Why sit in a classroom when you could be earning college credit while surfing, kayaking, white-water rafting, and SCUBA diving in Costa Rica, Nicaragua, and Panama?! If water sports and travel appeal to you, then the Water & Wave Semester is for you! The course starts Sept. 26 and runs through Dec 4th. It is not too late to register!
This course starts at Base Camp and then quickly takes you trekking through the mountains, where you will see wildlife, camp, play in waterfalls, and learn about the ecology and the people who live there. Your trek will lead you to an isolated village where you will spend a few nights with a Costa Rican family, fully participating in their rural lifestyle, such as: harvesting and grinding sugarcane; making home-made tortillas from scratch; and of course, playing soccer with the local children. Also during the family homestay, you will participate in your “solo”. The “solo” is not a survival test, but more of a meditative exercise where you spend a couple days totally alone in the jungle.
After your homestay, you will hike through the rainforest to the Pacific coast to learn how to surf at Costa Rica´s Central Pacific coast, Costa Rica´s Northern Pacific coast, and Nicaragua´s Southern Pacific coast. Expect some day trips to world-famous surf spots such as Witch´s Rock, Avellanas, Hermosa, Damas, and Maderas.
When you are not surfing or playing at the beach, you will raft and kayak on the celebrated Rio Pacuare, which is rated in the top 10 of the world’s white-water rivers.
Expect to also spend a day on the San Jose cultural “City Tour”. Then, the rest of this course will be spent island-hopping in Bocas del Toro, Panama.
Via sea kayak, you will explore remote, unspoiled islands surrounded by coral reef. Your neighbors will be manna ray, crocodiles, dolphins, and local indigenous communities. In addition to water adventure sports and beach camping, you will participate in a community service project. Past service projects have included improving community access to clean water and nutrition education.
SCUBA lessons begin with on-land, technical instruction—reading, theory sessions, and written assignments-- complemented by supervised, steadily increasing depth dives in a local lagoon. In addition to getting SCUBA certification, you will learn about reef and coastal ecology while snorkeling, wake-boarding, knee-boarding, and sailing in a catamaran.
This course will teach you practical, valuable skills as well as earn you college credits; introduce you to another culture; and most importantly, teach you more about yourself. All of the physical, emotional, mental, and spiritual challenges that you may face on a Costa Rica Outward Bound course are thoughtfully designed to serve you in all areas of your life. For more info, please visit our website.
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