Last updated on December 10th, 2023
The stories were true about this beach in Western Central America. Looking outside the bus from my seat, I realized firsthand Tamarindo is a town for surfers.
This town only has a population of about 3500 but you wouldn’t know it driving through Highway 152. There were people everywhere. Though 152 is a highway in the Guanacaste province, it’s more like a main road when spearing through Tamarindo. It seemed like every other business on this road was a surf shop or surf school, sometimes both. Add the plenty of restaurants and bars makes this town a busy tourist spot. The town was filled half and half with locals and tourists.
The road was so busy that it was faster to walk through Tamarindo than driving to the bus terminal. Many of the passengers including myself exited the bus before it arrived at the terminal.
I’m not a good swimmer and was never interested in surfing — but this town and its aura makes me consider taking up this new sport — but not today. I was in town for one main purpose, to take photos of the sunset off the Costa Rican coast.
I ended up on the south side of the beach; the sands of the beach end and a small shoreline of rocks start. In the background is the sun right above a small forest. I decided to start my photography of Tamarindo. I still had a couple of hours before the sun approaches the horizon.
After taking a few photos I went back to the main road of town and grabbed a smoothie blended of mango, coconut, pineapple and ginger — not bad.
I haven’t eaten since morning in Liberia so I searched for a restaurant. I sat at the outside bar of Pangas Beach Club. From the bar I can see the open area dining tables on the sand and the calm section of Tamarindo Beach. The atmosphere was ambient and relaxing. I ordered a seafood appetizer which including calamari, mussels, octopus and shrimp. It was served on a sizzling pan and just looking at the dish made me drool. I almost burnt my fingers a few times maneuvering around the heated pan.
I didn’t have time to order anything bigger since the sun was setting. After paying the bill I walked right to the shore of the beach. There were more surfers now with the sun setting over the ocean’s horizon.
I loved seeing the surfers’ dark images in front of the sunset.
Gorgeous website! Latin America is one of my favorite places to travel. I’ve always wondered about surfing in Tamarindo – almost went there last time I was in Costa Rica but opted for Dominical instead, which was a pretty great surf town as well. Sounds like a similar atmosphere with the surfers catching waves as the sun set.
So are you a good surfer? I’m thinking of taking a few lessons — with a life jacket — next time I’m down south.
You really should! And am I good? Nah not really, but I can hold my own and surprise myself sometimes 🙂