Scoring epic waves at the world famous Ollie's Point, the sort that only come about five times a year, propelled it straight to the top of our "best of" waves list. Ollie surfing Ollie's Point; it just made sense!
　
It was a stroke of luck, or should we say, big blow of luck, that we arrived in the Guanacaste region when a big swell hit. The Surfline wave forecast described it as 'Good to Epic' conditions, '6 to 10 feet with the occasional 12 foot'. Surfing big waves in howling offshore winds, while being surrounded by the beautifully wild Santa Rosa National Park with not a house, road or car in miles, made this an unforgettable experience and a trip favourite.
　
Lucky Timing
　
In the surfy beach town of Tamarindo, they sell surfing boat trips to the famous breaks of Witches Rock and Ollie's Point at almost every shop in town. Potrero Grande was discovered in the 1970's and in the 80's, during the Nicaraguan civil war, south Nicaragua was a contra stronghold. Ollie's Point is just south of the Nicaraguan border. During the civil war, the CIA smuggled weapons into the country via an airstrip close to Ollie's Point. Oliver North, a US Colonial at the time, denied ever knowing about this mission, although it seems he was the only one who didn't. It was the Surfer Magazine TV crew who nick named this break after him when they made a visit in 1987. Both Guanacaste breaks, Witches Rock and Ollie's Point were propelled into surfing stardom when they featured in the classic surfing movie, Endless Summer II, which starred Robert August, Pat O'Connell and Wingnut in about 1994.
　
Ollie's Point is located in the wild 'Parque National Santa Rosa' where there are no roads, and no facilities close to the point. The only feasible option to get to the break without battling alligators and big cats is by boat. A boat trip does not come cheap but for Ollie this could of been a once in a life-time opportunity, so spurred on by the forecasted Surfline conditions he booked himself on the Thursday and Friday trips. Shay decided to surf the more relaxed beach break of Tamarindo on Thursday and join Ollie on epic Friday as the photographer/surf-chick groupie/support crew.
　
Housewives and Kooks
　
The boat-trip itself isn't exactly a luxury cruise; there's no champagne, canapés and toasts to the waves. Your day begins at 4am when you have to drag your sleep deprived body out of bed and down to the pick up zone. You are then transported to Playa El Coco, one hour away. Next task is to wade out, waist deep, with your gear above your head to load up the boat. From El Coco it's about a one hour ride in a 20 foot 'speed boat' to the break, passing some breathtaking scenery on the way; rugged cliffs and lush jungle behind it.
　
On the Thursday, Ollie's first boat trip, the swell was maximum six foot and the break was full of American kids, housewives and inland kooks. Ollie was sharing the boat with a couple of Swedish guys and two American surfers. It was a relaxed day with plenty of fun waves to be had. On the way back from Ollie's Point the boat stopped off at Witches Rock, which is a gnarly beach break, it was pumping out some big 10 foot faces, although a little messy so Ollie decided to just observe from the deck and save his strength for 'Big Friday'. The Swedes told him after that it took them 20 minutes to paddle back out every time they got caught on the inside. Very tiring!
　
Upon returning to Tamarindo Ollie was to learn that the guys at Kelly's surf shop had to cancel the Friday boat as the other surfers had caught wind of the huge conditions forecasted for the day and had backed out. Determined to get on another boat-trip we searched around and luckily came across a French expat named Franck, who had two seats available on his boat. We were later to learn that the Friday trip was actually a special surfing/bonding day with his mates for his birthday, a day where he could get away from all his responsibilities and partake in his favourite past time... surfing BIG Ollie's!! We were extremely grateful that Franck let us join him on his birthday jaunt with the Capitan/brother in law and his surf photographer friend, Fabian. "Do you like big waves?" Franck said to us with a smile. "I like big waves, and its going to be huge!" With that we handed over the cash and the promise that we'll be ready to go at 4am the next morning.
　
Big Friday
　
The alarm started buzzing at 3am, we rolled out of bed and downed good dose of caffeine to get us started. True to his word, Franck rolled in at 4am on the dot in his awesome 2006 Landrover Defender 110 TDI. We loaded up the boards and got settled in for the hour long road-trip to El Coco, picking up the other crew members on the way. We knew we were dealing with a serious swell when we arrived at the normally calm bay where the boat was moored and found crashing waves pelting the shoreline. Loading up was not going to be easy this time! Getting the boards and waterproof gear out to the boat was easy, but when taking the cameras and electrical navigational equipment it had to be timed just right with the gap in the swell. The boat would try to get in as close as possible to the shore while we ran out with bags held high above our heads in an attempt to keep it dry, there was to be no hesitation as the boat would need to retreat hastily if another set rolled in.

