Life is Good, Especially With This Family, and Animals, and Surf

Does it get any better than this? I'm not sure how to relate to the concerns of boredom during retirement. It seems pretty good to me!  ;-)

My body has been aching and sore for three days now so that, at least, should sound familiar to some of you retirees. Of course, in my case it's because I surfed four hours a day for a week. I'm finally going back out to brave the surf again tomorrow. It took real mental fortitude to resist surfing this morning. The winds were solidly offshore for two hours and the surf was 3-5 feet and hollow for the whole time! Instead, I coached Catalina for her fourth lesson. She, of course, performed amazingly. This time she even paddled for a wave on her own, caught it, and stood up and rode it to the beach. She rode a total of four waves standing up on a very small board, about 4'6". I can't tell you how proud I feel watching this healthy, strong, beautiful child relish the physical challenge of playing in the waves on a big yellow surfboard. I, of course, stole her board for awhile.

Coati by the Porch

Anyway, we've had a wonderful collection of lazy days full of walking to stores and surf shops, wandering the beach, cooking dinner, tutoring Catalina, napping, and snapping pictures of all the critters in the neighborhood. Last night, for example, we were awakened by a troop of howler monkeys not more than a few meters from our beds. Those things sound like a cross between harbor seals and wild dogs, despite their diminutive size. This morning, we were visited once again by a collection of Coatimundi. This time one of the braver buggers wandered right up to the house. I suspect somebody's been feeding him.

Butterfly on Porch

Parrots in Our Tree

There are many other of Creation's creatures we've see along the way. As part of Catalina's geography homework she made me a list of everything she's seen so far. Here it is, typed by the scientist herself. Click on any photo for larger image.

1. White nosed coati
2. Blue morpho butterfly
3. Iguana
4. Howler monkeys
5. Hibiscus
6. Variegated squirrel
7. Magpie Jay
8. White-fronted Parrot
9. Scorpion
10. Preying mantis
11. Sand crab
12. Vulture
13. Cat
14. cows
15. Chicken
16. Horses

Bettys

Sydney Loves Yogurt

Today was typically lazy. We did some schoolwork with Catalina. We walked to the beach. Catalina surfed a bit. We had snacks, including the ever-popular banana crunch cookies., We read a few chapters in some good books (1491, by Charles Manning, in my case). Then we headed to Robin's for some homemade chocolate ice cream and some fresh mango sorbet. After that we walked halfway home before we were offered a ride by some locals. I then made garlic, pepper, grilled onion, and grilled pepper burgers while Shannon made a nice big local produce salad. 

The Happiness Hammock

Robin's ice cream is truly impressive. Her "rum raisin" ice cream has lots of real rum in the mix. So good! Here's the Lonely Planet review. We brought home two chocolate chip cookies, but they were vegan or something. Frankly I prefer the Chips Ahoy I already had stashed at the house. Still, we'll be back for the sorbet and gelato.

Anyway, life is truly good right now. Shannon took a shot of me with kids on the hammock today. I call it the "happiness hammock."

By a strange stroke of luck our first night in Playa Hermosa was double-booked. That's good news because I was feeling that we didn't spend enough time in Playa Negra, an area we all liked, and where the surf is supposed to be good on Friday and Saturaday. Thus, I volunteered to arrive a day later down in Playa Hermosa and we're headed back to Cafe Playa Negra on Friday morning. The town there is great and we loved Cafe Playa Negra and Kontiki. Check out my Tripadvisor reviews of each:

1. Kontiki Playa Negra
2. Cafe Playa Negra Hotel and Restaurant

Anyway, the surf is supposed to be good the next few days and the winds will be offshore. Time to break my surfing fast, I think. On the way back to Playa Negra we'll be passing Marbella. I will be checking that out for sure!

Here are a few clips of Playa Negra. The first is at high tide, when it's super fun and easy to ride. The second is when the tide is a bit lower and it starts to barrel. Still a pretty easy wave compared to the beach break junk I'm used to surfing.

  

One more full day in Nosara and then we're off again.

Pura vida!

Board Swapping and Wind Notes

First a note about the offshore winds in this area. They are definitely stronger and more consistent in the mornings. Moreover, the farther north in Costa Rica you travel, the more consistent they are during the winter months. Thus, up in Nicaragua and near the border they are very reliable. In Playa Negra they were strong and blew through most of each day. At Marbella they switched to side-shore or onshore around lunch. Of course all this depends on local weather and pressure patterns. They're predicted to get much stronger over the next few days. We'll see. Unfortunately the surf is still small. At least the offshore trade winds will shape the little waves.

Anyway, as I said in my last post, our rental contract allows me to try a bunch of different boards. Since I'm pretty exhausted and the surf has dropped a bit, I'm trying out longer, fatter boards better suited to the smaller waves.

For example, I rented the Aloha Quickshift in 6'8" for this morning's session. I liked it, but it needed more solid, steeper waves than were generally rolling through today. It also didn't paddle quite as well as I'd like for such a big board. My grade: B. Details are here: http://www.surfindustries.com/surfboards/aloha_quickshift.php

Tomorrow morning, I'm taking out a 6'8" x 21" x 2 3/4" epoxy 7S Superfish. This board is seriously thick and wide. It has a stepped deck so that it's very thick until near the rail where it finally slopes rapidly down in size. I'm sure to catch whatever little waves are out there and I'm very curious to see how well a tank like this will handle turns. Details available here: http://www.surfindustries.com/surfboards/7S_superFishXL.php

Catalina Surfs! Sydney too, sort of...

Well, the surf has definitely dropped, but there are still occasional head-high or better waves now and then. Every day I say I'm going to take a break because my neck, shoulders, and ribs are sore and, yet, every day I paddle back out. Partly this is because Catalina and I have a rental contract with Coconut Harry's Surf Shop. For $120 a week we can take any board we want for as long as we want and swap it out for another whenever we like. Thus, Catalina has been learning to surf on a big foamy safety board and then I take out a small wave board or some other board I've been curious to learn about. More about that in the next post. First, Catalina managed to stand up and ride some waves on her second session and is all of the sudden "stoked' on surfing! Her little sister was jealous so she had to try it too. I think we'll call this PE class for today's homeschooling. Here are the pics. I'm sure there'll be more to come. Click on any pic for larger size slideshow view.

Check out that outside set!