My First 30 footer - La Poza Azul

My journey to the Poza Azul began on a dreary afternoon here in San Jose. It was raining, I had nothing to do for the next few days, and I wanted to go kayaking. I got my gear together (which was still wet from the Pacuare the day before) and set off to the bus station. The first bus I took was to a town called Puerto Viejo de Sarapiqui. Once in Sararpiqui, I then took another bus to a nearby town called La Virgen. Once I was in La Virgen, I took a taxi to Sarapiqui Outdoor Center, where I stayed for the night.

La Virgen is famous for two things: the first is a chuch just outside of town where Ticos from all over the country gather on the first of every month to see miraculous appearances of the Virgin Mary. The other point of interest in La Virgen is the sicko whitewater.

The Sarapiqui river runs right through the center of town, and a major economic stimulant for Gringos that go rafting every day on the class III-IV river. Besides the Sarapiqui, there are several smaller creeks that fuel the main river, and these little creeks have some of the best whitewater in Costa Rica.

My plan was to stay at the Sarapiqui Outdoor Center (SOC) Friday night and do some creeking on Saturday. So when I arrived at the SOC and found that I was currently the only customer, the owner, David Duarte offered to show me around town. This was great chance to experience the Costa Rican nightlife with a native Tico, it was a world different than the American nightlife. I found myself really tired and returned to the SOC to wake up in the morning to the smell of breakfast.

After breakfast, David and I went to La Cataracta Poza Azul (Blue Pool Waterfall). This was the closest thing to a park-n-huck in Costa Rica. Except it wasn’t a park-n-huck. It was more like a drive-n-payafarmertousehisland-n-hike-n-scramble-n-climb-n-huck. But when we finally arrived at the Poza Azul, I was awestruck by its beauty.

I had never seen such a beautiful, straightforward, clean, 30 footer in my life. When you look at this drop, it just begs you to run it. After a scouting for a few minutes, I jumped in my boat and above the drop and for a second, I just sat there taking everything in. This was definitely the biggest drop I have ever thought about running, and to be sitting in the eddy, about to peel-out, I had a crazy feeling. I thought back to when I used to go cliff jumping at an old rock quarry, when I would stand there looking down, wondering if I should really jump or not. When you peel-out of that eddy, you don’t have much of a choice to stop – you’re going to do it whether you like it or not.

David went to the other side of the river to take pictures, and when he was set up to go, I peeled-out.

When I went over the lip, I was suspended in the air long enough to process a couple thoughts and take in the experience. It was such a great feeling.

When I was about to land, I remembered that I was supposed to put my paddle to the side of the boat to plug it, it was a good thing I remembered at the last second…

After I resurfaced, I yelled a loud “PURA VIDA!!!” and I was all smiles

After I climbed back up to the top, I gave David all my gear and he suited up and ran the drop as well. When I took the picture of him, it looked like he was inside the waterfall, so it’s a little hard to see him.

Right after he ran the drop, four other kayakers showed up and they ran it as well. I ended up becoming friends with those four guys and I found out that they live really close to me here in San Jose. I also found out that they run a rafting company on the Lower Pacuare River and they offered me a chance to go with them for free anytime I needed a shuttle. This was a good offer because the Lower Pacuare is one of the most beautiful runs here in Costa Rica.

We ran the drop again and took lots of pictures of our new friends and before we left.

(pulling the gear back up)

After we left, we paddled from the Poza Azul out to the Upper Sarapiqui river and had a short paddle down to the take out. At the take out rapid, there was a slalom course set up for a raft race later that day, we changed our clothes and watched the race before I returned to San Jose.

Overall, this is by far the best thing I have done so far here in Costa Rica. This was such a fun trip and I felt such a good vibe coming from the Rio Sarapiqui area. I am definitely going back soon.

Also, I have to throw a muchas gracias to my man David “Sombrilla” Duarte at Sarapiqui Outdoor center for setting safety and photography, as well as hooking me up with a place to stay. I would also like to throw a big PURA VIDA out to my new amigos that I met at the waterfall: Miguel, Daniel, and Albert.