I did an advanced search on Nosara / Costa Rica and found a couple helpful tips. Was wondering if there are any decent lefts in the vicinity. Also wondering what else to do up there. I'm bringing my wife....she surfs, but am wondering, are there other fun things to do around there? We're going to visit the volcano at the end of the trip, but looking for some fun things to do around Nosara. We'll be at Guiones for about 5 days. Thanks for any advice.

Do the zipline.

^^Zipline, fish out of Garza, rent a quad, explore waterfall, batcave, river.

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I take "almost free surf trips" and you can too.

^^ What occy said. In addition: yoga, rent bicycles and ride the beach at low tide, hike up to the "castle" on the point,horseback rides. Leave flashy stuff locked in the safe in your room. Otherwise, my fiance and I found the town to be rather safe.

We were there for a week and rode the ATV to local grocery stores to buy food. Eating at Casa Toucan or Guilded Iguana is nice, but gets expensive after a while.

The beach is pretty long and there are plenty of breaks. Find a peak that you like and hit it.

We can't wait to go back next year.

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Little Penquin: A winner is someone who doesn't knock me off my surfboard; Tank's definitely not a winner.

Little Penquin: He's a dirty trash can full of poop.

--Surf's Up

Edited: 06/25/2012 at 08:08 PM by Mr. Long

Thanks Occy, does the quad, waterfall, bat cave, tip apply to Nosara area? Or is that near the volcano?

Guiones is a fun beach break.  Take a trip up to surf Ostional one day.  Definitely a nice part of the country

Nosara / Guiones - Was there a few months ago before the rainy season started and more importantly before the offshores stopped blowing . Had a sick swell when I was there and was able to surf head high a framing barrels with offshores alll day! BUT there's really not much to that area. Surf, zip line, horses, fishing near by. But the wife will get bored very fast. Its not a very pretty town and is very small. If its just the guys no problem, but with women its a problem. There is no craft markets, no restaurants, ect ect ect. After two nights and three days I was forced to leave bc my wife was not happy. We went Samara a little way down the coast (1 or 2 hrs). Cool town with a lot of restaurants and people. A totally different world!! They have live carib reggae music on the beach during weekend ect. Lots of European Tourists, restaurants, nice hotels, small surf in the bay for the wife and a secret "BIG" wave spot near by. We did some amazing boat trips there for really cheap! Fish for a few hours in the am and fill the boat with snapper and grouper and then spent the rest of the trip snorkling these monster sea mounts and seeing the most amazing fish! I speared a 40 lb cubera with a pole spear! Almost drowned me but I got him. Long story short - Samara saved our trip for that area! The bay there is quite an insane view as well. Post card looking! Have fun. Pronounced "SAM A RA" if you say "SA MARA" they wont know what your talking about. My favorite thing about this town was I didnt see one foreign "SURFER" the whole time!! Was a breath of fresh air. NO offense bc I am one, but you all know what I mean.

Tell Coconut Harry hello for me ... and tell him I blame him for causing Nosara to go to hell in a hand basket.

Oh ... and if you see an ol dork ridding a 12' LB with flames on the deck, sporting webbed gloves .... bitch slap him and tell him it is from me.

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"Most people would die sooner than think; in fact, they do." - Bertrand Russell

"Morality is doing what is right, regardless of what you are told. Religion is doing what you are told, regardless of what is right.

"I will always remember to forget about you" - Tom Waits


If I do not answer you .... nothing personal, I just have you on ignore.

Coconut Harry is hilarious! How long has that guy been there?

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Little Penquin: A winner is someone who doesn't knock me off my surfboard; Tank's definitely not a winner.

Little Penquin: He's a dirty trash can full of poop.

