: The faster the wind is traveling, the bigger a wave will be.
2. Distance of wind: The farther the wind travels against the wave, the bigger it will be.
3. Time of wind: The longer the length of time the wind is hitting the wave, the bigger it will be.

Wave Hello: Turquoise perfection.

As waves grow larger, the distance between waves will grows too. The biggest waves are created by storms out at sea, like hurricanes. They start out as huge, choppy waves and gradually become strong, smooth peaks (called swell). The swell drags against the ocean floor as it gets nearer to the beach. That dragging causes friction, which causes the wave to grow taller, slow down and eventually break.

Corduroy lines (waves) as far as the eye can see…photo by yours truly

The shape of the ocean floor (also called in fancy-dancy-science terms bathymetric profile) and the direction of the wind are the two main factors that cause a wave to break/crash. The best surfing waves are usually caused by sand bars, rocky points breaks or reefs. These underwater features cause the ocean floor to rise steeply, and they create the hollow tubes that surfers love. For an extreme example, look at this image from Surfline of Teahupo’o. Thousands of miles of Ocean and energy meet a really abrupt coral reef shelf… and create an amazing tube (and a devastating wipeout!)

Waves break more gently and farther out if the slope of the ocean floor is gradual. This is why certain beaches and surf spots are better than others.

Got it? That is the basics of how waves are formed. Then throw in swell direction, wind conditions, and tide, and you have the basics for surf forecasting for your surf break….and stay tuned for more surf science!

Pura Vida,

Kristen

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So when some of my surf crew decided that we should go fishing in the morning instead of go surfing, I welcomed the change in routine. Picture this: two experienced fishermen and two blondes that never had gone fishing before = 50/50 chance of success or disaster. Outcome? Let’s just say the blondes were the lucky charms.

Within five minutes of dropping our lines, we hooked a rather larger Dorado. Between the shrieks of the blondies, our experienced fishermen managed to lose the fish as they were bringing it on the boat. Poor little fishie (insert blondes sighing with relief). Good thing Dorado swim in pairs, because soon after we hooked another one. This one was not as lucky as the first one and on board it came.

Ashley and I, the two shrieking blondes, were also in awe of the beauty of this fish as we witnessed it perish. Dorado already are a beautiful golden color, hence the name “dorado” which means golden in Spanish, and as it died the colors of the fish turned from golden, to white with fluorescent blue spots, back to golden. The change in shades of color was amazing. I kept turning away at the sight of this dying creature, but couldn’t help but be mesmerized by the beauty of Mother Nature.

Within the next two hours, we caught another Dorado and an amazing Sailfish. Lucky Sailfish, we reeled him in, marveled in his beauty, and let him go. The highlight of the fishing trip was seeing dolphins swim with our boat and a whale splashing around. Let’s just say I am an animal lover.

Click ME!!

A big thanks to Antonio for taking two crazy blondes on their first fishing trip aboard beautiful 4 Mori.

Pura Vida,

Kristen

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This is what I call an awesome date. Tamarindo Rivermouth.

Frothy Miss Frothy-pants.

Three years after my first wipeout and I am still am in love with this sport. Head over heels enough that I call my home surf break Tamarindo my boyfriend, Avellanas my lover, and Ollie’s Point my dirty little secret. Crazy enough that my surfboards are my boyfriends too, both the long and shorter one.  They all don’t talk back to me and from time to time they give me a mind-blowing ride.

Working on my backside at Avellanas. :-O

And I still am taking applications for more boy-toys, surf breaks, surfboards, and blow-up pool toys alike. If any of these new candidates are like those from this past year, then I sure am in for wild ride.

Sebastian the (blow-up-pool-toy) Sea Turtle.

Surfing paparazzi. Tamarindo.

Mind blowing right. Tamarindo.

Boat ride to heaven, aka my dirty little secret.

Twinkle Toeing at Ollie’s.

The sunburn is worth it on a day like this. Ollie’s Point.

Quality time. Tamarindo.

Hold on tight. Tamarindo.

Can we go now..huh huh?!

Fluro Friday. Ollie’s Point.

Tuck in and get ready. Ollie’s Point.

