Inside
Costa Rica With ESM Co-Founder/
Publisher Tom Dugan Words and photos by Tom Dugan
When I was a wee lad of a surfer, traveling
was never the thing to do. My first real surf trip came when I drove from Long
Island, NY, to Cape Hatteras, NC, for the 1974 ESA Eastern Surfing
Championships to represent the ESA-New York District. It was my first big
contest and I was ready — the only thing was a hurricane was sitting out
in the Atlantic, and the surf was huge, about eight feet between the groins. I
finally made it out, caught one closeout, and never made it out again.
That was my first and last experience in
the ESA Easterns, but the waves the following week were all-time with warm and
sunny conditions, so all was not lost. Plus, that first surf trip set the stage
for more travel and further reaches around the globe. In 1982, the travel bug
was in full swing and the surf team I was on decided it was time to try
visiting Costa Rica. When we arrived back in those early days, Costa Rica was a
very empty place with few surfers and lots of empty waves. We barely scored
much surf, but traveling around the country was fun and cheap.
Fast forward 28 years and you will find
much has changed in the land of Pura Vida. Every surfer has been to Costa Rica,
the beaches are loaded with waveriders, and hotels, surf camps, and eco-tourist
getaways have sprung up, with the accompanying rise in costs. But the thing
that has not changed about Costa Rica is the waves… and boy, are there plenty
of them, with tons of new places to surf that locals or word of mouth will get
you to. I’ve already been to three new breaks on my 2010 trip, and the funny
thing is there weren’t any other surfers there except our friends. We’ve been
back a few days in a row and I only saw two local fishermen on the beach, with no
one else in sight.
What I’ve always liked about Costa Rica
is you can almost always surf alone with just your friends and a local Tico or
two. Sure, there’s a crowd 100 yards up the beach, but the peak just to the
side of the crowd is usually just as fun. How many breaks there are in this
country is hard to tell. With tide changes, different swell directions, and wild
size swings, there’s always somewhere new to surf. The following photos are from
the first few days of my trip, and offer a peek at what Costa Rica has in store
for you. Whether you’re deciding to come back or you’re one of the few who hasn’t
been here yet, get a passport and get on the plane!