We took front row seats as we started our journey to Ollie's Point, the wind was strong and we were drenched by the waves within minutes of getting going. The boat was pitching up and down on the big mounds of water. Halfway to Ollie's and we witnessed a remote beach getting pounded by massive waves, Fabian and Franck we're keen to check it out on their boards so we dropped them off and sped back out to the safety zone to observe, flying over mountainous swells on the way. To surf an unknown break when only seeing the back of it definitely takes some guts, god only knows how big it actually is on the front side, never mind what's waiting for you when you get over there. Looking at the wave from the boat, the backside must have been 5-6 feet so the faces would have been at least double that! Franck and Fabian survived to tell the story.
　
When we arrived at Ollie's Point there were already nine boats anchored up and 25-30 serious looking surfers scrambling to score the massive waves. They looked less than happy to see another boat pulling up as there would be another 4 surfers to add to the chaos. Competition for the waves was high, if you missed the take off there were at least 15 guys right next to you ready to take your place. When you do make it, you had 15 guys to dodge on your way down! To add a little more danger to the mix, the howling offshore wind was blowing the water back over the wave, limiting the surfer's visibility with all the spray in their faces. But this offshore wind also holds the wave up better which often gave the surfer extra time to make the take off, even on the steeper parts of the wave you had a good chance of making the take-off because of this. The wind was so strong that you felt like you were being held back on the face of the wave and were not going to reach the bottom, but what a fantastic wave, the ride itself is just impossible to describe: perfect, long, long, long; awesome for manoeuvres and turns.
　
At Ollie's, Ollie scored the biggest wave of his life, but there were no fancy manoeuvres, just 110% pure concentration to survive the take-off, avoid the other surfers ducking under the wave, and ride it all the way to the end.
"Boy that was the wave of the day! It was huge!! Looked like something out of the movies", an older gringo shouted to Ollie when he paddled back out still in euphoric shock. The part "something out of the movies" was probably being referred to Ollie's stiff awkward carrot-up-the-bottom, arms-in-L-shape, 1950's surfing style, trying to keep his balance and not looking very smooth or cool in the process. Unfortunately Shay, the photographer/surf chick groupie, missed the photo opportunity as our boat was dropping Fabian off at the beach with all his photography equipment. The only proof we have that Ollie actually surfed Ollie's Point is one paddling picture, but with only 5 waves scored on the Friday, and bad positioning of the boat, the photographer / surf chick groupie, can't be blamed for not getting photos. Shay actually deserves the 'Best Girlfriend' award, for being on a boat for 12 hours, not complaining and actually enjoying herself!!
　
Clear out Rainstorm
　
Rainy season without rain would not be rainy season. By late afternoon dark clouds had gathered and soon the heavens opened. The day all of a sudden turned really dark and the rain came down so hard it was painful when it bounced of our skin. Out in the surf it got a bit spooky, the darkness combined with the pouring rain made all visibility disappear. The anchored boats could not be seen let alone the incoming waves. All of a sudden the bigger sets would appear in front of you and often catch you by surprise, throwing you around under water in an inferno of white water and bubbles, like in a washing machine. On a positive note, it made all of the other surfer's stroke for the boats. By the time the rain had past, the only boat bobbing up and down in the bay was Francks with a dripping wet Shay huddled under Ollie's board bag for protection. Fabian, Franck and Ollie now had the place to themselves but unfortunately with high tide pushing in, the waves had disappeared. Fabian and Franck, having surfed Ollie's 50 times before knew what to do. On a bigger swell an inside wave forms very close to the shore on the inside bay. Time after time Fabian caught the hollow waves far down the beach, and then we would see him walking all the way back up again, only to jump out in the water and do it all over again. Franck on his longboard caught a lot of waves too, but preferred to paddle back instead. Ollie was having a hard time knowing where to take off and only caught a few.

It was dusk when Franck finally convinced Fabian to get back to the boat after about numerous "It's my final wave" attempts. The other boats had been gone for hours, and both Shay and the skipper were more than ready to head back. Anchor up, we took our seats at the front of the boat and with Franck now behind the wheel, sped back to El Coco, by the time we got back to shore we were absolutely drenched, but it was fun flying over the waves and seeing a pod of dolphins following alongside us.
　
We got back into Tamarindo around 8pm; 15 hours had now gone by since our day started. Ollie was exhausted but happy and dreamily blissed out, thinking of the perfect waves of Ollie's Point. According to Franck, Ollie's Point only gets to this size four to five times a year, and Ollie still could not believe his luck. Shay was just happy to be back on land, even though her body thought she was still on the boat, wobbling back and forward when she walked.