Bucket-list travel: Body surfing on Costa Rica’s Playa Guiones, I found the best ocean fix of my life | Canada Voices

Costa Rican sunshine glittered off the Pacific Ocean’s smooth surface. Turquoise water gently lapped the sand. It was my first glimpse of the shore – and the tranquil sight was offensive to my eyes.

I hadn’t come from icy Toronto to a beach resort in Samara for tranquility. I had come to bodysurf – to throw myself into powerful waves seconds before they crashed, carrying me along for the foamy, life-giving ride.

It was the first morning of my six-night stay and there were no waves in sight. The hotel itself was lovely. It’s just that I don’t actually like beach vacations if I can’t bodysurf; too hot, too sunny, too boring.

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I’ve loved bodysurfing since I was a kid, and now that I’m an empty-nester in my 50s, I try to go at least once a year. My husband, Andrew, and I always wanted to go to Costa Rica, and we found an intimate, all-inclusive resort that fit our budget. Before booking, I e-mailed Azura Beach Resort to ask about bodysurfing conditions and was told there were good waves on site, plus a nearby beach (Playa Samara) with lots of surf schools. Sold!

Surfing – the traditional kind – gets all the attention. For me, though, bodysurfing is a superior way to experience the ocean’s power. With no board between you and the water, you’re not so much riding a wave as becoming part of it. You’re hurtling toward shore inside the wave, immersed in its force and texture. “When you’re that low to the water, your sense of speed is just phenomenal,” legendary bodysurfer Mark Cunningham told PBS Hawai’i. “You’re like a piece of the ocean.”

I learned the sport from my late father, who bodysurfed into his 80s and asked that his ashes be scattered in our family’s favourite surf destination, the Outer Banks, N.C. My dad spent hours teaching us how to recognize “divers” (dangerous waves), “floaters” and the elusive-but-perfect “surfers.”

What makes a “surfer”? The wave must be cresting at exactly the right time, not a metre ahead or behind you. It should deliver you to shore in an elegant, tapered roll-out, not smack you straight into the sand. Professional bodysurfers can take on massive point breaks, but a beach break that suits beginner-to-intermediate board surfers is the right size for me (and a great place to learn the sport).

I was hopeful that Playa Samara would have what it took to salvage my holiday. So, the next morning, we took a taxi to the public beach. Where there were surf schools, there would be waves, right?

Not quite. The waves were better but still tranquil.

Sulking, I walked over to Chico’s Surf School, where an instructor predicted the surf would start to pick up around 1 p.m. and improve until sunset, when high tide was due.

Sure enough, by 1 p.m., I was catching occasional waves and conditions got better as the tide came in. The waves were mushy (gentle, without much of a curl) and a good set only came through every 10 minutes, but it was still exhilarating. By the time we headed back to our resort, my swimsuit was full of sand, a sure sign of a good bodysurfing session.

The next afternoon we arrived late in the day, even closer to high tide. Positioned between children taking lessons near shore and the experienced surfers further out, I caught wave after wave. I grew euphoric, even yelling “Hey, sexy” at an approaching wave. I looked around, hoping none of the kids had heard me, then joined that sexy wave as it sped to shore.

When I wasn’t in the water, I was researching other beaches nearby and studying tide tables. Time wasn’t on my side, with high tide hitting before dawn or after dusk for most of our stay. The surf was said to be spectacular at Playa Guiones, an hour away in Nosara, but was it only good at high tide? I sent inquiries to several Nosara surf schools and Dani Munoz Solano of Mindful Waves assured me conditions were good at low tide, saying, “Mornings are often cleaner before the winds pick up.”

We booked a driver for 8 a.m. Nosara’s yoga studios, clay tennis courts and upscale coffee shops gave it the vibe of a California surf town, but Guiones itself was unlike any surfing beach I’ve ever seen. It’s part of a protected wildlife reserve and utterly unspoiled: just seven kilometres of driftwood, sand and wave after big, surfable wave.

I waded out among hundreds of surfers. There were no other bodysurfers in sight. The strong, fast waves were catchable, but sped right through me, dropping me out after a few seconds. This called for specialized equipment. Surf fins – rigid and shorter than swim fins – amplify your kicks so you can stay in a fast wave. Along with a hand plane (a triangular board you strap to one palm), they’re not needed for easy breaks but helpful in advanced conditions.

With fins, I could also go farther out, because I didn’t need to push off the bottom to gain momentum. My rides were now long enough to try turns and half-spins. It was the best bodysurfing fix I could remember.

We had only two hours at Playa Guiones before our drive back. I surfed right to the end of it, then walked up the beach to Andrew, who’d used driftwood and a towel to fashion a one-man shade canopy. As I put my fins away, I suddenly grew faint and fell back into the sand.

I felt fine a second later, but I wondered if I’d been asking for trouble. Was I past my bodysurfing prime?

No way, I decided. Chugging water on the drive back, I resolved to get fitter than ever, so I could bodysurf into my 80s like my dad.

If you go

• Want to learn to bodysurf? Visit Costa Rica in dry season (December to March) when conditions are safest for beginners. Check out YouTube videos and familiarize yourself with basic ocean safety and surfer etiquette before going out on your own.
• Samara and Nosara are each about a 2½-hour drive from the Liberia airport. Shuttles range from US$50-$100 a person. Renting a car will give you flexibility (taxis are scarce in Samara) but the mountainous unpaved roads aren’t for the faint of heart, especially after dark.
• Samara Info Center is a good source for booking drivers and tours; they arranged our four-hour excursion to Nosara for US$130, about half the price we were quoted elsewhere. samarainfocenter.com