Tag: Surfing

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Kai Surfs Costa Rica: Budgets, Boards and Pura Vida

Where: Costa Rica
January 13, 2012 at 6:08 PM | by | Comments (0)

Kai MacMahon had lost himself to the urban life in NYC, taking up running but putting down the surfboard. That is, until recently when he bit the bullet and flew himself to Costa Rica to drive, sleep and surf wherever he damn well pleased. All this week, Kai will share his experiences on the beaches and the breaks, and how he made it happen.

Yesterday: Becoming a (surf) bum in Mal Pais

As you've probably guessed, Costa Rica is one of the most surf-friendly destinations on the planet. Surfers are welcomed here with open arms, and locals will go above and beyond to help you out. It is perfectly normal to see a massive board bag strapped to the roof of a taxi, to store your boards in your hotel room, and to set up a makeshift clothes line outside your door.

And just as friendly as it is, it's also easy. US Dollars are accepted just about everywhere and most people speak at least a little English, though no matter how bad your Spanish, an attempt to speak it will always go down well. ATMs are fairly easy to find, and most will have English as an option. The bigger bank ATMs even dispense dollars as well as the local currency, Colones, and any of the main hotels or stores will take credit cards.

Nonetheless, be careful of the foreign transaction fee charges that your US bank will tack on; look into a foreign transaction-free credit card if you travel abroad often. For myself, I tried to pay for most things in cash, only using plastic for purchases of $100 and up.

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Kai Surfs Costa Rica: Making It to Mal Pais

Where: Costa Rica
January 12, 2012 at 4:33 PM | by | Comments (0)

Kai MacMahon had lost himself to the urban life in NYC, taking up running but putting down the surfboard. That is, until recently when he bit the bullet and flew himself to Costa Rica to drive, sleep and surf wherever he damn well pleased. All this week, Kai will share his experiences on the beaches and the breaks, and how he made it happen.

Yesterday: Playa Negra and the rush of hitting the waves.

Mal Pais is a sleepy little surf down at the bottom of the Nicoya Peninsula. It’s about five hours' drive from Tamarindo (taking the sensible road), or many more hours drive than that taking the silly, but very picturesque coastal road. I say silly because the above is what sometimes passes for a road in Costa Rica.

Note that the photo was taken during the dry season. In wet season (May to November), or any time it’s been raining, roads like this become impassable to all but the sturdiest SUVs. You'll find that towns in Costa Rica usually have an old man who magically knows the conditions of every river within 20 miles of his location, but as I was not in possession of one of these wrinkly oracles in my passenger seat and didn’t feel like getting my SUV stuck in a river, I elected to take the boring, safer route.

Once I arrived in Mal Pais, the first thing I noticed was, well, not a whole lot really. Not much happens here, and that’s exactly what’s so great about the place. There are a couple of bars (that’s a couple more than when I was first there ten years ago), plus other mild activities like yoga, zip-line tours and so on, but the truth is you come to Mal Pais for one reason: to surf.

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Kai Surfs Costa Rica: Playa Negra and the Rush of a Single Wave

January 11, 2012 at 4:51 PM | by | Comments (0)

Kai MacMahon had lost himself to the urban life in NYC, taking up running but putting down the surfboard. That is, until recently when he bit the bullet and flew himself to Costa Rica to drive, sleep and surf wherever he damn well pleased. All this week, Kai will share his experiences on the beaches and the breaks, and how he made it happen.

Yesterday: Hitting the road to Tamarindo.

Standing on beautiful Tamarindo beach, with my board under my arm and looking out to sea, it occurred to me in a moment of mild panic that I was very out of practice. Was I making a terrible mistake? The ocean, for all its infinite beauty, is still a scary, powerful and potentially lethal thing.

You see, you can generally tell how good a surfer somebody is by watching them as they enter the water. Folks who know what they're doing look like they own it; they glide out on their boards and effortlessly get themselves beyond the break (to the calmer part of the water where you see surfers congregate). Surfers who maybe aren't so great will walk their boards out until the water comes up to their chests, then flail around every time a wave comes in, and they generally project an aura of terror.

