Witch's Rock Surf Camp

By 2006, WRSC had reached it's current size of 18 rooms. The economy was exploding, there was development everywhere you looked, and things started feeling like they were moving a little bit too fast. As our environmental impact awareness grew, instead of continuing to expand our resort, Witch's Rock Surf Camp started a series of environmental "side projects". These projects included constructing one of the largest and most effective water treatment plant systems on the beach in Costa Rica and building a bio-diesel reactor that allows us to convert our restaurant's used cooking oil into a biofuel to run our vehicles. These projects became known as the Zephyr Eco Project, and over time these projects grew and grew. In the years that followed, WRSC purchased a large farm property in the hills overlooking Marbella and San Juanillo (we call it the Zephyr Eco farm). We began utilizing more environmentally friendly materials such as earthbags, bamboo, sugarcane, and teak for everything from furniture to our new El Vaquero bar. We began making a non-petroleum based surf wax from local beeswax. We began organic farming, raising hundreds of healthy, tasty chickens that we serve in Eat @ Joe's. We opened an organic market within WRSC and networked with organic farms throughout Guanacaste to provide healthy food for residents of the Tamarindo area. Our plan had become more and more clear: we would strive to be successful in business while adhering to principles of sustainability, and we wanted to share everything we were learning with those around us. Instead of expanding WRSC any further, we decided that we would build an eco lodge on the Zephyr farm where guests could experience all of these things first-hand. But, as you know, the economy was less than stellar these last few years. Despite owning dump trucks and backhoes, building roads and water systems, working with architects, engineers, hydrologists, topographers, lawyers and investors, we decided that it was not practical to take on the construction of an eco resort on our farm. Things changed in 2011. We were given an opportunity to take over an existing eco lodge resort property overlooking Lake Arenal and it's many volcanoes. As we spent more time there, we began to understand how much the rim of Lake Arenal is a true center for sustainability. Wind farms, hydroelectric plants and geothermal systems all work to produce clean energy that is used by over 90% of Costa Rica. A nucleus for farming and agriculture, the volcanic soils in this region allow for the production of amazing crops. Moving here would allow us to continue and expand our many "side projects", to develop the eco lodge we had always wanted to build, and to be able to share this all with the world! And… besides being an amazing eco lodge, the property also boasted something very unique and very much something I had always wanted to be a part of: it's very own microbrewery.