My first love.

Play hard but don’t break it. Waimea.

Smooth like butter and the ride so sweet.

Pura Vida,
Kristen

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Photo Steven J. Eliopoulos

My heart races. I feel the rhythm of the wave surge through my body and it tingles with excitement. I close my eyes and I am there, submerged in the ocean dancing with waves; dropping in, feeling the power of the wave, twinkle-toeing, and making butter turns.

The thunder from the waves crashing is my siren song.  The offshore wind howling is music to my ears and that woosh sound from my board during takeoff  is my jam. I feel the spray from the wave sprinkle my face like tears of joy.

The childlike grin after samba-ing with a wave and the cackling giggle from an awesome wipeout bring out my eight-year old playfulness. Clarity and creativity spark in my place of worship. I am head over heels entranced with Mother Nature’s gift.

Pura Vida,

Kritsen

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If you judged my life by the photos that I share, then perhaps you might think that I have become well accustomed to Tico Time with all of these photos of me “goofing off”. It may appear so, but as a chica that never leaves home without one of her cameras, capturing those moments is as fast as me clicking the shutter. It is not my fault that the surfing paparazzi always seems to find me out in the waves too. Plus, I would like to think that a pretty sunset photo helps to brighten your day…or convinces you that you need to take a vacation (to Costa Rica)! Sí???

Sunset. Last. Night.

Paradise Found

View from my corner office rocking chair

Well, with all of my photo ops, I have been been a pretty busy chica these past couple of months. The only thing running on Tico Time for me is the internet, or lack there of. Anyone want to start a bonfire with me and burn the router?! Besides surfing of course, I have been creating new designs and making further edits to my cards, product testing some beautiful bikinis by Mi Ola, twitter-floppy blogging for Robert August, and successfully designed and sewed a kimono! Basically, I am planning on taking over the world, or at least Tamarindo, and bringing some beauty to this beach town!

Mi-Ola blonde mermaids

Here is a sneak peak of some new card designs and a hecho a mano (handmade) kimono by yours truly….

Designed and handmade by Sirenas Surf

Ok, so I have been enjoying the waves and goofing off a bit here and there. But hey, that is what Pura Vida is all about. Enjoy some of the craziness…

Morning Sunshine

Morning stroll at Avellanas.

Some quality time with my boyfriend Ollie.

Ollie’s Point, two weeks ago.

When the waves are flat…

Pura Vida,

Kristen

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One of the benefits of living in a tourist town is the diverse people that Tamarindo attracts. In the year and a half that I have lived here, I have met people from all over the world with different backgrounds. It is always an easy icebreaker asking someone where they are from and how they ended up in Tamarindo. The downside of living in a Latin beach town is the machismo. Yes, I know the beach is beautiful, but no, I do not want to take a “stroll” with you in the dark.

Thank goodness, enter the amazing women that reside here. In the past couple of months, I have been fortunate enough to surround myself with a beautiful group of women. We all do our own interesting things, and our common factor is our passion for surfing. It does not happen as much as I would like, but there is nothing like paddling out to find that the lineup has more females than males. Seriously, in a sport dominated by men, this is a rarity. It kind of is like a modern day version of a sewing bee, and yes, we really did just have a whole conversation about peeing on our friends face to help that jellyfish sting go away.

Despite the fact of the undeniable beauty, inside and out, we still comment that we are not “x” or wish we had “y”, myself included. Luckily, we have each other to back each other up give the smack-in-the-face “are you crazy” response. But seriously, enough is enough. Last week my friend shared a video with me that showed women’s initial reactions to shy away from an unexpected camera. Interesting enough, the video showed little girls doing Broadway debuts in front of cameras, dancing, smiling, giggling, and making fools of themselves. When did we all get so critical of ourselves?

Chicas, each and every one of you, is beautiful and amazing in your own way. When you have even the slightest moment of self-doubt, channel your five year old self and just be you. And because Goldfish Kiss said it way better than me:

Gracias guapas. 

Pura Vida,

Kristen

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100% Recycled

Nature. Makes. Me. Happy.

A couple of months ago I found a t-shirt here in Tamarindo with this saying on it. Nail hit on the head.

