Scouts on a surf board? They may find their path, but a wave? Sarah did it.

“I saw a surfing video when I was 8, and I’ve wanted to learn how ever since,” says Sarah Wilson, 15. “It’s kind of hard to do in Colorado, so this seemed like the perfect opportunity.” And that’s where Sarah’s surfin’ adventure started - with Studio 2B Destinations, an US-program offering Girl scouts some thrill. One of the destinations and perfect for Sarah was CRROBS, the Costa Rica Rainforest Outward Bound School, an instution to teach understanding and respect for Costa Rica’s unique environment. And: it’s close to the Pacific shore.

Living in tents by night and taking meals in a rustic jungle shack, Sarah and the other 14 members of her CRROBS team spent the first days getting their sea-legs, as it were, paddling out into Avellinas’ crashing surf and riding the waves back in. If the Californians in her group needed little coaching, for everyone else there was a crack staff of Outward Bound instructors who knew their way around a curl. As Sarah expected she would be, she’s a natural.

“At first it was really hard just to stand up on the board,” she says. “By the second day I didn’t want to get out of the water. I fell in love with the sport.”

But her stay was not only surf vacation, of course. Sarah’s next stop was Playa Grande, a marine preserve, harbouring four different sorts of sea turtles. Her job: “A non-native shrub has been creeping down the beach and making it impossible for the turtles to dig nests, and our job was to pull them out by the roots. The roots are really long and the plants are all connected so, once you start pulling, it’s like pulling a long rope out of the ground. It was hard work.”

Sarah returned to her Evergreen home, gladder and wiser, on Monday, Aug. 14, and immediately started mulling another Studio 2B Destinations destination. “I’ve always wanted to see New Zealand,” she says. “If it’s offered this year I’ll probably apply for it.”

Well, good luck Sarah!
(via Canyon Courier)

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This entry was posted on Wednesday, October 25th, 2006 at 9:15 am and is filed under Beaches, nature & places in Costa Rica, Surf & travel stories remembered. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. Responses are currently closed, but you can trackback from your own site.