BEACHES, FRIENDS, & PIRATE CAVES

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pafAT26ABK4&feature=player_embedded
Costa Rica Cost of Living Update: Large lobster and shrimp platter served at a restaurant right on the beach-$30

Road trips are one of the best things to do in Costa Rica. It’s inevitable you will find something out of the ordinary, whether it be finding an artist’s pottery store on the side of the road, or just finding yourself stuck in the mud on the side of the road. Nevertheless, it always ends with a great story at the end of the day.

Today, we decide to check out some of the beaches in Guanacaste. We drive towards Playa Grande where we see a sign for Pirate’s Bay.

“What do you think that is?” I ask my husband.

“Don’t know, but I’m in the mood to find out.” He turns down a gravel road and continues past a tiny soccer field. There is always a soccer field in every neighborhood in Costa Rica. Knowing where that field is located is often part of someone’s directions; ones that will inevitably include a right at a banyan or mango tree with a left after a particular bodega. It’s always a blast learning how to get to your friend’s house.

As we continue on, the road quickly changes from gravel to dirt.  It’s soothingly shady and we hear monkeys howl overhead as if to alert the others of our presence. There are watch guards in the trees, I think to myself.

After ten minutes, I consider the idea that we might be lost when I see a large rock in the distance.  As we drive closer, it turns out the large rock sits in the ocean around 200 feet from the shoreline. It towers out of the sea like the tip of an iceberg.

We park and take a walk toward the water. Pelicans fly in a V-formation overhead, some plunging down to the sea and catching fish with their straight bill. The birds tilt their head back and swallow the fish in one swift gulp.  As I’m taking a picture, I see a couple walk towards us with two dogs. The animals anxiously chase sticks into the water, returning as proud with their catch as the pelicans overhead. I ask the woman if she minds if I film her dogs for my blog.

“Sure, what blog do you write?”

“Happier Than a Billionaire,” I reply.

“That’s great. I read your stories off the We Love Costa Rica website.” Surprisingly, complaining about the high costs of Cascade dishwasher detergent has made me the Woodward and Bernstein of Costa Rica.

“I really miss my dishwasher,” she confides. I shake my head. I know, I say. It’s a luxury to have one here.

We stop to talk and I learn the man and woman are neighbors who live near the beach. They each retired to Costa Rica for the same reasons we did; a simpler life combined with a cheaper cost of living. They are both optimistic people and are in awe everyday with the paradise that surrounds them. Even their morning walks with the dogs are filled with the sounds of the surf and exotic birds flying overhead.

Like us, they’ve never looked back.

The man tells us about the other beaches nearby then turns and points to the big rock in the ocean. He explains a cave there is rumored to be the place pirate Captain Morgan hid his rum. At low tide, a sand bar emerges and you can walk all the way out to the rock.

“I’ve done it. It’s a really cool thing to see the beach from that perspective,” he says. “This entire area is so amazing. You would never know Tamarindo is so close. Here, you feel like you are on a deserted island.” I like this guy and secretly hope one day he’ll hand me a treasure map.

It’s not hard making friends in Costa Rica; everyone is eager to share their own story and the places they love the most. I thank Rob for wanting to take a different route today. It ended with us making two new friends and discovering a pirate rum cave.

Now that makes a great story at the end of the day.

By | 2018-04-15T18:19:36-04:00 October 1st, 2011|Categories: Tourism|Tags: , , , |20 Comments

About the Author:

Nadine is the author of the best-selling series, Happier Than A Billionaire. Join her as she navigates living as an expat in the sometimes confusing, always beautiful, country of Costa Rica.

