A Typical Day at Bodhi Surf + Yoga

What does a typical day here at Bodhi Surf + Yoga look like? We’re glad you asked!

We run our surf + yoga camps from Saturday to Saturday. The first Saturday is the day you arrive into Costa Rica, with the following Saturday being the day that you fly back out.

We follow a weekly schedule here that’s intentionally designed to give you the perfect amount of surfing and yoga, time for relaxation, and opportunities to go off on your own (or with your new friends!) and be an independent traveler.

A typical day here at Bodhi Surf + Yoga depends on the day of the week – each day is a little bit different.

We invite you to keep reading along to this blog post to get a feel for what each day as a guest with us here can be like!

Saturday – Welcome to Costa Rica!

Your flight to Costa Rica can arrive at any time on Saturday, as you don't depart for Uvita until Sunday at 9 am.

You will have let us know in your participant information form what time your flight is due to land, and we'll have taxis/shuttles coordinated for you to get you from the airport to the hotel that we have you staying in as part of your package.

Our go-to hotel is the Adventure Inn. This is where we have the majority of our guests stay on their arrival night.

We coordinate that for you, so no need to worry about it! If the Adventure Inn is full, we work with a number of other hotels nearby that are of the same quality and price range as the Adventure Inn.

When you exit the doors to the airport, you'll see someone holding a sign with your name on it to take you to your hotel. Once you're there, we recommend resting up, having a bite to eat, and chillaxing before the adventure REALLY gets going on Sunday!

Sunday – Travel to Bodhi Surf + Yoga

On Sunday morning, our driver Wali picks you up with the rest of the group at 9 am and you start your journey down here to Bahia Ballena. The drive is about 4 and a half hours, with a bathroom/smoothie break included.

You arrive here at Bodhi Surf + Yoga at around 1:30 pm, where you’re greeted by our head of Guest Support, George (me!) with some fresh cold coconuts to rehydrate you after your long journey.

George gives you a quick introductory talk before showing you into your rooms and giving you the “Bodhi Tour” – a walk-about of the property pointing out some points of interest, wildlife, and telling a bit about the history of Bodhi Surf + Yoga.

After this, guests have about an hour or so to grab some lunch nearby before heading off for the community tour at 3:30 pm. This is one of our favorite and most important parts of the entire schedule!

It’s a great way of getting your bearings, learning about our community, and spotting some wildlife ahead of your week (or two weeks) with us here.

Sunday ends with the “Bodhi Welcome Dinner” – where George takes the group to dinner and we’re able to get to know each other better and ask any questions about the schedule, classes, meals, activities, etc.

Typical schedule

• 1:30 pm – Arrival and welcome
• 2:00 pm – Bodhi Tour
• 2:30 pm – Lunch (not included)
• 3:30 pm – Community walking tour
• 6:00 pm – Welcome dinner

Monday – Friday at Bodhi Surf + Yoga in a Nutshell

Throughout the blog, we’ll take a deeper dive into the specifics of what each day of the week tends to consist of here.

As we said, each day varies slightly in its activities and timings.

For the sake of giving you a very brief idea of what a ‘typical day’ here at Bodhi Surf + Yoga looks like, you can expect the following activities and services every day from Monday through Friday:

• A 60 – 90 minute restorative yoga class
• A nutritious and delicious breakfast
• A two-hour educational surf lesson at a marine national park
• Reception and Guest Support services from 8am – 6pm
• Housekeeping services

These are the activities/services that are included for every full day that you’re here with us: i.e. Monday through Friday.

As you’ll see as the blog goes on – some days have more activities, while others end there.

Regardless of what we have on the schedule for that day, each day promises some form of nature immersion and community engagement – which we foster to inspire awakening within our guests.

*** Please remember that we do not include lunches. But there are a number of great local spots to grab some lunch nearby!

The Schedule Changes Each Week – Why?

