Witches Rock

Surf Guide

Okay, okay, you saw The Endless Summer II. You know that you have to paddle through a Cayman-infested estuary to get to the beach; you know that the offshores can hold up the perfect, thin-lipped tubes for about as long as your legs'll stand it. You've practiced your Pat O'Connell-skips-down-the-beach-'til-your-feet-are-fried routine, and you've got the poster hanging over your bed. Good on ya for doing your homework -- now get there. Because nothing can properly prepare one for the sheer, unbridled fun that Playa Naranjo provides when swell hits town. Playa Naranjo -- if you're scratching your head in confusion -- is the actual name of the beach, rather than Witches Rock. The wave itself is no Black's or Ocean Beach or even Hossegor -- it's easy, playful beachbreak, and you'll be double happy that you're a surfer as soon as you stand up, the offshore wind stings your eyes, and you start pumping down a long, groomed, green line. The estuary, made famous by The Endless Summer II, deposits sand on an otherwise fairly flat sandbar, creating the lefts and rights that wall up for days without necessarily closing out. There are other peaks along Playa Naranjo's two- to three-mile white sand stretch, but they're not as perfectly shaped as the ones found in the lee of the rock. There are a couple ways to get to Witches: One requires a very trusty 4WD, ALL supplies (especially an extra-strength mosquito net), and driving in through the Santa Rosa National Park, down eight miles of some of the worst roads in Costa Rica (in rainy season, fugghetaboutit). Many a luckless soul have attempted to push his rental car to its RAV maximum, only to get hopelessly bogged down in mud (and did we mention mosquitoes?). The other, saner, safer way involves getting a boat taxi from nearby Playas de Coco, which you can easily organize from surf shops in Tamarindo, including Iguana Surf (ph: 653-0148; www.iguanasurf.net ); Mariesas (ph: 653-0224), just down the road, and the High Tide Surf Shop (ph: 653-0108) a block or so east of town's main T-junction. Also, check out www.witchesrocksurfcamp.com on your way into town. Or, you can try www.costaricasurfcharters.com and stay overnight offshore at Ollie's. This option will allow for a lonely dawn patrol with just you and whoever else you brought along on the boat.