Surfing and sportsfishing

This photo, taken from the heart of Tamarindo beach, illustrates two of Tamarindo's most popular activities -- surfing and sportsfishing. Both the surf and the fishing boat in this photo are ready for action.

A recent newspaper article reported that 20% of tourists who come to Costa Rica go surfing. That means that more than 200,000 people each year come to Costa Rica to enjoy surfing. Tamarindo and Jaco are the two leading towns for surfing, the paper reported. Jaco will host the 2009 Billabong World Surfing Championships in July, which will help showcase Costa Rica's outstanding surfing to the world. Costa Rica was awarded the surfing championships over competing bids from much larger countries, such as Brazil and South Africa.

The sports fishing boat shown in this photo beyond the surf is typical of the fishing boats in Tamarindo available for hire. Tamarindo has great deep sea fishing, including sail fish and marlin. I have not yet been deep sea fishing, but I plan to do so with my younger son, Stuart, when he comes down to visit Tamarindo from Scottsdale, Arizona in May. I will give a further report about the fishing after that date.