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Old 10-22-2005, 07:59 PM
Matteo Matteo is offline
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Join Date: Jul 2005
Location: Bahamas
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Default Costa Rica trip

Just got back from a week in Costa Rica. I obviously went to check out Arenal Lake and Tamarindo Beach (more for surfing). Neither place was windy (of course) but I knew it already, anyway, Arenal lake is an absolutely fantastic place....but not for kiting or better not for beginners. We stayed at Tilawa Hotel (we were the only guests !!!) which by the way has a very nice skate park, very friendly staff, a nice pool and a beautiful hill were you can fly you foil kites. We then checked the launching area at the lake; I must say that it did not look too safe to me, hopefully once you are able to go out a bit it should really get better. If you can't stay upwind...well, you are going to end up in a little bay where the wind is ever gustier.
Tamarindo is on the W coast, it's a nice little town, surf/backpackers style = lots of fun. Unfortunately it was raining (it is the rainy season !!) but it looks definitely safer in terms of launching/landing. I'm trying to upload some pics....hope it works.

Hope to see you all in the water tomorrow.....

seeya
matteo



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Old 10-23-2005, 01:22 PM
robertovillate robertovillate is offline
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Location: St. Pete, Hatteras, MI
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Matteo,

Glad you had fun in CR even though you did not kite. I've been to Costa Rica many times, usually between December and April (the dry season).

If you want to kitesurf you should go to Bahia Salinas. It NUKES there from december until May.

Lake Arenal is sketchy for kiting IMHO...I have thought about launching there a few times but it was blowing so hard the windsurfers were getting blown out of the water on 3m sails! No room for error on Arenal.

I have also heard that the seabreeze can produce some nice light wind surf kiting during the summer on the Nicoya Peninsula...anybody out there who can confirm this??

If you want you can read my report from a trip a few years ago at:

http://www.broneah.com/hub/viewtopic...ght=costa+rica

Now that I am more experienced and can handle gusty conditions better I only feel more positive about the place.

The surfing (traditional style) can be awesome year-round...usually an epic spot every 20 km or so

cheers

Roberto
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Old 10-23-2005, 06:22 PM
Matteo Matteo is offline
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Join Date: Jul 2005
Location: Bahamas
Posts: 229
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I've heard about Baja Salinas but we did not make it all the way up there. We drove from Fortuna (Arenal volcano area) to Tamarindo one morning and unfortunately when we got there (after two hours of off road with the 4x4) the weather was pretty bad (rainy and not wind). We spent the night there but in the morning we wanted to check Samara beach but then decided to skeep it and went directly to the Monteverde area.

Next time we will definately try Baja Salinas and I'll make sure it's going to be between Dec. and April.

Lake Arenal is beautiful but like you said it looked a bit sketchy. The guy at the Hotel told me that most of the time they are out on 7m kites and the biggest they have are 14m.

tks for all the infos

take care
m
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