Tamarindo Sportfishing

Tamarindo Information & Area

tripadvisor_1Tamarindo Beach, Costa Rica is located in the North West of Costa Rica in the province of Guanacaste. It’s a fantastic beach town with all the amenities you’ll need to enjoy your vacation and a pleathora of activities such as sport fishing, surfing, hiking, estuary river tours, Leatherback turtle nesting tours, zip-lining, white-water rafting, horseback riding, volcanos and hot springs, bird watching, coffee tours, and more… welcome to Tamarindo, Costa Rica and Guanacaste! We would also consider Playa (beach in Spanish) Grande, and Playa Langosta as part of greater Tamarindo.

Tamarindo History

Before the 1970’s there wasn’t much in Tamarindo. It was only during the early ‘70s that surfers began to discover Tamarindo and Costa Rica’s waves and a few entrepreneurs began building to accommodate them.
In 1973, the Hotel Tamarindo Diria was built for the tourists that were just beginning to arrive for the surf and the sport fishing. During this time there were only dirt roads, only wells for drinking water, and ice brought in every Thursday. It wasn’t until 1974 that electricity was brought in and in 1977 a rural aqueduct was built.

During the ‘80s, Tamarindo grew but, was still considered a small fishing village. It wasn’t until 1994, when Tamarindo was featured in the surf movie The Endless Summer 2, that Tamarindo was suddenly “on-the-map”.

During these early years, Costa Rica also began a world-wide campaign to build its tourism industry touting its progressive attitudes towards conservation, its biodiversity (both Costa Rica and Panama share the claim of more birds per square meter than any other country in the world), its eco-tourism, and its friendly “Pura Vida” attitude towards life in general – “Pura Vida”, the famous Costa Rica saying, translates to “Pure Life”.

During the ‘90s and 2000s Tamarindo grew as a popular surf town but also in other ways. It became popular as a popular sport fishing town, eco-tourism began to grow (Tamarindo/Playa Grande’s estuary/beach houses the famous Leatherback Turtle’s nesting grounds), Tamarindo Airport (TNO) was built, and in 1995 Liberia Airport (LIR: Real name: Daniel Oduber Quirós International Airport), was inaugurated as an International Airport.tripadvisor_2

Since then Tamarindo has blossomed into what it is today – a world-wide destination for sport fishing, surf, eco-tourism, zip-lines, white-water rafting, great hotels, bars and restaurants, and more.

IMPORTANT INFORMATION

  • Medical – thankfully Tamarindo now has a clinic in town. It is located beside the Super Compro Grocery Store.
  • Pharmacies – there are several pharmacies in Tamarindo.
  • Groceries – there are 2 super markets in town and one just out of town – Super Compro generally being the cheaper of the two in town, and one slightly out of town at Tamarindo Heights generally being the cheapest (with the best selection as well).
  • Weather – Tamarindo has great weather all year round with temperatures in the 80-90s F(25-30 C). It does, however, have a distinct “dry season” and “wet season”. The dry season usually starts in Early December and lasts until June. Tamarindo is one of the driest areas of Costa Rica so, its wet season is drier and shorter than the rest of Costa Rica. In the “wet season” you can expect tropical showers almost every day in the afternoons with clear nights and mornings.
  • Water Quality – although they say the water is drinkable, we would still recommend bottled water.
  • Airport Transportation from Liberia – be sure to book a shuttle if flying into Liberia Airport (LIR) and you are not renting a car. We recommend Tamarindo Shuttle http://www.tamarindoshuttle.com/