Tamarindo Surf: Ride Your First Wave! Unforgettable Lesson

We had a wonderful surf class with Ronaldo, a Tamarindo local. He went over the basic skills with us on land and took our family of 4 out in the water and had all of us up and able to stand and ride waves! We have varying skills, with fit skilled people, active teenagers and mom nursing a sore shoulder. Ronaldo very quickly understood each person's capabilities and sent them on the best waves for them from just giving verbal instructions on timing if needed, to more holding and sending the board off when needed. Highly recommend. Go during mid high tide, the waves are great for beginners.

A 51 year old and his two sons (19, 21) took the beginner's two-hour private lesson. They assigned three friendly and capable instructors (Ronaldo, Alex and Steven), all with good English and ample patience. One-on-one instruction definitely made the first hour much more productive. We went from immediately falling to pretty consistently riding small waves to shore. It’s a physical activity and even the young men were ready for a beer and break at the end of the lesson. The 51 year old asked for ibuprofen the following day. Tamarindo was the perfect place for a first lesson. Good waves, no rocks, in-town. A photographer provided good photos for a few more USD. Easy walk from the tour operator office, which had lockers and a shower. If you’ve wondered if you could learn to ride a small wave in two hours, this is a great way to answer that question.

The surfing was amazing and our instructor was great. We learned a lot and had a lot of fun. The problem came after the session with the total shakedown from some random homeless looking guy who apparently was taking our pictures on the beach. He offered to transfer the pictures to my phone which he did and then demand that I pay him $60 for like 50 pictures. When I explained I didn’t have cash he marched me down to an ATM. The ATM was out of service so then he proceeded to drag me through town to a bank where I could withdraw money and pay the ridiculous service fee to withdraw money from an international bank. I should’ve absolutely refused to pay or asked to see a price list or demand only pay by credit card. That experience honestly stripped away the happiness I had from the surf lesson. And I say it’s a shakedown because the photographer and my surf instructor were communicating so it was basically a way for those two to split a tip, which is unfortunate because I was going to tip my surf instructor Anyway. In fact, that was the only cash that I brought with me. I just left a really bad taste in my mouth and I’m guessing the owner of the outfit doesn’t realize that that is happening because photography and pictures was never even mentioned as an optional add on for the service.

Ronaldo and I can’t remember the other name (I’m so sorry!) were awesome! They took my 2 sons and I out to surf and my only goal was to just stand up once! They were super patient and got all of us on our boards. We could have rented boards and tried on our own but I wouldn’t have come close to being in the right spot on the board. We loved every minute of the two hours. Highly recommend this lesson!

As a fit 60 year old, Ronaldo had me surfing in no time at all. Clear, concise instruction, and focused attention was perfect. It did feel like a two hour cardio/core workout however but if I can do it so can you! Highly recommended.

5 of 5. We had a great time as a family and everybody was able to get up very quickly. Ronaldo was very patient with the kids. I would highly recommend.

Our family of 5, with zero surf experience, had an amazing time and were all able to surf thanks to the wonderful team of instructors! Our kids are age 15. 14, and 10.

Great experience. Luka was fantastic and made sure we all got up. Luka was absolutely a blast to learn from and would highly recommend this exoerience

I think I would give this a 5 star review except after our 7 yr old grandson was successful 1 time staying on the surfboard all the way to shore, 1 hour in to the 2 hour lesson, the instructor quit. I was a bit surprised and didn't ask why because I thought my watch was wrong. But it wasn't. So, the lesson really only goes until 1 successful run

Great instruction from Gonzalo. He really helped us learn and have fun. Lots of help to tell you what to do. Thank you!