For the next 9 days it’s was more of the same … when is high tide, what is the direction of the swell, which break will be working? We starting asking several of the surfshops for beta; turns out most of them are happy to talk “surf” and we got great tips on which breaks would be working each day. We can highly recommend CR Surf owned by Diego who also owns the Hotel Mamiri and Matos Surf, where I rented my board - Pablo was great with tips on where to go. If the tide was working to our advantage we tried to make it out twice a day. We had a few fun days at Grande. Then one afternoon we paddled out at the rivermouth in Tamarindo where we unintentionally did a little night surfing as we were having too much fun surfing and watching the sunset and before we knew it we were paddling back in the dark, across the river (where the alligators are known to hang out especially at low tide), and into shore where John kept yelling at this guy – who he thought was me (I was still far behind him). All in a day's fun, luckily no alligator spotting!
One early foggy morning we joined some other people we had met at our guesthouse and made the trip out to Playa Marbella, a pretty beach with a strong beach break known to be working when there is little elsewhere. It was a little over an hour drive, mainly on a bumpy dirt road. The surf was rough and the wind was not cooperating, but we still had a great time.
Playa Avellanes was another beach break about 30 minutes south of Tamarindo, known for the great little restaurant on the beach called Lola's which used to have a huge pig who aimlessly wandered the mingling with the surfers Unfortunately, the pig died recently. We heard there was a replacement, a baby piglet, but if it was on the beach we didn't see it. The surf was pretty small the day we went here but it was a very relaxing beach spot and Lola’s served killer smoothies.
For the next 9 days it’s was more of the same … when is high tide, what is the direction of the swell, which break will be working? We starting asking several of the surfshops for beta; turns out most of them are happy to talk “surf” and we got great tips on which breaks would be working each day. We can highly recommend CR Surf owned by Diego who also owns the Hotel Mamiri and Matos Surf, where I rented my board - Pablo was great with tips on where to go. If the tide was working to our advantage we tried to make it out twice a day. We had a few fun days at Grande. Then one afternoon we paddled out at the rivermouth in Tamarindo where we unintentionally did a little night surfing as we were having too much fun surfing and watching the sunset and before we knew it we were paddling back in the dark, across the river (where the alligators are known to hang out especially at low tide), and into shore where John kept yelling at this guy – who he thought was me (I was still far behind him). All in a day's fun, luckily no alligator spotting! 
One early foggy morning we joined some other people we had met at our guesthouse and made the trip out to Playa Marbella, a pretty beach with a strong beach break known to be working when there is little elsewhere. It was a little over an hour drive, mainly on a bumpy dirt road. The surf was rough and the wind was not cooperating, but we still had a great time. 
Playa Avellanes was another beach break about 30 minutes south of Tamarindo, known for the great little restaurant on the beach called Lola's which used to have a huge pig who aimlessly wandered the mingling with the surfers Unfortunately, the pig died recently. We heard there was a replacement, a baby piglet, but if it was on the beach we didn't see it. The surf was pretty small the day we went here but it was a very relaxing beach spot and Lola’s served killer smoothies. 