20 Comments

  1. Jennika May 9, 2015 at 9:40 am - Reply

    I googled how to find work in CR as I lay nursing my 3rd son in bed last-night. I came across your blog and noticed that here hasn’t been any activity since 2011. What has changed for all of you over the past four years? I’m looking to move my entire family to CR. We are a young family but our goal was to come and live in CR with our three dogs when fertility doctors had informed us we had 0% chance of having babies. That was back in 2010 after spending a month in CR. Since then we had our first son in 2012 another miracle in 2013 and our third blessing in 2015. Three babies, three boys all within 3 years:) lucky number 3!!! And we started with three beautiful dogs. Two Rottis and a Weimerener. Looks like the same breeds as the dogs in the photos at Pirate Bay!! Yes, No? We have since lost both our Rotttis to Bone cancer and gained a child every time one passed on:)) now our family of Testosterone needs an outdoor playground. We are living up in Canada but we still can envision our boys taking up Surfing rather than Snowboarding. We believe in manifestation and creative visualization. Time to make this dream a reality. We chose Tamarindo as our future home. Our favorite spot was Conchal Beach. (PlayaCochal). I look forward to reading your book. I’m seriously thinking I will write a Memoir of our Journey to CR with three small children once we arrive. Trying to “Create” jobs for ourselves as we still haven’t retired. We have another 25 years to go. But we want to manifest “Living” there. I’m hoping to find some great advice in your book. Sincerely, Jennika

  2. John Faith October 25, 2011 at 11:58 am - Reply

    Nadine,
    My wife and I read you book, it was very entertaining and we love your blog. We have a condo in Playa Coco and plan on retiring in Costa Rica. We are several years from retirement age and need to figure out a way to pay for our cost so we don’t delete our nest egg. We will be at our condo in November and plan on doing a couple of days around Arenal. Any recommendations for lodging there?

    Thanks, John

    • admin October 26, 2011 at 2:38 pm - Reply

      We always stayed at Arenal Observatory Lodge because it gave the best views of the moulten rocks shooting out of the volcano. But I heard there isn’t any more activity, perhaps the volcano will be dormant for a while. But it was a nice hotel with a pool and an actual hot tub that was heated.

  3. Rio's Mom October 15, 2011 at 9:23 am - Reply

    Hey Nadine…
    Went back to Pirate’s Bay yesterday at low tide to take Rio for her daily run – this time I detoured to Pirate’s Bay because the road to Conchal was blocked by a huge fallen tree. When I arrived, I thought I had made a wrong turn…the storm waves were lashing angrily at the beach, and have now washed out several feet of sand. The whole South side of the beach is now just rocks littered with shells…I was almost expecting to see a Pirate ship washed up! Rio was so confused – she kept barking at the waves, wondering where her nice sandy beach had gone!

    On top of that, I had a flat tire and discovered my rental car didn’t have the required Jack in it…I had no phone, no money…just my dog, my swimsuit and some tennis balls. In true C.R. fashion, I asked a local for help & got my tire changed with a smile, a handshake and a “Pura Vida!”

    • admin October 17, 2011 at 8:01 pm - Reply

      Glad to hear it all ended well. Have to go back there and check out those shells.

  4. Jennifer October 4, 2011 at 11:36 am - Reply

    Nadine, you had me at the farting patient! Seriously! I was actually just looking on Amazon for another good, sensible how-to-move -to-Costa Rica book, when I took a peek at your first page, and I lost it! ROFL!!!! Had to buy the book. Yes! A wonderful travel writer who also shares my sick sense of body function humor! (my poor husband, he comes from a much more refined background, but as usual, I barely opened the package and he snatches that book up and lays in bed all weekend till he finishes it! Worse still, he’d have these sudden outbursts of laughter and then refuse to tell me what was so funny! Well now it’s all mine and I am happily halfway through
    it, don’t want it to end! (a sequel coming? Do tell!) We have been researching a move with our kids to CR for over a year and have now focused on the area around Tamarindo. What a hoot if we meet you sometime, you can sign my book! I could relate to some of your funny stories about cultural differences, as I lived in the Dominican Republic for 3 years after college. Anyway, I’ll be following your blog, and who knows, maybe we’ll see you at Lola’s sometime! (I’ll be the fat lazy dog underneath the table, just pass me some rice and beans and a cerveza, I’ll go back to sleep…). 🙂

    • admin October 4, 2011 at 11:49 pm - Reply

      I have a very particular sense of humor, which involves making fun of myself often. My sister was mortified by that first sentence, but it was true. I wrote a true book about someone who really was burnt out with work and wanted to live a completely different life. At that time I didn’t know it would involve a gun in the fireplace and getting bit by a bullet ant.