--Surf's Up

I've been to that area 10 times and have an "adopted" family there. Thats where I stay, usually 2-6 weeks each trip. I did it backwards. Stayed at Samara as my base and went to Nosara on day trips. Everything Wet Dreams said is true. Its a very cool, international, laid back, interesting place. Mellow vibe. No cheap looking touristy places. Really beautiful. There is a direct back road from Nosara to Samara that is bumpy in dry season and more iffy in rainy season, but definately workable with a 4 wheel drive. It goes through the real Costa as it is/was and that in itself makes it interesting. Its 35-45 minutes depending on the conditions. I recommend it. Nosara has good surf, nothing epic, but head high+ on a good day. It is a more crowded the last 7-8 years, but it is a long beach and you can find some peaks that are more empty. Be warned that if you stay just a few days, you can possibly miss good waves. Nosara has an underwater reef barrier 1-2 miles off the beach which means there are usually only waves 2 hours before and after high tide. Other times the wave energy can't get past it. Then there are typically waist high waves. These are still fun on a longboard. At head high it closes out a lot. There is a secret spot about 25 minutes away through a shallow river and then through a cow pasture that is remote, often has no one out, and is bigger and heavier than Nosara. But you got to do your own work to find it. I've already said too much. About 5 minutes away on the coastal road (I think South) is a long cresant beach lined with palm trees with great snorkeling (no surfable waves) with brown sand that is world class romantic. There are beaches just a minute or two north that you can walk to with no foot prints in the sand. Horseback riding on the beach is a little dorky. Better to find a tour where you ride in the mountains through streams and butterflys like snowflakes everywhere. Zip lining is great also, but a lot better in rainy season when the rain forest is on. One last suggestion. Do a white water rafting trip. They take you an hour and a half up to a mountain top and then there is a two hour trip down the river though pure rainforest with no sign of civilization. I did this in Manuel Antonio State park. Have I talked you in to staying a month? You should definately check out Samara with the wife.

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waves waves waves
and deep below
none come, none go

wow, you guys really paint the picture.  What are the logistics like?  Leave from Miami, Otown?  fly into?_____ Rent car, drive?  How far?

 

Where are good places to stay?  Very cool sounding. thanks

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oops..did I fill this out correctly?

Definately some cool stuff around.  The palm tree lined beach in called Playa Carillo. It is just south of Samara.  Definately get a 4x4 b/c it is rainy season right now.  May not even be able to get to Ostional right now as Rio Montana gets high with rain.  Check out www.surfingnosara.com for basic info and some really nice houses for rent.  They also do really high quality daily surf pics - you can see that day slide show session on their big screen TV in office in the afternoon.  Probably not much for crowds right now and it will break even on small days so a good time to get your wave count up. 

I got antsy one afternoon (tide wasn't right and was waiting for the evening surf) and decided to ride the ATV down to Samara. Fiance was sleepy and decided to hang out in the hammock, so I filled a backpack with water and snacks and my camera, threw on a full-face helmet (and a dust mask, it's dusty in December) and with a Google image of the route to Samara in my head, headed out of town.

So after an hour or so I came to a small river. Luckily it was dry season, and after a couple of tries, found a spot to cross that just got the bottom of my feet wet on the ATV. I have a video of it around here somewhere.

Anyway, i kept going and after a while, the dirt road came out of the woods and hit a paved road running North and South. So I'm sitting there picturing the map in my head and trying to remember if going right was actually South, when the legality of riding an ATV on a paved road crossed my mind. Sure the vehicle had a tag, but I never bothered to ask the rental place, since everything around Nosara is dirt.

So I wave to a pretty Tica standing there on the corner (waiting for a bus, I guess), to get her attention. I pat the ATV and then point at the road (yeah, I'm an idiot gringo who doesn't speak Spanish. My fiance is Dominican so I really have no excuse. ).

Anyway, I was trying to find out from the Tica if riding the ATV on the road was allowed.

She thought I meant something else, and before I realized it, she had run over, climbed on behind me, and held on tight.

