43 A Beach Adventure

Friday 9/10- Can you believe we’ve been here over 3 months and have only gone to the beach once?! And that one time we didn’t even stay long- it was mostly just to see how Breeze would respond to the ocean. We haven’t been busy 100% of the time, of course, and could probably have fit a few trips to the beach into our schedule but we just haven’t done it. We’ve gotten a few recommendations from people about which beaches are best to go to, which ones are private and free, etc. and have a few places that we want to check out, but really don’t have a good reason why we haven’t done it yet. An online friend of ours who lives between Uvita and San Isidro posts once in a while on her Facebook page about going to a deserted beach where she finds all kinds of cool driftwood, has good sand and you are able to swim, and they never see another soul around when they are out there. We’ve seen her post about it a few times, and Ramie finally asked her for directions to get to it. So, today, that is what we did. We decided to get an early start before it got too hot today, so we drank our coffee, put on our bathing suits, gabbed some towels, and brought Breeze with again even though she didn’t really care for swimming last time (she does, however, love to run around in the sand). We didn’t know too much about this particular beach, just where to turn off of the main highway, go down the road until you can see the ocean, and then turn right and go until you get to an impassable bridge. Oh, and we knew that it was about a 30 minute drive from our house to the turn off of the main highway. I guess that isn’t so bad, it’s up near Dominical, the cute little surf town that we went to for my birthday. When we got to the turn off of the main highway we didn’t really know what we were getting ourselves into. As we drove down this road, it became less and less of a “road” and more of what Ramie always compares to the logging roads he saw growing up. Huge potholes (if you can call a hole in the rough dirt road that is bigger than your truck or even 2 of your trucks a pothole) all filled with water. We drove slowly and kept our fingers crossed that there were no super deep ones and that our truck didn’t bottom out on a big rock that we couldn’t see below the chocolate milk colored water.

Fj Cruiser Fjc Fj Toyota Yota GIFfrom Fj Cruiser Fjc Fj Toyota Yota GIFs

We made it from the highway to a point where we could see the ocean and the road came to a T. 

We turned right and continued along the path that we were told to go. This road got even rougher if you can imagine, and was only wide enough for 1 vehicle to pass, and sometimes barely even that. There were trees growing on both sides, sometimes with branches jutting out into the road. We just kept our slow careful pace knowing that our friend had just gone this way a few days earlier in a vehicle smaller than ours. There were pull off areas with the trees and brush cleared out every once in a while where you could tell people would park and enjoy the beach, and I kept trying to convince Ramie to stop at one of these instead of going all the way to the end… I mean, it’s all the same beach so what could be so different? Being the adventurer that he is, he wanted to keep going all the way down. I mean, we made it this far, so why not!?

So, we did, and about 10 minutes later we found the impassable bridge. There was a big open spot here for a few cars to park, and a clear view of the ocean. 

Its still strong enough to pass over, but I'll drive down onto the beach and go around

We have fresh water but Breeze would rather drink muddy water!

This spot was actually kind of neat! The bridge (or the remains of what used to be a bridge) crossed a freshwater stream that flowed into the ocean, and once you got out onto the beach you could see for what seemed like miles in each direction. And, we didn’t see another soul on this beach! So, now that we are here, what did we do? We kicked off our sandals and started walking. 

Breeze ran around in the sand playing and exploring like she always does, Ramie and I walked along the edge of the waves enjoying the squishy sand between our toes (why don’t we come to the beach more often?!) We walked and walked for what seemed like a very long time and still didn’t come across any sign of people. At one point we saw someone way off in the distance walking up near the trees, but as we continued to walk in that direction they disappeared. We saw their shoe prints later and we think that they were collecting coconuts from the trees out here. When Breeze started to look hot and thirsty we turned around to go back toward the car to get some water and let her hop around in the fresh water stream. She would probably play in there for a little while since it was shallow and wasn’t wavy like the edge of the ocean. 

Once we got to the stream it took a little bit of coaxing, but she did play in the water a little bit and got a drink, then after she appeared ready to walk some more, we started our venture down the beach in the other direction. We probably went just as far that way as we did the first direction and still didn’t run into any sign of people. It was really neat to have this whole place to ourselves. It was kind of weird, too, there are no shells on this beach. There are lots of other beaches that we’ve been to in the area where you can find tons and tons of beautiful shells, some still whole, and many many broken ones. This beach had no shells at all. Also very strange, there are sections of the beach that are full of stones, approximately the size of softballs and smaller all in the same area about 50 feet wide, but outside of this slice of beach is all just soft sand. There must be some reason that has to do with tides and the way the waves come in that causes this, but we don’t have a clue what it might be!

Relaxing in the shade and taking in the view!

Coconut wedged into the drift wood.

The waves here were very strong with riptides that you could see, so you wouldn’t want to go swimming. Although the waves are typically much stronger during this time of year. They will calm down during the summer months (Dec-Mar). We typically only go up to our waist or so, and when the waves are particularly strong, we might only go up to our knees. We went into the water a little way and Breeze would splash around with us. She only goes in until the waves hit her belly, so she doesn’t go in very far either. Just enough to get a little bit wet and cool off. 

 

After a while again we turned around and walked back towards the stream. All over the high tide line of the beach, but especially close to that stream, there is a bunch of driftwood, some entire huge trees, some small pieces that you can pick up and carry in your hand, but lots of cool pieces to look at. Ramie did some exploring and looking for cool pieces to use as “art” in our house and found some to bring back with us. We did some more venturing up the stream a little ways and in a shallow pool area that it makes just above the treeline. We let Breeze run around and play until she was tired, and then we decided to head home. Overall we probably spent about 3-4 hours there, and just as we were leaving 2 cars were pulling in. These were the first people we saw all morning out on this beach!

Even though the swimming wasn’t great and despite the terrible road conditions on the drive back there, this is a beach we can definitely see ourselves coming back to. Next time we’ll bring a cooler of food and drinks, some towels to sit out on, and maybe make a relaxing day of it!

Once we got home we gave our salty, sandy dog a bath with the hose (which she absolutely hates)

Dog Bath GIFfrom Dog GIFs

 We stayed home for the rest of the afternoon (I even had a little bit of work to do today, which isn’t a bad thing when you are trying to make some money). Days in Costa Rica like this are fantastic!


Pura Vida!