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Kai Surfs Costa Rica: The Road to Tamarindo

January 10, 2012 at 5:13 PM | by | Comments (0)

Kai MacMahon had lost himself to the urban life in NYC, taking up running but putting down the surfboard. That is, until recently when he bit the bullet and flew himself to Costa Rica to drive, sleep and surf wherever he damn well pleased. All this week, Kai will share his experiences on the beaches and the breaks, and how he made it happen.

Yesterday: Making the decision to drop everything and go.

Touching down at Liberia Airport in northern Costa Rica was somewhat of an adventure in itself. The terminal itself is modest (OK, it’s a shack), and although there’s a shiny new terminal built and waiting to open, when I arrived they were still waiting for the paperwork to be complete [Ed note: the new terminal finally opens this Thursday!].

Within 30 minutes or so I’d gone through immigration (and some sort of weird security check where they scanned my bags as they came in to the country…why would they do that?), and was on the way to pick up my rental car. A word on this: driving in Costa Rica is not for the faint of heart. It’s not that drivers here are bad; certainly they’re no worse than you find in New York City. It’s just that the roads are—how to put it—somewhat unpredictable. You have to assume that there’s a horse in the road around every corner, because in many cases, there is in fact a horse in the road just around the corner.

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Kai Surfs Costa Rica: Setting Off from the City

January 9, 2012 at 4:54 PM | by | Comments (0)

Kai MacMahon had lost himself to the urban life in NYC, taking up running but putting down the surfboard. That is, until recently when he bit the bullet and flew himself to Costa Rica to drive, sleep and surf wherever he damn well pleased. All this week, Kai will share his experiences on the beaches and the breaks, and how he made it happen.

I used to surf a lot in my 20s. I even took a year out of my life to travel 'round the world on a combo surfing/snowboarding trip. At that time, I visited some of the world’s great destinations for these sports, taking in Central America, the Californian coastline, Hawaii’s legendary North Shore, and of course Bells & Bondi in Australia. I wasn't an expert per se, but I was reasonably competent on a board.

Eventually I settled in Southern California, with world class breaks on my doorstep, before making the move to NYC. In recent years though, my dearly loved 7' 6" funboard (hand shaped in San Diego, lovingly transported to New York City by your truly) has been more of an ornament than anything else. It's a beautiful '70s-style blue and white, and it's propped up against my living room wall, making me look all sporty and Californian to visitors that don’t know any better, but definitely not serving the purpose for which it was designed. The truth is, I had stopped being a surfer.

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Lady Gaga Takes Time Out to Learn Surfing Before Sunday's VMAs

August 23, 2011 at 1:16 PM | by | Comment (1)

Lady GaGa finally took some time out from shooting videos, performing live, and appearing on TV last week to have a little fun in the sun in in Puerto Vallarta, Mexico. So what does a groundbreaking pop star do on her summer vacation? Take surfing lessons of course! Gaga tweeted a photo of herself surfing with the caption "yeah thats me. no heels baby."

But what's more shocking than seeing that GaGa actually does have normal, human feet, is how she paid for her Mexican hotel room. Some reports claim she spent more than $7,000 a night for a luxury suite.

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The World's Nicest Taco Bell Can Be Found in Pacifica, California

March 9, 2011 at 10:51 AM | by | Comments (0)

We might not have ordered a Chalupa, Gordita, or Crunchwrap Supreme, but we’re pretty sure that the Taco Bell in Pacifica, California is definitely serving up only 100% real beef on their menu. That’s because it’s the best Taco Bell—maybe even one of the best fast food restaurants—that we’ve ever seen.

Sitting not too far outside the hustle and bustle of San Francisco, this somewhat-sleepy, somewhat-surfy town of Pacifica is a great place to enjoy the waves and sand. More importantly it’s also a nice spot to enjoy some of life’s crunchy, cheesy, and beefy treasures. Our favorite Taco Bell—and apparently Yelp’s as well—is located on the right side of the parking lot that sits within Pacifica State Beach.

