Continue to travel south after going through Quepos and over the mountain until you reach Manuel Antonio beach. The road parallels the beach for a couple hundred meters, and the only reasonable break is right in the middle of this stretch; right out from the "T" in the road.
It is only good at high tide, which is only about 3 hours a day, so it's usually a bit crowded. The locals may give you the stink eye, but they're all bark and no bite.
Do not go during rainy season (Sept-December?).
Overview
Atmosphere
General
Good international meeting point for all kinds. Girls come in from Europe & the states. Good locale for new surfers to get their feet wet as well as a good place to meet young traveler types.
So you want to learn to surf...
This is the perfect spot for your first surf travel experience. The waves are good enough to actually give you practice in duck diving, getting up and going down the line. The waves are bad enough that no self-respecting surfer would call this his home break, which means there's no attitude from the locals. Manuel Antonio is a popular international travel destination, so the young traveler vibe is good, and the cheap hotels are plentiful. If you're going staying for a while, stop in Jaco on your way here and pick up a cheap used board there, because the selection in M.A. sucks. Get off the bus in the middle of the beach and let the one of the very nice crackheads help you find a hostel (they need the commissions).
comment by Anonymous, 2006-11-20 19:22:25
Walk to playitas
walk all the way north, past abaho, past the rock, and bam, playitas is to big for most of the ticos. second beach in the park has a right reef break at low tide. playitas has a reef at low tide too. the crocs here are only camans, so don't be a pussy. damas has the big salt water crocs, but only saw him once say about 15'.............pavones is the shit.
comment by chyea, 2006-11-13 21:44:13
Manual Antonio
I surfed the beach break that is right near the entrance to the Park. It was small, waist high, clean, normal beachbreak. Reminded me of a small NJ day actually, weak, gutless. One thing that freaked me out, there are critters in the water that bite. Its more of an itch than a pain, but its annoying whatever you wanna call it.
comment by Anonymous, 2008-01-21 21:30:14