Are There Sharks in Costa Rica? An Honest Answer From People Who Surf Here Daily

Every so often a guest asks me, usually a little sheepishly, some version of: are there sharks in Costa Rica, and am I going to meet one? It’s a fair question, and I’d rather answer it straight than wave it away, because the true answer puts people at ease.

Yes, sharks live in the waters off Costa Rica, as they do off every coastline on earth. And the odds of one troubling you while you learn to surf here, especially where we surf around Dominical, are so small they’re not worth the space in your head. You’re far more likely to get a sunburn you regret. Let me explain why.

Costa Rica’s shark risk is already very low

Costa Rica doesn’t have the profile of a place where surfers worry about sharks. Unprovoked incidents here are exceedingly rare. The country records a handful across entire decades, most involving spearfishing or remote, deep-water conditions that have nothing to do with a beginner in the whitewater at a sandy beach break. Set that against the mental picture people arrive with, usually borrowed from somewhere else entirely, and the gap is enormous.

The waves you’ll surf here break over sand, close to shore, with a coach beside you. That’s not where the ocean’s larger residents spend their time.

And it’s even lower where we surf

This is the part most general Costa Rica guides miss, because they treat the whole country as one place. It isn’t.

Our stretch of the South Pacific coast around Dominical sits in warm water, around 78°F year-round, which is why you’ll never need a wetsuit with us. Drive a few hours north into Guanacaste and the Nicoya Peninsula, and depending on the season and the currents, the water runs noticeably colder. Some surfers up there reach for a spring wetsuit at certain times of year. We never do.

That temperature difference matters more than it sounds. The conditions that occasionally bring larger sharks closer to shore elsewhere aren’t the conditions on our beaches. Costa Rica’s shark risk is already low. In this warm, shallow, sandy water, it’s about as close to a non-issue as the ocean gets.

What we watch for (and it isn’t sharks)

I won’t pretend the ocean has no hazards. That would be the dishonest kind of reassurance. The real ones are mundane and manageable, which is the whole point of surfing with people who know the beach:

• Rip currents. The one thing to respect on any beach break. It’s why our sessions run with a coach in the water beside you, and why we time every session to the tide, so you’re learning where and when the ocean is friendliest.
• Sun. Nine degrees north of the equator, the sun is no joke. Reef-safe sunscreen, a rash guard, shade between sessions. This is the hazard that catches people out.
• Your own enthusiasm. The most common “injury” we see is a guest paddling out for one more wave when their arms have quietly given up. We watch for that too.

So, should you worry?

No one can promise you a shark-free ocean, and I wouldn’t trust anyone who did. What I can tell you, after more than fifteen years of surfing this coast most mornings the tide allows, is that in all that time sharks have never been something our guests or our coaches think about once they’re here. The warm, shallow, sandy waves around Dominical are one of the gentler places in the world to learn, and that’s a big part of why we built here.

If the ocean has been the thing holding you back, let it go. Come see how calm it is. Here’s what a week with us looks like, and if you’re brand new, this is how we teach people who’ve never stood on a board. Most of them are riding waves by day two, thinking about lunch, not fins.

Kjeld co-founded Kalon Surf in Dominical with his wife Silene. He’s surfed Costa Rica’s South Pacific coast since 2010.