Bodysurf, eat, sleep, repeat. That pretty much sums up our daily agenda during a three-day swell bender along the Caribbean coast of Costa Rica.
And that’s exactly what we’d hoped for when we set out on the sixteen-hour roundtrip adventure. No time to relax when the swell is pumping (5ft @ 9s).
Our Pura Vida Bodysurfing film crew—Felipe, Pablo, and myself—drove eight hours to the opposite side of the country in pursuit of the biggest Caribbean swell of the new year. The waves we encountered made the long drive worthwhile.
During our first day on the Caribbean coast (my first time ever), we spent six hours in the water at a small island off the coast of Limón. Interestingly, Christopher Columbus (Cristóbal Colón) anchored his ships on this island for repairs during his final voyage to America in 1502.
Although the weather was stormy and overcast, the island’s left-hand point break stayed glassy and consistent all day. Pablo and I scored some fun prone rides in the rain while Felipe filmed from the water and from shore. Check out the footage below:
On our second day, we woke up in Puerto Viejo to find one of Costa Rica’s best waves producing in-and-out tube rides. We quickly downed some coffee and fruit before swimming out to join the lineup.
Much to my surprise, it wasn’t just board-surfers that we encountered in the water. There was also a bodyboarder, a SUP surfer, and a kayak surfer. With the addition of two bodysurfers (me and Pablo), the lineup became truly well-rounded.
Each wave-rider in the lineup absolutely deserved to be there. Everyone was charging the hollow, slab-like barrels that seemed to pop up out of nowhere due to the nine second swell interval.
Initially, I was a bit nervous to catch a wave because I wasn’t sure exactly how deep the reef was beneath me. But adrenaline quickly took over and pushed me into several bombs throughout the session (see below).
After nearly three hours in the water, we decided it was time for lunch. Unfortunately, I couldn’t find the keyhole in the reef that we swam through on the way out to the lineup. I paid the price for this blunder with cuts on my knees and ankles from the razor-sharp reef, which I clambered across on the way back to the beach.
After a heaping plate of “rice and bean” with pollo Caribeño (and a few beers to wash it down), it was off to a new break for another two-hour sunset bodysurf session.
Day three was more of the same. We swam back out to the pumping reef break from the previous morning to find smaller-but-cleaner waves, and enjoyed several more hours of tube-riding in beautiful, glassy conditions (see footage).
What’s more, we had the best seat in the house to watch Brazilian big-wave charger Eric de Souza (pictured above) score some epic barrels.
All and all, the trip was a major success…and I can’t wait to do it again!