Another reason that it’s tricky to describe exactly what one day looks like at Bodhi Surf + Yoga is that the schedule changes (only slightly) each week.

We mainly base our schedule on the tides for the surf lessons. This isn’t because surfing is more important than anything else – but most other activities aren’t as time-sensitive.

We can do the yoga classes in the morning or in the evening, without sacrificing the quality of the class. Whereas with surf, depending on the level of our guests, the tides change the conditions for the lesson.

As mentioned above, we also have days where more activities are included – like Tuesday and Thursday where we provide group dinners for our guests.

Why Don’t We Provide Dinner On-Site Every Night During the Week?

We definitely could do that, but we intentionally give our guests a couple of free nights during the week.

For us and our guests, community engagement is an extremely important pillar of our business and the experience that we offer.

By not providing dinner every night, our guests have the opportunity to venture out into the local community and support different local businesses.

This is what we call being ‘independent travelers’ – and we of course empower our guests to do this by providing them with our Bodhi favorites!

The Award-Winning Bodhi Surf + Yoga Experience – Day by Day

Now, we’ll walk you through what each day typically looks like down here with us at one of our surf/bodysurf + yoga camps.

Monday

Welcome to Monday – your first full day with us at Bodhi Surf + Yoga!

The day typically starts at 7:15 am with a restorative yoga class that wakes up your body and invites you to open your mind for the upcoming week.

From yoga, you can make your way over to Area Alegria, where a delicious and nutritious breakfast will be waiting for you. Oh, and not to forget – coffee!

At breakfast, you’ll be joined by some members of the Bodhi Surf + Yoga team, who will happily answer any questions that you may have and tell you everything you need to know to prepare you for your first surf lesson.

This information includes things like: what to take, what not to take, what to expect, etc. Shortly after breakfast, you’ll head off with the surf team down to the incredible Marino Ballena National Park for the surf lesson.

The surf instructors use this first session to learn about everyone’s surf experience, goals for the week, fears, and expectations. This lesson is also usually a bit heavier on the theory side of things, whereby before getting into the water, guests learn about:

• The national park and its importance to our community
• The ocean
• Surfboard anatomy
• How to conduct a surf report

We also start the lesson off with some bodysurfing!

Following the surf lesson, the group returns back here to the lodge and gets ready for a trip to the Uvita Waterfall – a great place to chill out nestled in the jungle.

We give the group about two hours there, which is plenty of time to go for a swim in the natural (and cold!) pool that the waterfall pours into, as well as to grab some lunch from the restaurant there.

Day one ends here, with guests having the opportunity to head out into our local community for dinner. Don’t worry – we send you all of our favorite places!

Typical Schedule

• 7:15 am – Yoga
• 9:00 am – Breakfast
• 10:15 am – Surf lesson
• 1:30 pm – Uvita Waterfall

Tuesday

Tuesday typically looks quite similar to Monday – whereby the day usually starts with a yoga class, followed by breakfast, and then the surf lesson.

You might feel a little achy this morning – that’s completely normal. Both surfing and yoga engage muscles throughout our entire bodies that we don’t normally use, or even know we have!

In Tuesday’s surf lesson, we spend a bit more time in the water than on Monday. It’s crucially important to us that we set our students up with a strong foundation before rushing into the water.

Our whole ideology behind teaching you to surf is that you can leave us and continue your surfing journey anywhere you go, rather than having to start again every time.

What’s different about Tuesday is that we enjoy an on-site group dinner here together! Our chef Luci spoils us with a freshly made, typical Costa Rican dish that’s accommodating for all of the week’s dietary restrictions.

The dinner is also accompanied by homemade fruit juice, which can also be turned into a cocktail.

Typical schedule

• 7:15 am – Yoga
• 9:00 am – Breakfast
• 10:15 am – Surf lesson
• 6:30 pm – Dinner

Wednesday

Wednesday’s schedule is the least crowded of all the days, making it a great day to do a tour, get a massage, or just chill out and catch up on some relaxation.

