Safari Surf School Blog

The abnormally strong winds that arrived on Wednesday, died down on Friday just as quickly as they arrived…and just in time for the start of Copa Balance Natural, the 4th round of the 2008/9 Circuito Nacional de surf.

Surfers from all over Costa Rica started to arrive into Nosara on Friday, registering for the 2 day competition that could earn them a medal, points towards the grand final taking place in Playa Hermosa this May; and not to mention bragging rights.

Over night, Playa Guiones was tranformed into a Surf competition site - with sponsor tents, judges viewing stand and a sound system playing music provided by Radio 91.1. The usually empty road to the beach that Safari students walk 4 times a day, was quickly converted into a parking lot…with vendors selling jewelry, crafts and food to competitors and observers.

The first day of competition, 3 of Safaris own instructors: Luis, Alonso, Tanallo and Cristian competed in the Men’s Open category.  Cristian also competed in the Longboard division, which took place later on in the afternoon. Luis and Tanallo both advanced to the 2nd round, and Cristian advanced to the 3rd round on Day 2 before he was eliminated.

Anyone who knows Cristian, the #4 Longboarder in Costa Rica, knew he wasn’t about to go out without a fight in the longboard division. After an impressive final round, Cristian placed 2nd in Longboard at the awards ceremony held at the Hotel Casa Tucan Sunday afternoon.

We’re all looking forward to the next round in Santa Teresa the first week in March and the finals in Jaco this May! Stay tuned!!

As you can imagine, we get to meet a lot of great people here at Safari and over the years have formed friendships with people from all over the world who come back to visit year after year.

In late July we got a visit from the Lonely Planet - who filmed an episode of their “Sick of Home” series here at the Safari Surf School! They took a few lessons with Kim and Johnny and then jumped from a helicopter, paddled to the line-up and caught some waves in. Later that night we hosted the wrap party at the Casa Tucan with ‘The Medicine Show’ rocking out - You can watch the finished product online at: http://lonelyplanet.tv/Clip.aspx?key=CAA88CC8E0F52A56

More recently, we were fortunate enough to host Shiva Rae, a world famous yoga instructor, and a group of about 30 people from all over the world for a yoga/surf retreat http://www.shivarea.com/retreats.php. We enjoyed bonfire-bbqs on the beach and in between their yoga and meditation sessions, we took them out for surf lessons.  This is the fourth year that we’ve hosted Shiva Rae and her students and we’re looking forward to seeing them all again next year!

It’s December - which means it’s fiesta-time!

Every year in December/January and April all of the neighboring towns take turns hosting a 3-4 day fiesta. All of Nosara buzzes with talk of the fiesta which starts with fireworks and bull riding, and ends with a big “baile”or dance. 

The Safari group went down to the fiesta in Esperanza (the next town over from Guiones) on Saturday for the second to last night of the festivities. The last 2 nights are when the really tough bulls and professional bull riders are scheduled and everyone in town makes it their business to be there!

Not only was Safari representing in the stands with approximately 20 people - some of our instructors and guests!! even got into the ring with the bulls. James definitely gets some serious street creds for getting in the ring (and bonus points for wearing his Safari T-shirt!)

We are looking forward to the Nosara fiesta, scheduled for the 22-25 of January — rumor has it there’s a mechanical bull — so stay tuned to see if more Safari faces show up in the ring!!

Fergie finally gave birth a few weeks ago to 9 gorgeous little puppies. Ziggy, the proud father, has been taking turns watching over the litter and spending some quality time with the exhausted, but very happy mother and their pups.

The first few weeks were rough on everyone (Tyler and Arlene missed more than a few night of sleep) but now the puppies have opened their (bright blue) eyes and are starting to explore their new home.

The 3/4 Husky, 1/4 German Shephard puppies are sure to be gorgeous like their parents - 3 are pure white, 2 are brown and white and the other 4 are black and white - many of them have already been pre-adopted by neighbors and friends.

We’ve had a busy few weeks here at Safari — starting with the Cemetery clean-up and painting last weekend.

Preparations began on Saturday, with the Safari instructors working with local contractor, Chico Lopez, to reinforce the protective wall with new cement. Bright and early Sunday morning all of the volunteers arrived at the cemetery ready to begin painting (especially impressive after the grand re-opening of the Tropicana the night before!).

Volunteers of all ages, from all over the world, spent the entire morning repainting the 50 meter wall and were rewarded for all of their hard work with a free Barbeque lunch at the Casa Tucan, courtesy of Safari and chefs Tyler and Kim.

Painting the arch

Hola Everyone!

it is the beginning of a new season and we are already booming with smiling guests and Nosara is starting to look and feel like summer is upon us. The surfs been great and the weather is starting to wring and dry out!

Keep checking in as Kimbo (our manager) and Sonja (our “girl Friday”) will be contributing to the blog on a weekly basis from here on out.

Cheers,

Tim

Tags: costa rica surf school, nosara, nosara surf school, surf school costa rica, surf school nosara

A typical Surf School class at Safari Surf School

Welcome!  This is the new Safari Surf School blog - which will be written by our instructors, owners, and an occasional guest!  The purpose of this blog is to help keep you informed on what is going on at Safari Surf School, as well as to give you a better idea of what you may experience as a guest here at one of our Costa Rica locations! Things are constantly happening here, and if you want to stay “in the loop”, be sure and subscribe to our posts.   We’ll also be adding the latest pictures here, so whether you were a previous guest who wants to reminisce, or potential future guest, this is the best place to check out and see what happens on a weekly basis here at our Costa Rica Surf School!

Aloha,

Tim Marsh
Owner, Safari Surf School

Tags: costa rica, surf camp, surf lessons, surf school