Thanks to the quick response of lifeguards, the Cruz Roja (Red Cross) and surf instructors in Jaco Beach, ten teenage tourists lived to enjoy another day in Costa Rica. Such was a recent scene witnessed and described by Captain Richard Barone, a nature conservation activist known as Capi from his blog Capi Writes.
According to Capt. Barone, the teenagers were playing in the rough surf conditions of Jaco, a beach that not only attracts surfers from around the world but also expats and many other tourists. Jaco Beach, which is often called “Gringo Beach” by derisive Ticos, is easy to get to from San Jose, which adds to its status as a popular tourist destination, but it is not the most ideal beach for swimming.
To get the full account of the incident, please read Capi’s blog post here. Sadly, this is not something unusual, and it bears paying attention to the following few paragraphs, which have been slightly edited for spelling and grammar:
The most shocking aspect for me to witness was the ungratefulness and ignorance of the tourist group, which had been warned by several other lifeguards on the beach of the serious currents that afternoon.
As is typical of drowning and near drowning events, for many of the teens present it was their first experience in the ocean. Some of the teens were in visible shock after the event as they walked off the beach while others appeared to brush the event off in denial of the near tragedy.
However for the most part the typical tourist group seemed unimpressed as did the few typical gringo bar flies present that shrugged not amused…
Not only did the tourists appear ungrateful but they crassly displayed their lack of social skills leaving the lifeguards, ambulance personnel and surfers without so much as a thank you, let alone an offering of a drink or lunch!
Capi has updated the blog post to indicated that the teenagers did return afterward to thank their saviors, one of them being Tico lifeguard Seco Herrera Samudio, pictured in this article. Capt. Barone has also promised to post a video of the incident at a later time.
Most beaches in Costa Rica do not have lifeguards on duty, and few of them post warning signs with regard to surf conditions. Jaco Beach, however, enjoys protection by brave lifeguards, trained Red Cross workers, and members of the Tourism Police -a special unit of Fuerza Publica. These protectors of life and safety in Jaco Beach are proactive; they are known to warn tourists about rip currents and other dangerous surf conditions that could prove to be too much to handle for the average swimmer. Warning signs are posted in Jaco Beach, but they are often ignored by tourists who have had too many bottles of Imperial at the numerous beach bears.
The situation for lifeguards in Costa Rica will hopefully change in the future as greater awareness of their hard work appears in the media. Last year, for example, Tica model Andreina Samudio, a smoldering beach bombshell who is also an avid surfer, completed lifeguard training in Jaco Beach -which culminates with a four and half kilometer ocean swim across Jaco. Although Andreina will probably earn a lot more with her modeling gigs, her lifeguard certification brings certainly brings attention to this noble profession.
In a previous article, the Costa Rica Star wrote about how a veteran lifeguard came out of retirement in Dominical to perform a heroic rescue. Since then, the National Association of Lifeguards in Costa Rica has continued its efforts to keep professionalism high among these guardians of the beach. Lead by Captain Luis Hidalgo, the Association has trained more than 700 lifeguards in Costa Rica over the last 13 years. Greater awareness and visibility of lifeguards in Costa Rica is a win-win situation.