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Surfboards and Snowboards Are Better Off Taking the Train

October 26, 2010 at 1:18 PM | by | Comments (0)

Since airlines are constantly jacking up their baggage and oversized baggage policies, if you are traveling with oversized baggage it is in your best interest to check out your shipping options. Recently we looked into shipping our surfboard from the Southeast to the Northeast so we could do a little New England surfing next month.

Taking oversized baggage on a domestic flight will usually run you around $100 each way, and that doesn't count the awkward hours lugging your giant items to and fro the airport, which when coupled with a flight is sure to cause irritability even in the most zen traveler.

What are your options? UPS quoted us $500, counting packaging materials—yikes. Amtrak, however, charged a reasonable $50 to transport the board to South Station in Boston. Amtrak also offers insurance, with $1.00 equals $100 worth of insurance.

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Surfing Safari: Celebrate Surf Culture Without Touching the Water

September 17, 2010 at 11:04 AM | by | Comments (0)

You can hang 10 at the California Surf Festival in Oceanside, California without even touching the water. Running October 6 to 10, the third annual fest is a land-based event that celebrates surf culture.

Put on by the folks at the California Surf Museum, the festival kicks off with a screening of Accidental Icon: The Real Gidget Story, preceded by a meet-and-greet with the original Gidget herself. No, not Sally Field, but the person her character was based off of, Kathy "Gidget" Zuckerman.

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Where to Try Stand-Up Paddleboarding in SoCal

August 24, 2010 at 1:31 PM | by | Comments (0)

During a recent trip to Santa Barbara, our surfer companion wanted to try stand-up paddleboarding, a popular sport in the city. We don't surf and figured we'd end up swallowing a whole lotta salt water. But we're always up for an adventure, so we eventually gave in. Imagine our surprise when we nailed it after only a two-hour session, besting our surfer pal.

We rented the equipment—a stand-up paddleboard, paddle and wetsuit—and got a 10-minute tutorial, which was enough of a lesson. Basically, you wade out until you are knee-deep in water; hop on the board, resting on your knees; paddle out and when there's a break in the waves, grab the edges of the board, jump onto your feet and start paddling. It takes a few tries to find your groove, but when you do, it's super relaxing and fun to paddle around, plus you get a nice workout.

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Neighborhoods to Know and Go: Encinitas, California

August 12, 2010 at 12:32 PM | by | Comments (2)

Encinitas, CA is a sleepy surf community a half-hour north of San Diego. Walk around the small downtown that centers around South Coast Highway 101, and the seemingly mandatory bathing-suit-and-flip-flops dress code tells you that this is a beach town. And that's why people come here—for the six gorgeous miles of Pacific coastline in North County (northern San Diego County).

You won't be overwhelmed by tourist attractions in Encinitas. There's not much here as far as shopping, mostly just tchotchke shops. This is a place to visit so you can kick back and enjoy the view. But between the sand, surf and picturesque places to unwind, you'll have plenty to do.

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Surf For A Cause With A Volunteer Vacation In Ecuador

Where: Canoa, Ecuador
November 18, 2009 at 12:35 PM | by | Comments (0)

Dreading the doldrums of winter already? Instead of hibernating til spring, you could spend two weeks this January volunteering, surfing, and exploring private beaches, all while living in a beach side cottage just outside of Canoa, Ecuador. The Eco Surf Volunteer program matches volunteers with local elementary schools where they work hard teaching the kids English through games, activities and sports. But, they also find time to play hard. Each afternoon volunteers are taken to the area's best surf spots to catch some waves before going on a local excursion to meet indigenous tribes, visit re-forested mangrove islands or explore animal sanctuaries.

The daily schedule for the trip begins at 7:00 AM when breakfast is served before heading to a local school. There is a lunch break from Noon- 2:00 PM, which is when the afternoon surf lessons begin, followed by dinner at 7. Volunteers also have the option to take a free, private surf lesson from Ecuador's Junior Surf Champion and his team. Each night, Eco Surf also plans social activities like beach parties, bonfires or salsa dancing.

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