Back when I lived in NYC and worked on the 24th floor at a large bank, I dreaded being stuck inside all day. I relished being able to take a break to walk outside, even if just for fifteen minutes of New York City air. When I was able to escape on the weekend to the suburbs, the smell of fresh cut grass and the sound of the swaying trees was sensory overload. Rolling in the grass never felt so good.

Then I ditched my cubicle job at Citigroup and moved to Costa Rica. Nature made me very, very happy. Especially the beautiful Pacific Ocean, Mother Nature’s waves and her glorious sunsets. Practically every day, my mornings and afternoons are spent frolicking with nature.

View from my corner office rocking chair.

Thankfully for me, the sun is way too intense for this fair blonde, and as a result I spend a lot of my time every day hiding inside away from the sun. It is a good excuse to get work done (yes, y’all I promise you I actually do work). In fact, all of the vampire hiding from the sun gave me time to design my postcard prototypes. That plus a whole bunch of amazing Tamarindo sunsets led to Samba to the Sea Designs. I guess this is what you call a happy medium…

Sunset last week…

So when it came time to decide how I should print my postcard designs, choosing to be eco-friendly was an easy choice; in the past year and a half I have spent so much enjoying Mother Nature that if I was going to print a product, it better be in an eco-consciousway. The added benefit of printing on 100% recycled paper was that the matte finish on the cards was way cooler than the glossy paper stock. And the recycled, kraft paper envelopes for my notecards are pretty bitchin’ too. Score!

Happy Earth Day! Te quiero mucho Mother Nature!

Pura Vida,

Kristen

P.S. Apparently, y’all like my cards as much as I do because since the end of July I have sold over 2,400 cards. Nature certainly makes me very happy!

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Last week my ninety days was fast approaching so plans for my border run started to ruminate. The “quickest” option would be to drive up to the border, get my passport stamped in Costa Rica and Nicaragua, then drive back. Sounds simple. Travel time is around four hours round trip in a car, but the bottleneck is the border. If things run efficiently, a border crossing could take an easy hour (if officials do not make you stay the three hours in Nicaragua that technically is required before you re-enter Costa Rica). My friend recently did a border run and the whole process took eight hours, door to door. I figured if I was going to spend that much time and money to make a trip to the border, I might as well actually go explore Nicaragua and make a weekend trip out of it.

So off I went last Friday on my journey to Nica. What started off as an enjoyable trip with an nice taxi ride compliments of Don Jose, German bakery sweets, and our exit tax already pre-paid turned into chaos as soon as we reached the border. The line to leave Costa Rica wrapped around the building and was moving at a snails pace. My friend and I asked officials if there was a separate line for those that had already paid the exit tax. Makes logical sense, right? Sorry, one line. Again, the most logical solution is not always the best solution here in Costa Rica. So we stood in line and inched our way forward. Oh, it also started raining. Side note: we are in the middle of dry season here in Costa Rica.

After about an hour, the line started moving at a reasonable pace. Why? The officials decided on a more logical solution to turn off the machine that processes the exit tax and process everyone without making them pay the tax. At least this was logical. One machine to accept payment for the hundreds of people in line that just so happens to be located inside the office where you get your passport stamped is not so logical.

OK. So two hours in Costa Rica to get stamped. But the bottleneck that was in Costa Rica quickly moved over to the Nicaragua side. And if the Costa Rican side was illogical, the Nicaraguan side is just completely inefficient. After two hours of standing in line again, my friend and I were next in line to get our passports stamped. Rain in Costa Rica, earthquake in Nicaragua. Really?! Luckily we just felt a sway and the Nicaraguan officials decided it was ok to go back to work. They do like to take their time over there, taking five minutes per person just to process a passport!

Total time to exit Costa Rica and enter Nicaragua, a mere 100 yard crossing, was five hours.

Enough with the horror travel story. Thankfully the rest of my trip was a great and memorable experience. After finally entering Nicaragua, my friend and I sardined ourselves into a bus and then (mom, don’t read this part) hitchhiked into our first stop, San Juan del Sur.

