Faced with one week off in between retreats in Costa Rica, the mostly regular-foot SWA staff crew (plus a couple of boyfriend tag-alongs) charged across the bay to score some rights. They scored! Here’s the story from Emily’s perspective…
We didnt really know what to expect at Matapalo but the hope was that it would be the promised land of rights. The crew of seven decided to rent a home since there are pretty much no hotels or hostels in the area. Our original plan was to eat out every night but the grom convinced us we should try and save some money and cook…It was a tricky situation but a good idea since the only grocery store was an hour away and there was only one restaurant where one meal was equivalent to the amount we spent on groceries for the whole trip!
We loaded up the boat with our provisions and set out across the bay…The ride was totally unexpected! Within 15 minutes of departure we spotted some fins. The captain started yelling “tiburone!” I thought it was a school of sharks circling its prey but once we got closer we discovered it was an enormous whale shark!! It was the size of our lancha, totally surreal. Our Costa Rican captain and guide were just as excited to see this amazing creature. We all had to jump in and get an up close look at this gentle giant. Our guide, Ricardo, explained how this is a very special waterway. It’s over 200 meters deep and very appealing to huge creatures like the whale shark. Ricardo also said there are lots of hammerhead sharks living in the area so after a couple minutes in the water I was out of there. We saw two more whale sharks after that and were just as amazed.
Once we arrived on the beach we had no clue where we were. There wasnt a soul in sight. Jackie was able to investigate the area and found our bamboo home. We lugged all 12 surf boards up the path and got frothed up to surf!
Tommy, the grom’s friend from bocas, found some freshly cooked ahi and hot dogs on the bbq and convinced us all to eat some before surfing. I still dont know why we thought that was a good idea as we unknowingly ate the house cleaner’s lunch. Embarrassing!
We were all so excited to finally surf some rights that we mobbed down to the main break as a group of 7… Luckily we had Bo, Carly’s fiance, as our guide through the jungle. 30 min later we made it to the main surf break of Matapalo! Only one person paddling out! Fun little rights rolling in. We tried to head out slowly, so as not to overload the line up but more and more people started coming out of the jungle. By the time we got out there it was a full line up. Some locals, some expats, and us. we were all trying to figure out the wave as it was somewhat tricky with the very shallow inside. By the time I got out, there was fully exposed reef on the inside. It was awesome watching some of the little groms that have the spot completely dialed landing their turns right in front of those jagged rocks.
The next several days were a blur of surfing. Our mornings started at 4am waking up to the howlers yelling outside our window. We would watch the daily monkey tree jump as we had our coffee. Then it was surf mode the rest of the day. We got some epic solo sessions in the rain and lightning, sick longboarding sessions, and crazy gnarly shore pound sessions. Our nights consisted of family dinners and ping pong tournaments. I FINALLY BEAT the champ THE GROM.
One day we made time for a jungle hike and saw the depths of the jungle waterfalls, poison dart frogs, wild turkeys.
Our last day came too soon it was time to pack up and ship out. some how everything seemed heavier. Probably because our arms were noodles from three sessions a day. Three of us girls took on the big board bag, carrying it over our heads like ants with a giant hot dog. Half way through we did some switching around. I went on ahead with another board bag to the boat. At one point I turned around to see Jackie, Carly, and Natalie running away from the board bag frantically. Apparently the girls walked straight into a bee hive that brushed against Carly’s shoulder and smacked poor Jackie right in the face! From a distance it didn’t look to bad. They slowly set down the board bag and then dispersed. When they got closer it was clear they’d been swarmed. Jackie’s face was bright red and she was in shock. Luckily a surf hitchhiker that hopped on our boat brought along some anti sting remedy that quelled the pain.
As we pulled out of the bay we saw one sick head high right roll in. The guy had done at least 5 turns on the wave before we lost sight. We felt like we might be blowing it but we knew that Pavones would be going off also. We were right!
At the beginning of the trip Bo said the Osa was his happy place. I think everyone in our crew would agree by the end of our adventure.
