Costa Rica – Witches Rock Surfing – La Roca Bruja

Wow what a special place! Witches Rock (Roca Bruja or Pena Bruja) is located in Santa Rosa National Park in Northern Costa Rica. The actual beach is called Playa Naranjo and Witches Rock is the mesmerizing massive rock monument sitting in the ocean right in front of the best surfing on the beach. Most people take a boat here from Tamarindo just to surf, and never set foot on the beach. I was luckily that I got to spend 5 days here camping and surfing, and mostly had this beautiful place to myself.

[pe2-image src=”http://lh3.googleusercontent.com/-nubf0CNYyxE/VY2zETUrkfI/AAAAAAAAyv4/n6y4lm8C8Zg/s144-c-o/IMG_4338.JPG” href=”https://picasaweb.google.com/115263927216347870948/Blog26SurfingAndCampingAtWitchesRockCostaRicaTravelingtheamericasCom#6164780351427940850″ caption=”Sunset surf Roca Bruja.  Just Perfection.” type=”image” alt=”IMG_4338.JPG” ]

Playa Naranjo was the first place I camped in Costa Rica. Jenine was still at her Yoga Teacher training in the southern caribbean side of Costa Rica, and I had about one week until we were going to meet up in the capital San Jose. As I was doing the border crossing from Nicaragua to Costa Rica, a border crossing “helper” was sort of assisting me, and I was talking to him about where I should go first to surf. He told me I had to make “La Roca Bruja” my first stop. So after I crossed in Costa Rica, that is exactly what I did.

I didn’t know anything about the place, other than it has good surfing. Here is what I learned upon entering the park (Santa Rosa National Park)

1. It is $20/ night / person to camp in the Park, with only a primitive pit toilet. Pack in and pack out all of your supplies and garbage. No pets. It is one of the largest dry tropical forest in the world and one of Costa Rica’s most picturesque parks. Students and scientists come from all over the world to study the vegetation and wildlife at the park. I brought in two hitch hikers into the park, when they found out how expensive it was to camp, they had to turn around and try to hitch hike back out. Welcome to Costa Rica, where everything is so expensive.

2. To get to the beach (Playa Naranjo), it is an 11KM / 6 miles tough 4×4 road. Few people make this journey (maybe 5-10 surfers a day at most). Most surfers take boats out here from Tamaridno only to surf in front of Witches Rock.

[pe2-image src=”http://lh3.googleusercontent.com/-py-GyuTYD_Q/VY2zEfdAIRI/AAAAAAAAyv4/l0kysXk7jfw/s144-c-o/IMG_1050.JPG” href=”https://picasaweb.google.com/115263927216347870948/Blog26SurfingAndCampingAtWitchesRockCostaRicaTravelingtheamericasCom#6164780354684068114″ caption=”Crossing bridges to get to Playa Naranjo” type=”image” alt=”IMG_1050.JPG” ]

3. The surfing here is some of the best in Costa Rica. Apparently this break was made famous in Endless Summer II.

[pe2-image src=”http://lh3.googleusercontent.com/-DXXbGyQaH3w/VY2zERRnlMI/AAAAAAAAyv4/nJKX_GeOlDI/s144-c-o/IMG_4367.JPG” href=”https://picasaweb.google.com/115263927216347870948/Blog26SurfingAndCampingAtWitchesRockCostaRicaTravelingtheamericasCom#6164780350878225602″ caption=”Surfing in front of Witches Rock.  Most people pay a lot of money to get out here by boat” type=”image” alt=”IMG_4367.JPG” ]

4. It is one of the most perfect places I’ve ever been.

[pe2-image src=”http://lh3.googleusercontent.com/-OtfXDk7Ic8M/VY2zEQfVW7I/AAAAAAAAyv4/LtMXHyagTSg/s144-c-o/IMG_4337.JPG” href=”https://picasaweb.google.com/115263927216347870948/Blog26SurfingAndCampingAtWitchesRockCostaRicaTravelingtheamericasCom#6164780350667316146″ caption=”Every day after surfing, I would bring out a few beers, my chair and go swimming while the sunset.  I was normally the only one on the beach.  Playa Naranjo” type=”image” alt=”IMG_4337.JPG” ]

That’s about all there is to say. I camped in our van for 5 nights and surfed mornings at 6am before the boats came around 9am. And then again around 4pm when the boats of surfers left. Even the boats only brought a small crowd (10-15 ish).

If you want to make a trip here I recommend camping and making arrangements through a local I met named Eladio his website is http://www.eladiosplacecr.com/

He can take you into the park every day, or set you up with camping inside the park! I highly recommend this because these sunsets are among the most beautiful I’ve seen.

[pe2-image src=”http://lh3.googleusercontent.com/-ha3QcXg9aRg/VY2zEQo0T3I/AAAAAAAAyv4/cFjSUI4wBvw/s144-c-o/IMG_4377.JPG” href=”https://picasaweb.google.com/115263927216347870948/Blog26SurfingAndCampingAtWitchesRockCostaRicaTravelingtheamericasCom#6164780350707093362″ caption=”Sunset at Roca Bruja” type=”image” alt=”IMG_4377.JPG” ]

BTW- We are currently in Colombia, Titus made it safely in the shipping container and now we are on the road again!

See all the Witches Rock Pics:
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