Costa Rica and Nicaragua in ThreeSixty Magazine

NicaCOstaG l ory.

Zero crowds, hot weather and constant of fshores. The trip ticked ever y box for the Brit crew t h a t h e a d e d t o C e n t r a l A m e r i c a t h i s w i n t e r. F i r s t s t o p f o r D a m i a n P r i s k , S a m B r a b y n , B r o o k e Mason, Gaz Lathwood and Rob Barber was the Rivas region of Nicaragua, followed by a scoot o v e r t h e b o r d e r t o S a n t a Te r e s a i n C o s t a R i c a .

The crew weren’ t blasted by monster barrels and huge ramps, but what they did get were per fect pits, long balmy days in the sun and a hat full of cracking images.

W o r d s b y R o b B a r b e r.

Im a ge s by Mike S e a r le (unle s s c r e di t e d)

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The beach breaks of Cost a Rica were the second stop of the trip for the crew and it didn’t take young frother Sam Brabyn long to locate a local slab that was mutating the small swells into warping barrels. Beautiful blue tubes without another bodyboarder in sight were the order of the day for the boys who sur fed it ever y morning. Prisk y gets shacked.

Within days the 5am sur f check becomes the norm in N i c a ’. Yo u g o t o b e d a t 9 p m then have a lit tle snoozey bet ween sur fs to keep the s h u t- e y e q u o t a u p m i n d . . .

(From lef t) The boys wait for the swell to hit the slab.

Lit tle Mr Brabyn drives into a cloudy green wedge pit in Nicaragua.

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With clean barrels followed by a ramping air section, the wedge was a per fect version of Ne wquay ’s we dg e wav e s . I wa s lo v ing i t .

This set up is truly per fect for bodyboarding. A wedge that is permanently of fshore with a 5 star resor t overlooking it. We would just lounge around the pool waiting for the per fect tide and then paddle out for a few uncrowded wedges and get barrelled and punt airs till we were too tired to carr y on or it w e n t d a r k . T h e m o s t f u n e v e r.

Gaz pulls in.

Damo jams a tight reverse in the Nica shorie.

A tight for ward of f the lip for Damo.

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u s e v e r y m o r n i n g . To t a l f u n .

Small but beautifully formed pits greeted

NicaCOstaG l ory.

A n o t h e r d a y, a n o t h e r w e d g e , another inver t. Eating and sur fing are your only two priorities in Nicaragua. There are n o l o n g d r i v e s t o c h e c k t h e s u r f, no craz y wind pat terns to worr y ab o u t an d li t t le to n o c r owds . I t ’s a dream existence. I c an’t wait to get back there!

F i r s t S t o p. . . N i c a r ag u a

A L O T! I t ’s s t r an g e f o r u s w in d o b s e s s e d UK an d

wedging,

Irish ‘gurus’ to totally turn of f from checking what

consistent waves without having to go to the end

the wind is due to be doing. It just comes down to

o f t h e e a r t h ( i t ’ s a 12 h o u r f l i g h t f r o m t h e U K , w i t h

which tide you want to sur f on (and that doesn’ t

one change and you'r e lo ok ing at ab ou t £ 65 0).

move much in Nic a’), and the b e s t time of the day

Both coasts of Nicaragua get waves and we were

to avoid any crowds or the searing sun. Although

set up on the Pacific coast. The opposite side, the

t h e h e a t c an b e ‘r un a c r o s s t h e s an d h o t ’ i t ’s n o t

Caribbean coastline, doesn’t produce the goods

uncomfor table because of the constant breeze.

is

bodyboarder

Lef t to right: Gaz, Rob, Sam and Damo chilling pool side.

With the wedge behind us and the sun dropping, we d e cid e wh o’s g oing to get the beers in (a smoothie for young Brabyn of c our se!).

r o o f, s o y o u n e e d t o b e f i t a n d r e a d y t o b o d y b o a r d any

Nicaragua

a

pretty

wanting

cool

place.

clean,

fun,

For

like Costa Rica and Panama fur ther south, due to a pesk y continental shelf which ex tends and sucks

We st ayed at the Buena Onda Beach resor t, an

much of the punch out of the Caribbean swell. The

epic

Pacific coastline, and the Rivas Province in the

accessing all of the local spots. There is a fun

s o u t h e s p e c i a l l y, i s b e c o m i n g r e c o g n i s e d a s o n e

lef t hand wedge at one end, and a fun right hand

of the new breed of bodyboard trip destinations.

wedge at the opposite end of the beach which the

T h e r e’s l o t s o f v ar ie t y an d i t ’s s t il l c h e ap.

camp overlooks. It's then a 25 minute walk to the

sur f

camp

which

has

prime

position

for

r egion's mo s t f amous r e ef br e ak , Pop oyo. If you Not only is the stretch wide open for the Pacific and

jump in the c amp's boat then a shor t ride away is

S o u t h P a c i f i c s w e l l s , i t i s a l s o b l e s s e d w i t h s u p e r-

a f u n Tr e s t l e s l i k e b e a c h a n d r e e f a n d , i n t h e o t h e r

consistent

ever y

direc tion, there's a lef t hand reef and a Puer to

p e a k a n d f e a t h e r l i p - a f t e r- l i p . T h i s s u r f- f r i e n d l y

E s c o n d i d o s t y l e b e a c h b r e a k . Ta k e a l o o k o n t h e

phenomenon is due to the Papagayos nor therly

his t o r i c al s we l l r e p o r t s o n M a g i c S e awe e d: i t ’s

winds, which intensif y over L ake Nicaragua just

one of the most consistent areas in the world.

offshore

winds

which

groom

i n l a n d , a n d b l o w b a n g o f f s h o r e f o r t h e w h o l e y e a r, b a r O c t o b e r. O f f s h o r e w i n d s f r o m d a w n t i l l d u s k

We visited in Januar y and scored shoulder high fun

are a freak y carr y-on if you haven’t experienced

w a v e s e a c h d a y. A f t e r a w e e k w e p a c k e d u p a n d

them before, your water time can go through the

jumped on the Tica bus to Costa Rica...

