Your Costa Rica vacation begins (and ends) here

By Jeff Miller

Published on 2/28/2011 at 4:00 AM

Despite the cold water and unpredictable breaks, learning to surf in LA is totally great -- the congenial atmosphere ensures no one cares if you accidentally take their waves, because they realize you're just learning an-- OW! WHAT THE -- BRODY JENNER JUST STABBED ME WITH HIS SURFBOARD!!! For a surf situation that sits Hills above anything in LA, check out Safari Surf School

Safari Surf School's an off-the-beaten-path, optionally all-inclusive, week-long surf academy for everyone from beginners to experts in a tiny beachside town called Nosara in Costa Rica, w/ predictably rideable waves on a pristine, warm-water, nature-preserve beach accessible either via a dirt road or through a jungle path that unexpectedly ends at a sandy graveyard, which is presumably where Sandy Alomar, Jr. rockets baseballs at you from a catcher's stance until you die! Lessons happen for an hour-plus twice a day, starting with basics (paddling, standing, etc.) on the beach and continuing in the water, first getting you comfortable on the whitewater before eventually heading out behind the break, with a uniquely focused instruction style that's got no more than three students per instructor, who include both locals and expats with names like Ronaldo, Rolo, and.. Owen (you'll never guess which is which!). To break up the sessions, there's a full-serve restaurant and bar serving up local microbrews and specialty cocktails (fine, caipirinhas), as well as optional activities that range from late-night excursions to check out a slew of monstrous sea turtles emerge from the water to dig ditches and lay eggs on the beach, to back-country ATV explorations, to a forest-canopy zipline, to partying in the local club "Bananas", which is owned by the powerful restaurant conglomerate GimmeTheFruitGimmeTheFruit, LLC.

If you can't make it this season, they're taking reservations now for a November week with pro surfer Donavon Frankenreiter, who'll cap the week with a free concert, which really is way more than Jenner-ous.