On Costa Rica’s north Pacific coast, in Guanacaste, Playa Grande and Playa Ventanas form part of the protected coastal landscape of . The two beaches are close to Tamarindo, but they have a noticeably more natural and peaceful character.

Playa Grande is a long, wide Pacific beach famous for its surfing, sunsets, wildlife, and leatherback turtles. The open shoreline has powerful waves and a broad stretch of sand.

Mirador Playa Ventanas is a smaller and more secluded beach just north of Playa Grande. It as a beach surrounded by rocky headlands and mountains, with white sand, strong waves, and opportunities for swimming, sunbathing, hiking, and enjoying the scenery.

Playa Grande and Playa Ventanas represent an interesting combination of Costa Rica's natural beauty, surfing culture, and conservation history.

Most importantly, when visiting these beaches, the experience is not simply about sun and sand. You are standing on beaches that have become part of an international conservation story—places where ancient leatherback turtles still return to the shore, continuing a cycle that has existed for millions of years.

COSTA RICA

heart of the beach

Walking on the beach on the Pacific coast of Costa Rica, enjoying the scenery, if feels like the ocean seems to keep secrets.

The beach appeared almost untouched—wide stretches of pale sand, thick green vegetation beyond the dunes, and a brilliant blue sky that seemed to go on forever. There were no buildings in sight, no traffic, and no sound except the wind, the birds, and the distant rhythm of waves.

One morning, a storm far out at sea sent a strange collection of driftwood ashore. Among the pieces was a great fallen tree, twisted and bleached by years of sun and salt. Its branches reached upward like arms, and someone had propped smaller sticks against it until it looked almost like a little wooden creature standing guard over the beach.

But there was something else that caught the eye.

Perched perfectly on one of the tree's branches was a coconut, as though someone—or perhaps the sea itself—had carefully placed it there. It looked almost like a little traveler taking a rest after a long journey across the water.

I had to smile when I saw it. "Even the coconuts know where to sit," I joked.

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But when you are there stop at the tree. Have a look if the coconut is still balanced on its branch and walk down to the strange heart-shaped sculpture in the sand. Then just sit quietly, watching the waves roll toward shore. Enjoy the moment.

And perhaps that is the real magic of the Costa Rican beaches.

The driftwood isn't simply wood. The coconut isn't simply a coconut. The heart isn't simply a collection of roots and branches.

They are reminders that the ocean takes things away, carries them across great distances, and sometimes—when the time is right—brings something back.

The beach remembers.

And sometimes, if we are lucky, nature leaves us a little sign that says:

You are exactly where you are meant to be.

A little farther down the beach lay something even stranger: an enormous tangle of roots and branches, thrown onto the sand by the sea. The weathered wood curved and twisted into the shape of a great heart.

The Heart of the Beach.

No one had carved it. No artist had shaped it. Wind, waves, sand, and time had done all the work. The heart seemed to be nature's own sculpture—a reminder that beauty sometimes appears without anyone planning it.

Looking at all this beauty of the nature I could feel the story about the beach:

The story says that long ago, before roads and hotels and maps, a fisherman named Mateo lived near the coast. One night, a terrible storm arrived. Mateo went out in his small boat to rescue another fisherman who had failed to return.

He never came back.

For years, people searched the shoreline for some sign of him. Then, one morning after another great storm, a massive tree washed onto the beach. Its trunk formed a strange seat facing the ocean. The fishermen believed the sea had brought it there for Mateo—that somehow, in its own mysterious way, the ocean had remembered him.

And then came the coconut.

Every few years, after a powerful storm, a coconut would appear on the old tree. Always in a different place, but always somewhere where it could be seen. The fishermen began to believe the coconut was Mateo's way of saying that he was still traveling with the sea.

Then one year, the great heart-shaped sculpture appeared beside the tree. That was when the old fishermen changed the story. They said the heart had been made by the ocean to remind everyone why Mateo had gone out that stormy night in the first place.

He had gone because he cared about someone else.

And so the beach had created three symbols:

The tree—for the journeys we take.

The coconut—for the travelers carried by the sea.

The heart—for the love that makes us brave enough to help someone else.

Nobody will ever know whether the story is true.

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