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The colonial cities of Granada and Leon are a great af ternoon out if you need a break from the sur f in Nicaragua. Prisk and Brabyn get all culture-vulture.

Mason nails a nice reverse float in the Costa Rica shorie.

Mike works the angles while Damian shares some spray with him i n N i c a ’. damian prisk

There is no shor tage of incredible wildlife in Costa Rica, one day a monkey fell out of a tree and landed nex t to Sam unconscious, another day Sam found a snake that h a d b e e n r u n o v e r. T h i s d a y the boys spent the af ternoon taunting this mini-dinosaur!

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A late evening Nicaraguan bazza for Brooke. Right: Brooke is one of the keenest boogers around. If the sur f goes onshore he practises his moves in the pool.

One final swell check before we hit the road and jump the border to Costa Rica.

A few days in and Prisk y went a bit troppo. We had a session with fun t woto-thre e f o ot we dge s and Damian and I had c aught the f ir s t t wo wave s of a set. Gaz caught wave three and lined up a nice back flip bowl. Just as he was ab out to launch, Damo (who is out the shot but is sto o d in line with me to the right ) wasn’t wearing a leash so threw his b oard straight at Ga z (se e i t i n s h o t 1 n e a r G a z ’ s h e a d ) , t o t a l l y p u t t i n g G a z o f f. U p s i d e d o w n i n s h o t 6 y o u c an t h e n s e e D am o’s b o ar d nail s G a z in t h e h e ad. C l a s sic sh o r ie f un .

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O v e r t h e b o r d e r t o Co s t a R i c a . . .

A d ay o r t wo’s t r av e l l in g an d we h a d c r uis e d b y c o a c h,

The place is all about early sur fs, lazy af ternoons and

m i n i b u s a n d b o a t t o t h e b e a u t i f u l t o w n o f S a n t a Te r e s a

e v e nin g c o c k t ail s . T h e l o c al’s c a t c h p hr a s e is ‘P ur a

in Costa Rica.

V ida’ meaning Pure Life. There is a cr a z y mix of mega rich gazillionaires like Mel Gibson who spend a lot of

Vote d by Forb e s ma ga zine as one of the top ten mo s t

time there stirred together with hippy sur fer t ypes and

s p e c t a c u l a r i n t h e w o r l d , S a n t a Te r e s a ’ s b e a c h e s a r e

s t u d e n t s ‘ f i n d i n g t h e m s e l v e s ’. I t ’ s a h e a d y m i x o f e u r o -

known as the best of the best in Central America. Jungle

travellers, American vacationers, folk on yoga retreats

canopy meets white sand and blue ocean. Sprinkle

or learning Spanish and crews of travelling sur fers.

across the leng th of the beach eye candy of ridiculous propor tions and the scene is set. There are beautiful

We were the only bodyboarders that we saw and we

women

Scandinavians,

didn’t waste our time, we were scouring the coast

Brazilians and Argentineans cruising the sand all day

hunting slabs and wedges as soon as we arrived. And we

long. It was hard to keep the boys focussed on the job

weren’t disappointed...

ever y where,

with

groups

of

in hand!

Will I go b ack to C entr al A mer ic a a gain?

I've already booked.

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The view from the beach front gate at Buena Onda camp in Nicaragua.

P r is k y ’s t e c h r e v e r s e at Playa Santana w e d g e i n N i c a ’.

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47

Lef t: The trip was a tot al G oP r o -f e s t wi t h Sam snapping this shot of Gaz during one of the af ternoon wedge ses sions. A b ove: the jungle path to the beach.

Sammy B t weaking an inver t of f the end section of the Nica wedge.

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Ni CO

Thanks to Philip and the gang at the Buena Onda Surf Camp in Nicaragua for looking af ter the crew. If you would like

futher

information

about

this

awesome camp please check out: Buenaondaresort.com Thanks also to Go Pro for the use of their awesome Go Pro HD Sur f Hero 2 (Clo ck wis e from top) The sunsets in the tropics are truly breathtaking.

Camera which we used for a number of the water shots that appeared in this feature. They are available to purchase on Orcashop.co.uk

O u r N i c a r a g u a n , A r t- D e c o - b o o g i e h o u s e f o r t h e w e e k . T h e a c c o m i s A +.

Even as you sit in the line up and have pelicans swoop by you, the wildlife continues to blow your mind in Costa Rica.

T hat ’s dinn e r s o r te d t h e n!

caOsta-

Fancy

hitting

Rica

this

Nicaragua

winter?

Bodyboarding

School

and

Costa

Rob

Barber’s

are

repeating

t h i s e x a c t j o u r n e y o n J a n u a r y 13 Feb 2. Places are available to attend either just the Nicaragua trip or the Costa Rica trip or both. For further information check out Bodyboard-holidays.com

T hre e si x t y ma g .c o.uk

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