I'm thinking what have I got myself into, but decided what the heck and turned right and headed south. I guess we rode for about 10 or 15 minutes, when I saw Samara open up ahead. My passenger pats me on the leg and I pull over in front of a bank. She climbs off, thanks me, and walks into the bank. How funny was that.

So I rode around the town. It was really cute. There was a rodeo in town and everything was festive and packed with people.

It was getting dark, so I booked it home. The return trip was a lot faster since I knew where I was going, but I still got home in the dark. Good thing the ATV had headlights.

My fiance laughed her head off when I told her about my passenger. Having now been to DR as well, I realize how normal it is to bum rides out in the country.

At any rate, I prefer the quiet of Playa Guiones, but I definitely want to make an excursion down to Samara again and check out the beach, eat at a restaurant, etc.



Some pics from our trip



By the way, we flew Orlando to San Jose, and then NatureAir to Nosara. Nosara is actually a few miles from the beach, so we took a taxi. Once in Nosara, we grabbed the ATV for the week to get around. You don't even need it if you stay put, but it was worth the money to go exploring.

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Little Penquin: A winner is someone who doesn't knock me off my surfboard; Tank's definitely not a winner.

Little Penquin: He's a dirty trash can full of poop.

--Surf's Up

I was there last year and met Steve - the new owner of Coconut Harry's. Harry sold the shop and took off a few years ago. No idea why... I decided to rent a board for the trip and Steve had tons of options for $75/wk. I've had some very long rides at Guiones. Cheap and good eats at Rosa's tica.

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TrinitySurf.com

coconut harry...

 

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TrinitySurf.com

Harry is 60. Old Guys Rule!

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Need more water time. Plenty of time left to make $$

Huuummmmm .... guess he started coming around in the mid 90's and started the shop a few years later. About the time that all of the other crap I hate about Nosara now started to infest it .... franchised real estate agency's, restaurants that asked me if I had a reservation, ATV rentals (damn I hate those noisy, dust spewing, POS!! may their be a special place in hell for those abominations) and rampant crime. To me it is just like Jaco or Tamarindo and they suck .... now.

I yearn for the days when a friend that lived there use to call me up and beg me to come down ... just so he could have someone to surf with. When the ONLY public phone in Guiones was at the Guilded Iguana and the original owners (long since deceased) just asked you to write you name and how long your phone call was in a ledger book and settle up (along with your bar tab) before you left the country. When the paved road ended a few miles outside of Nicoya and it was MUCH safer to ford the rivers that drive across the "bridges". When John Frasier was not completely insane. I stopped going years ago and I miss what it use to be.



After owning surf shops in Va Bch and Nosara for many, many years .... ol Harry was tired of the daily grind of retail. Trust me, he still has a finger in multi pies in both CR and Nic. I will give the Ol bastage this ... he is in damn good shape!!





YES you have.

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"Most people would die sooner than think; in fact, they do." - Bertrand Russell

"Morality is doing what is right, regardless of what you are told. Religion is doing what you are told, regardless of what is right.

"I will always remember to forget about you" - Tom Waits


If I do not answer you .... nothing personal, I just have you on ignore.

Edited: 06/26/2012 at 09:25 PM by LBLarry

Yup, Harry lives in Jacksonville now

 

It's hard to swing a dead cat at certian Jax Bch happy hour (Harry is both frugal and goes night night at apox the same time as the sun ) water holes and not smack him upside the gourd.

He does still spend more than his far share of time in Centro.



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"Most people would die sooner than think; in fact, they do." - Bertrand Russell

"Morality is doing what is right, regardless of what you are told. Religion is doing what you are told, regardless of what is right.

"I will always remember to forget about you" - Tom Waits


If I do not answer you .... nothing personal, I just have you on ignore.

See Rich at Surfingnosara.com for a place to stay and friendly answers to questions and photos. You pay for the ones you want.

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There's no surf on Wall Street!
One man's loss is another man's gold...Operating principal behind Wall Street, and sadly, to a large extent, America