Surf Lessons in Dominical Costa Rica With Coach Junior

Surf lessons at Lamangata in Dominical Costa Rica are coached by Junior Vargas Salazar, a national longboard champion who coaches every guest himself, from a first wave to an intermediate surfer who has stalled elsewhere. Every session starts with a warm-up in the resort’s infinity lap pool before you enter the ocean.

Imagine a surf vacation where the boards are strapped onto the SUV before you have finished your first cup of Costa Rican coffee. You are soaking in 360 degrees of ocean and jungle, white-faced monkeys calling from the trees and scarlet macaws crossing overhead, and breakfast comes out of the kitchen made the way you told us you like it. 

Junior has already read the swell, the wind, and the tide, and he has picked the beach that suits your level this morning. Everything is handled before you think to ask, so the only thing left for you to do is get in the car.

You arrive to find the sand set up and waiting, and then it is you, your small group, and Junior, with waves that are surfable in every month of the year and a coach who has had 99% of guests standing on a board before the week is out.

The short answer to how any of that works is Junior. Here is who he is, how he teaches, and why guests who plateaued somewhere else tend to break through with him.

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Who is Junior Vargas Salazar?

Junior Vargas Salazar is our head surf instructor and a national longboard champion, a title he took in 2024, and he coaches every guest himself. He won it on a board built for balance and patience, which happens to be the exact skill set a nervous first timer needs on day one.

He grew up in Hatillo, five minutes from these waves, and he has ridden this stretch of the southern Pacific for over 20 years. That local read is why his name lands in almost every review we get on TripAdvisor.

Every ability comes through here. Someone stepping into the ocean for the first time, a couple where one is anxious and the other impatient, an intermediate surfer who can pop up and wants to land the takeoff. He meets each of them where they are, and he remembers on Thursday what you were doing wrong on Monday. Beginners tend to mention his patience and knowledge in the same breath, usually after one great lesson.

How does a surf lesson at Lamangata work?

Your first session begins at our beautiful infinity lap pool overlooking the Pacific, where Junior will have you feeling confident about where your hands go, where your feet land, and what the pop-up feels like when you get it right. There is a balance trainer out on the lawn as well, so you can keep working on your footing between sessions with a coffee in reach.

Down at the sand the tent is up before you get there, chairs in the shade, towels folded, and somebody cracks a coconut and hands it to you cold. Then Junior is in the water beside you, reading the sets, telling you when to turn and paddle and when to wait for a better one, grinning the whole time. He keeps it light on purpose, and guests notice how easy he is to relax around.

Lunch comes down to the beach plated and cooked that morning, and you eat it with salt drying on your arms while the set you almost made rolls through in front of you. Firewire surfboards come with your stay, rental included, and Junior picks the one that suits your size and the day’s conditions. Private lessons and small-group instruction both happen depending on who else is here that week, and either way you keep the same coach from the first paddle to the last. The rest of the beach setup is on our surf program page.

Then you end the night with Junior on the sofas, cold drink in hand, watching your own waves on the big screen, shot from the sand and from a drone overhead, while he points out what you did well and the one thing to change tomorrow. What moves the needle is smaller than you would guess, where your stance sits, your timing on the paddle, the angle of the board, and all of it shows up clearly on video. You go to bed knowing what tomorrow’s first wave should feel like.

Guests who took surf lessons somewhere else and stalled tend to break through here. One arrived with 15 to 20 hours of prior experience picked up across Central America, the US, and Europe, and he could pop up but had only ever caught a wave with a push. After a week of personalized surf coaching with Junior he was catching waves on his own in different conditions and holding position in the lineup.

Up at the pool or sunk into a sofa with a cold drink, Junior’s personality does as much of the work as his coaching, and guests tend to leave talking about him the way they talk about a friend. That holds whether you have surfed for years or are standing on a board for the first time.

One coach who knows you and knows these waves, all week, with video of your session by dinner. See which weeks are open.

Where will Junior take you around Dominical, Dominicalito, and Uvita?

One of the things we love most about where Lamangata sits is that Junior always has a break to match you. He put it to SURFER Magazine like this: “If you want to learn how to surf, Dominical is a good spot.” He told them the waves here stay consistent and carry power without ever going flat, and that stronger surfers have plenty to pick from as well. Choosing between them is the first decision he makes each morning.

The waves in Dominical change character by the hour. Playa Dominical is the town break and it carries real power, and locals call the place Domi, where you will find a couple of surf shops and somewhere to eat if you want an hour off the property. Ten minutes south, Dominicalito sits inside a sheltered cove that turns soft on the right tide, which is where a lot of first surf sessions happen. 

Further south, Marino Ballena National Park gives him more to work with again. It was Costa Rica’s first marine national park, established in June 1992, and SINAC lists it as protecting 15 kilometres of Costa Ballena coast plus 5,160 marine hectares. The Dominical area holds some of the top surf spots in the country, and the best surf on any given morning comes down to tide and swell, which is the first thing Junior checks.