In terms of activities, some of our favorites that we always recommend to our guests are the coconut tour, a visit to Costa Rica’s one and only coral reef restoration lab, and walking our park’s famous ‘Whale’s Tail”.

If a relaxing massage is more your cup of tea, we’ve got you covered. We work with a local massage company that comes here to conduct on-site massages up on our yoga platform.

They’re super easy to book – you just let a member of our team know when and for how long you’d like to have your massage and we’ll take care of it!

Speaking of relaxation, we have many spaces here on our property designed to allow you to kick back, relax, and recharge – all while feeling connected to nature.

Our newest addition to our lodge includes our meditation garden, which we will be opening VERY soon. Come and be amongst the first to enjoy this new natural and relaxing space!

You’re also ‘on your own’ again for dinner on Wednesday evening. Our groups usually head out together and enjoy dinner somewhere walkable.

Typical schedule

• 7:15 am – Yoga
• 9:00 am – Breakfast
• 10:15 am – Surf lesson

Thursday

It’s at this point in the week that the surf lesson may be at a different time than the three previous days, due to the tides that day.

Sometimes the surf lesson on Thursday stays at 10:15 am, but more often than not we have Thursday’s class in the afternoon.

In this case, the day still starts with yoga and then breakfast – but instead of surf being right after breakfast, guests have some more free time.

Again, this time can be used to squeeze in a last-minute tour, a massage, or to simply relax.

The afternoon surf lesson starts at 3:15 pm and goes pretty much until sunset. The third and final of the dinners that we provide on-site is also on Thursday, which is ready for guests when they arrive back from the surf lesson.

Typical schedule

• 7:15 am – Yoga
• 9:00 am – Breakfast
• 3:15 pm – Surf lesson
• 6:30 pm – Dinner

Friday

A typical Friday at Bodhi Surf + Yoga usually starts with surf! Again, we can’t promise that every Friday will start like this because of the tides.

But more often than not, the tides work in our favor when we finish the week with an early-bird surf lesson.

This class starts bright and early at 6:45 am. That may sound really early, but after a week of being on Costa Rica time, you’re already accustomed to waking up early with the sounds of the exotic birds and howler monkeys.

This really is a beautiful time to be down there at the national park – there’s usually no one else there!

You’ll come back from your final surf lesson to find breakfast and coffee waiting for you. But there’s no rush, you have plenty of time to shower off and freshen up before sitting down for breakfast.

At this last breakfast of the week, George will make some final housekeeping announcements regarding:

• Departure
• Our Traveler’s Philanthropy donation
• Tipping at Bodhi Surf + Yoga
• Online reviews – check out our hundreds of 5-star reviews!

Following breakfast, our guests enjoy their last yoga class of the week.

The last activity on the schedule is Bodhi Grad. This is a sort of play on words, meaning both grad-uation and also grad-itude (gratitude circle).

Here, we sit around the breakfast tables one last time and share something that we’re grateful for. We think that by practicing gratitude, we’re putting positive energy out there into the universe that has positive impacts on our mental, emotional, and spiritual health.

Once we finish up with Bodhi Grad, it’s time to say our goodbyes to our new friends from the week and wish them a happy and safe journey.

Typical schedule

• 6:45 am – Surf
• 9:30 am – Breakfast
• 11:30 am – Yoga
• 3:00 pm – Bodhi Grad
• 3:30 pm – Departure

Every Day Here is Special

We often get asked by guests: “You do the same thing every single week, don’t you get bored?”

Our answer is always “NO!”

Although the schedule for each week may be similar, every week is completely different for us… because of YOU!

Each week has its own identity. Each guest brings their own personality, which contributes to the overall identity of the week.

We invite you to come on down here and be a special part of a special group of people!
To get more of an idea of what our daily life looks like here at Bodhi Surf + Yoga, feel free to follow our Instagram and Facebook pages.