Whilst surfing dominates this coast, Malpaís’s Mana Va’a canoe club offers a complementary ocean discipline: a late-afternoon voyage driven by collective rhythm, geothermal waters and starlight.
Surfing will always be the undisputed heartbeat of the Nicoya Peninsula. Travellers journey across continents to line up along the beach breaks of Santa Teresa, seeking that pure, electric moment of catching a wave. Yet for all its beauty, surfing is an individual pursuit, a solo dance between rider and ocean. For those who love the sea, whether you ride waves daily or simply want to experience the Pacific without standing on a surfboard, a complementary ocean discipline has taken root off the rocky coast of Malpaís: the Polynesian outrigger canoe, or va’a.
Max and Santi’s Argentine Dream
The story of Mana Va’a, Costa Rica’s first outrigger canoe club, began thousands of miles south on the waters of Argentina. Max met his close friend and fellow paddler Santi while training in outrigger canoes there. Both lifelong watermen, they were drawn to the philosophy surrounding va’a: the understanding that a canoe is more than a piece of sporting equipment. It is a vessel whose movement depends on shared effort, mutual trust and synchronisation. Looking out over the Argentine waters, they shared a dream: to bring this ancient Pacific craft to the warm, wild ocean of Costa Rica’s Nicoya Peninsula, creating a place where locals and travellers could learn to read the ocean as a team.
The Polynesian Ethos
At 4:00 pm, as the harsh midday heat begins to soften into gold, six of us wheel a sleek Polynesian canoe through the gentle shorebreak off Malpaís. Santi takes his place at the front and Max at the back. From either end of the hull, they gently guide us through launching it into the water before we climb aboard.
In surfing, every person operates as an individual. Inside an outrigger, that instinct gives way to the needs of the crew. The canoe seats six paddlers, each with a responsibility: the first paddler sets the stroke tempo at the bow; the second mirrors that timing; the middle seats provide much of the boat’s power; and the paddler at the stern steers with a wooden paddle. When all six blades hit the green water at the same time, something extraordinary happens. The heavy craft lifts and glides across the open ocean with a smooth velocity that feels almost weightless. You don’t just feel your own effort, you feel the combined force of six people breathing and pulling in unison.
Sunset from the Sea and Geothermal Bubbles
Every evening in Santa Teresa, crowds gather on the sand to watch the day end. It is a beautiful ritual, but watching the sunset from the sea, floating beyond the surf line with no engine beneath you, feels entirely different. As we paddle along the headlands towards Cabo Blanco Nature Reserve, the sky begins its transformation. The water catches bands of copper, amber and deep crimson. Sitting in the Pacific as the sun dips below the horizon, with the dark green canopy rising behind the shore, gives you a sense of the coast’s scale that is difficult to find on land.
Halfway along our route, as twilight deepens, Max calls for us to put down our wooden paddles and slip over the gunwales into the water. Below us, streams of geothermal bubbles rise through the sea. Floating in the middle of the Pacific, surrounded by them while the last light fades from the sky, is pure magic.
The Midnight Wake: Bioluminescent Night Voyages
On moonless nights, Mana Va’a offers a separate evening expedition that feels like stepping directly into ancient mythology. Max and Santi guide a small group to a place known to them, where the darkness reveals something the daylight cannot. When the canoe reaches the right stretch of water and the blades dip beneath the surface, the sea wakes up. Every paddle stroke disturbs bioluminescent organisms, sending light through the dark water. The hull cuts a glowing blue wake across the ocean, while droplets falling from the paddles shine briefly before disappearing into the deep.
Paddling through that illuminated water in near silence feels otherworldly. Max and Santi have spoken of nights when manta rays have passed beneath the canoe, their immense wings traced for a moment in blue light. A sighting can never be promised, but their stories lend another dimension to the darkness: a reminder of the extraordinary marine life moving beneath the surface, providing glimpses into a completely different world.
Community and Legacy
What Max and Santi have built in Malpaís extends far beyond a single ocean outing. Their journey from paddling together in Argentina to establishing Costa Rica’s first outrigger canoe club has begun to grow a community around the sport. They are also training local athletes, with the ambition of forming a Costa Rican team for international competition. Whether you are preparing for a regatta or stepping into an outrigger for the first time, the heart of what they teach is the same. Mana Va’a offers a way into the Pacific that depends on shared breath, collective power and learning to pay attention to the water together: the ultimate companion to a life lived beside the waves.
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Discover Max & Santi’s World
Discover Max & Santi’s Polynesian Canoe experience in Mal Pais, Costa Rica.
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