After a refreshing beer and tacos, our land cruiser chariot whisked us away to our beach front accommodations, just in time for sunset and the full moon to rise.

Thankfully, we spent the next day recovering and surfing the beautiful waves right in front of our hostel, Tres Hermanos. The waves literally were breaking 300 yards from the rooms. No wave sound machine needed here, but a good 1mm neoprene spring suit is for the tad bit chilly water! Good thing I forgot to bring my spring suit, but a smiling blonde in a Latin country usually can pull a few strings and borrow a wetsuit jacket.

After a day of rest and relaxation, surfing, beach exploring, siestas, fish tacos, amazing smoothies, and a bonfire, we started our journey back to Costa Rica.

This time we started our day off a little more relaxing with freshly roasted coffee and locally sourced breakfast at Cafe Gata Negra in San Juan del Sur. Our ride to the border was not sardined packed and we did not have to hitchhike. The border crossing was a piece of cake, thirty minutes in total to go through. Some things some of the time in Costa Rica are easy.

Pura Vida,

Kristen

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Can you guys keep a secret? You sure? One of my favorite waves so far here in Costa Rica is a spot called Potrero Grande, more commonly known as Ollie’s Point. (Ok, some of you guys already know of my love affair with Ollie.) I love this wave so much that in one month I surfed this spot four times. This would not be such a big deal if getting to this wave did not require an hour car ride and then another hour boat ride. When Ollie’s is breaking, it is that good…and you may be joined with five other boats (~30 other people) trying to surf the same wave with you.

Ollie’s was made famous by the surf film The Endless Summer II and it is a perfect right point break. (For my non-surfer friends/readers out there, a point break is a surf break where waves wrap around a point of land sticking out of the coastline, creating perfectly lined up waves that peel off down toward the inside of the point.) The wave got its name from Oliver North, the American Colonel who used a “secret” airstrip nearby to land weapons for the Contra rebel groups in Nicaragua. Because Ollie’s is located in one of Costa Rica’s national parks, Santa Rosa, there is no development for miles and therefore the break is only accessible by boat. No development also means lots of wildlife; I have seen flying manta rays, whales, mating turtles, birds, schools of fish, and even a pod of dolphins racing with our boat during my trips to Ollie’s. One minor detail are the crocodiles that live in the estuary…out of sight out of mind. Besides the crocs, it honestly is a magical experience surfing this wave.

Robert August surfing Ollie’s 20 years after The Endless Summer II. Photo: Mayan Koren

Guide to Surfing Ollie’s Point, Costa Rica (Potrero Grande)

OK, so what is the local knowledge?

Ollie’s needs a South swell to really break. I have heard reports numerous times of surfers going to Ollie’s only to find it flat while other spots were 5ft. The beauty of Ollie’s is that even if it is big, the wave is not going to pound you and it is not hard to paddle back out. The best time to usually surf Ollie’s is around low tide. The wave becomes fast, steep, and if the sandbar is just right, it will peel towards the beach giving you a nice long ride. The takeoff point is right by the rock; you can’t miss it during low tide. Most people leave and head to Roca Bruja (Witch’s Rock) for mid-tide, but I have surfed Ollie’s several times all day and the wave is still fun at different tides. Let everyone leave and then you have the wave to just your boat group!  Talking about boats, I recommend using La Bruja surf trips, based out of Playa Coco.

My relationship with Ollie started back in March. I could not have asked for a better first date. Like most girls, I was all worried if he would call the next day. It took a couple of days, but a week and a half later, he out-did himself on our second date. After four hours of 6-8 feet barreling perfection, I was one happy and pooped chica.  Could it get any better than THAT?!

We were getting hot-and-heavy a little too fast. I decided we needed to cool-off a little bit. Six months of cold turkey, Ollie gave me a ring. It was just as I had remembered: pure perfection. Like a moth to a flame, I could not stay away. In the span of four weeks, Ollie and I gave each other a run for our dinero. Four romps, each so mind-blowing-amazing.

Photos courtesy of Mayan Koren, Diego Mejillas, Chris Castillo, and Chon. 

Pura Vida,

Kristen

P.S. Check out some other fun spots in Costa Rica to surf: Gone Surfing

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