Surfing La Playa Chiquita and La Playa Negra

Surfing has to be my favorite part of the entire trip! This was my second time going surfing so I did a little better than I thought. The waves were much bigger than I could have ever expected but I did my best to stay up on as many as I could. Our two surf instructors on this day were pro surfers. They had long crazy hair but they were pretty cute for Costa Ricans. Our group was all a little nervous but they did a good job of calming us down. Only four of us actually went surfing because the others were scared that they may get hurt since there was a reef where we were surfing. The surf instructors took us out on La playa Chiquita and La Playa Negra. Both beaches were just beyond beautiful. The one beach had a massive cliff to the left of where we were surfing which was intimidating. We practiced outside of the water at first and then once we got the positions down we went out into the water. Here is a picture of our surf boards and instructors before we went out in the water,

My board was smaller than the one I used the first time which made it easier to carry around but little did I know it makes it harder to get up on. Jordan was my surf instructor and he took me way out to where the waves weren’t breaking any more and explained that he was going to push me into a wave and yell “get up” when I needed to get in position. I was able to catch the first wave but I did not get my feet fully centered so I fell after riding it for a little. Here is us with our surf instructors after the first day,

The next few I was able to get up on and ride all the way in. I slowly progressed to bigger and bigger waves until I started getting scared that I was going to die in the washer machine that the waves create. Sadly, one of my friends that went with us was not able to get up at all but she just enjoyed watching all of us try for these huge waves and get crushed by some of them. It seemed to be the bigger the wave, the harder the fall. The big waves were the most fun ones to ride. After we felt confident with our surf guides on the big waves, they let us try some on our own. I paddled out to a decent size wave and hoped up when I felt it pulling me in like my instructor told me. At first I didn’t think I was going to catch it because I hesitated but before I knew it I was riding the wave all the way into shore. After about 2 more hours of this we were exhausted and ready to call it a day. It had to be the happiest I have been in about a year and I can’t wait to surf again in Samara!