Local lifeguards give you extra support. The Guardavidas Costa Ballena association keeps a crew on Dominical Beach and on Playa Hermosa in Uvita every day of the week. Junior is out in the water with you for the whole session, keeping you safe and keeping you confident, and he will tell you exactly why he picked your beach: which sandbar is working, where the current runs, when the tide turns it gentle. 

You might surf Dominical on a small clean morning and the cove the next day once the swell fills in, and his local surf knowledge is what turns a forecast into a plan. Ask him about a sunset surf and he will tell you whether the tide lines up that evening.

What guests say about learning with Junior

Head to our TripAdvisor page and you will notice something quickly. Nearly every review mentions Junior by name. That is the thing we are proudest of.

Sid and Anne called him their excellent and patient surf coach, and wrote that he met them where they were and taught them an incredible amount. For plenty of guests this is their first time surfing, and catching their first wave is what ends up in the review, with his name next to it. 

People who arrived nervous tell us they improved a lot more in a week than they expected. Junior comes highly recommended review after review, and guests describe the team around him as super friendly and attentive.

Staci G, JB, Nicolas M and plenty of others land on the same handful of words. An amazing time. Service that is top notch. One of the best experiences they have had.

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Can Junior teach you at your level?

Yes, and six suites with twelve guests at most is why. Junior builds the week around the people in front of him.

If this would be your first time on a board, the pool session lets you find your footing in private with him first, and learning how to surf in calm water before saltwater changes the whole first day.

Say you have surfed a little and stalled. The video is the unlock, because a plateau is almost always one small mechanical habit and the screen shows it to you in seconds. Green waves, meaning the smooth unbroken face of a wave, come faster once you can see what your hands and hips are doing.

Advanced surfers get a local who puts them on the right wave for the day and pushes them, and guests with prior experience get taken somewhere that challenges them.

He does all three inside the same week, sometimes inside the same session. We cater the week to whoever shows up, and everyone at dinner that night fell over in the same water anyway. If this would be your first stay somewhere like this, the first-timer’s guide covers how the days fit together.

Come surf with Junior

Six suites. Stays from three nights, arriving any day that suits your time off. One coach who will know your name and your surfing by Tuesday.

Check dates for this season and see which weeks are open.

Want to picture it first? A day at Lamangata walks through one, morning by morning, and the ocean view suites show where you land at the end of it. 

Whether this is your first surf experience or your fifteenth, we will build an unforgettable week around it, and the pura vida lifestyle everyone talks about mostly shows up in how little of it you have to organise yourself. One evening you will be out on the deck with salt still in your hair and a plate coming out, and Junior will already be squinting at tomorrow’s tide.

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Frequently Asked Questions

Do I need to book a Dominical surf school separately?

No. Coaching is part of your stay at Lamangata, along with Firewire board rental, chauffeured transport to the beach, and the video review afterwards. Guests searching for a surf school in Dominical find all of it already arranged when they arrive, and you can see what each package covers when you check dates for this season.

Is Lamangata a surf camp or a resort?

Lamangata is a six-room boutique resort where coaching sits at the center of the week alongside the food and the suites. Guests weighing it against a Costa Rica surf camp choose it for the gourmet dinners, the private ocean view suites, and a week planned start to finish. Among surf schools in Costa Rica, working with the same head coach every single day is the part guests mention most.

Can Junior teach a complete beginner?

Yes, and most of the people he coaches came here to learn to surf for the first time. Every session opens with a warm-up in the infinity lap pool so you rehearse paddling and the pop-up in calm water, which is why reviews from first-timers are the strongest part of our TripAdvisor page.

Will an intermediate or advanced rider improve in a week?

Usually. The video is what moves people with prior experience, because a plateau is almost always one small mechanical habit, and the screen shows it to you in seconds. Guests regularly call our expert instructors the best instructors they have worked with, and Junior matches the beach and the wave to the level in front of him.

Am I guaranteed to stand up and ride waves after a week?

Lamangata does not guarantee a specific outcome, because progression depends on your skill level, the conditions, and how many days you spend in the water. What we can tell you is the track record: 99% of guests stand up on a board before the week is out. Riding the waves unassisted is a separate milestone and it arrives at its own pace, and both of those are normal.

When is the best time of year to surf here?

Waves work here year round. The rainy season from May through November, which Costa Ricans call the green season, brings the most consistent swell along with afternoon downpours and a much quieter coast. December through April runs drier and lighter, which suits a first surf vacation. Junior surfs here every month, so surf trips work whenever your calendar opens up.

Where do the surf lessons happen?

Junior chooses the beach each morning from the swell, the wind, and the tide. The town break, the cove at Dominicalito, and the beaches around Uvita inside Marino Ballena National Park are the regular options, all a short drive from the resort in a chauffeured SUV with the boards loaded.