Surf school?

Sounds like a great idea. A friend of mine had a pretty good experience in Sayulita Mexico. Can't endorse or critique personally, but he quite liked it: a guy named Javier Barrera manages a surf school called Duende Surf Dawgs - $25 for a two-hour lesson.

Sayulita is frickin' *awesome* from a chill perspective. Definitely would find yoga. In fact, Playa Escondida offers free yoga on the beach each morning, but it's about a 15 minute walk from town, and there isn't a break in front of the hotel.

The main break in Sayulita is right in town, and it's a super chill longboard break. Crowded b/c it's in town, but I found it really manageable.

The town has tons of places to stay for all budgets.

I highly recommend Witch's Rock Surf Camp in Costa Rica (Tamarindo to be exact). I've been twice - both as total kook and then slightly more experienced ... loved it both times.

surf lessons + yoga, surfing multiple times per day, hmm...

forget tamarindo if you do go to costa rica -- its a hell hole now, though it was once nice. its now way over-developed, expensive, over-crowded, etc etc. check out mal pais, specifically santa theresa. if you fly into SJO you can book a sansa shuttle flight to tambor for about $80pp which cuts 6 hours off the travel time getting up and over to mal pais (the other route is bus/ferry/bus). from tambor its $40 taxi to mal pais and you might find someone to split it with on the shuttle flight. sound like a bit of hassle to get to? yeah. worth it? yeah.

anyway, santa theresa (which is the "north" half of what travel guides regard as mal pais, the other half is playa carmen) is fairly chill (still, but slowly getting less and less so), has several surf instructors (try kina or 360) and there are at least 2 or 3 places running daily yoga classes (check casa zen).

and you can find nice rooms for much less than you will elsewhere (jaco/tamarindo etc). and good food some of which will be sourced from nearby organic farms, and drinks you won't be paying "gringo" prices for.

the break(s) there, you can learn on, and if the surf is small and mellow you can also try paddling out to the actual break once you're done playing in the whitewater and give that a shot (just find a mostly empty peak, which isn't hard to do there). but be careful if there's a goundswell in the water. it does go off. even if its firing, at some tides you'll still be able to take lessons on the insides. your instructors will steer you right. there are other surf options within walking distance so you can always find someplace to work on your skills.

otherwise, +1 for sayulita. also a good option.

+1 for Sayulita: http://stokereport.com/rant/surfing-sayulita-mexico

Also +1 for Mal Pais. I was there about 5 years ago and it is much more chill. Dirt roads and all. Not sure how much it has been developed in the last 5 years but it may be too much "roughing it" for some people.

I have been to both. I hit Sayulita on a great week with consistently good waves from waist to shoulder height. There are several breaks there. One is more forgiving (and crowded) and is located in front of town, and the other is a bit more advanced left in front of a campsite (with a great bar) that can be a lot of fun for those of surfers who are craving more than a mellow longboard wave. Crowd was ok when I was there, but I heard that there was a contest elsewhere that dragged people away. I would imagine having an instructor would help you carve out a place in the line-up. Plus, Sayulita is a cool place to hang for a while with a nice common square, good breakfast and ok food for dinner.

As for Santa Theresa, it is much more of a beach break akin to OB. It can go off, and it can be a paddle out. I didn't love the waves when I was there; they didn't have the shape of the left in Sayulita. But ... it certainly is a bigger area and less crowded. The town isn't as accessible/fun as Sayulita, but there are plenty of restaurants and services. It also could have been the week I was there. (You should check seasons, b/c costa rica has some windy ones if I recall correctly, and Sayulita has some very small surf ones).

So -- it depends a bit on your time (Santa Theresa takes at least 2 flights -- one into San Jose, and another to Mal Pais -- or 1 flight and a decently long drive and ferry ride), whether you mind crowds (my wife hates them, although she did love learning in Sayulita), and whether you mind paddling / what type of wave you prefer.

I highly recommend Pura Vida http://www.puravidaadventures.com in Mal Pais. I did their surf camp about five years ago and had a blast! It's a women's camp but they have some coed dates too.

they haven't paved the road yet as of earlier this year. improved it, but not fully paved.

I think you are making a mistake leaving here in late Sept. Save the trip for when it's cold and windy for weeks on end........ Like we just finally got over