      But like I said in the book….it was still better than a day in the office.

  5. Nadine October 3, 2011 at 9:59 pm - Reply

    You gotta wait till low tide and then have your Goonies adventure. You’ll be able to afford all the Cascade in Costa Rica with all the rich stuff you’re surely going to find in the pirate cave!

    • admin October 4, 2011 at 11:46 pm - Reply

      Wow…you had me at Goonies.

  6. Dave Hopkins October 2, 2011 at 8:06 pm - Reply

    Folks,
    It was so enjoyable to follow you on the web- our dream was to retire several years ago in CR things just didn’t work out or in fact we didn’t work them out
    We are coming to retire in our house in Grecia in January you both look like me and my wife 25 years ago I am a chiro and my wife my office manager.
    Would love to look you up when we get there
    Dave and Pam Hopkins

    • admin October 2, 2011 at 10:11 pm - Reply

      I love Grecia, it’s where I wrote the book. They have some of the friendliest people living there. It’s also a great place to buy a car and start your residency process. We now live near Tamarindo, but Grecia will always be dear to myr heart.

      Funny you are a chiropractor as well. I really did love being one, just got burnt out and wanted to explore other options in my life that didn’t require a treatment plan or prior authorization. I miss my patients, but I don’t miss talking with any of those insurance companies.

  7. Sandra October 2, 2011 at 12:09 pm - Reply

    Another great story. Thanks for sharing. I always look forward to hearing about your wonderful adventures.

    • admin October 2, 2011 at 10:06 pm - Reply

      Thanks Sandra. I can’t wait to get in that cave. I wish I had a metal detector, I’ve been dreaming about buried treasure all week.

  8. Myra October 2, 2011 at 11:07 am - Reply

    A friend of mine told me she’d found your blog and spent hours reading it. Like you,
    we’re retired, and loving life here.

    I enjoyed your posts, and found I could so easily relate to them. I also write a blog, often about life here. We live in the Central Valley, in a rural area about an hour and a half southwest of Escazu.

    I was wondering if you’d be interested in linking blogs…

    Cheers,

    Myra

    Cheers,

    Myra

    • admin October 2, 2011 at 10:02 pm - Reply

      Thanks for checking me out. I’m going to add a blog roll soon and will definitely share links. I will check out your blog as well.

  9. Ed Barber October 1, 2011 at 1:27 pm - Reply

    Once again, your slice of life in paradise enriches me. You are always so humorous without forcing it. That’s a great talent. Thanks for sharing. I think I first notice that island in the background when Rob was singing on the beach. I wondered then if y’all had explored it. Do you know if the Captain’s rum was spiced then, or just plan ol’ rot gut. Do you happen to know, by the way, why moonshine came to be also know as “rot gut.” Well, I wasn’t present at the coining (although probably old enough to have been), but the story I read is that to help speed along the fermintation of the basic corn mash, they would throw in the intestines of some animal. Thanks for your sharing.

    • admin October 2, 2011 at 9:18 am - Reply

      That just goes to show you what someone will do for a drink. If animal intestines didn’t stop them…nothing would. I’m planning on checking out the cave this week and see if I can find any bounty. I wonder if I should bring a shovel and dig a little?

      • Joe B October 5, 2011 at 12:37 pm - Reply

        Nadine, I just downloaded your book and I am loving it. I am so intrigued with CR. I can retire from my teaching job in 3 years and I think CR is calling me. We’ll start with a visit first then seriously decide.

        Thanks for the LOL’s

        • admin October 5, 2011 at 8:29 pm - Reply

          Hi Joe, love teachers, my mom was one for over 30 years. I think you will love Costa Rica. Even is you just decide to visit, it offers a lot.

          Just don’t run into my husband, or he’ll have you on a horse riding to a mountain top.

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