NOSARA, COSTA RICA - Within a day's journey of Hampton Roads, Nosara, Costa Rica, lies on the Nicoya Peninsula on the country's northern Pacific coast. The destination juxtaposes Third World beauty and Western convenience: an enclave of ox carts and Internet cafes, iguanas and yoga institutes, cantinas and expatriate juice bars.

And waves - plenty of waves. Nosara justifies its reputation for consistent, quality surf. We were greeted with glassy, 10- to 12-foot-faced swells, and, like the Nosara area itself, the waves are accommodating, almost forgiving. For short or long-boarders, kids or the gray set, the beach break offers a long, fun ride. The power is somewhere between that of Virginia Beach and the Outer Banks, but with the faster push-toward-shore speed of the Pacific Ocean. The water is not unlike Hatteras in color, with a brush of blue, but it's 80 degrees or warmer, compared to the usual 60-degree water around the Outer Banks in spring.

"Most of the time I just get my board and go because I know there's going to be waves," says Harry Heinke, a Virginia Beach transplant whose Coconut Harry's Surf Shop stands at a burgeoning little junction a few hundred yards off the beach. "This place is pura vida, pure life."

My roommate from college, his 15-year-old son and I became spoiled with the very real notion that there would be waves and sunshine every day. Not just good waves, but excellent waves. The surf never dropped below overhead with mostly glassy or offshore wind conditions.

We enjoyed morning, noon and evening sessions nearly every day for eight days. Despite some crowds - including a lot of familiar faces from Virginia Beach and the Outer Banks - there were waves for everyone. And because we never had to search for surf, we had time to take in some of the scenery.

Actually named Playa Guiones, but commonly referred to as Nosara for the nearby river and town, the shoreline provides a diverse canvas populated with surfers, Costa Rican teens on mopeds, retirees, shell hunters and the international knapsack set camping beneath the coco palms. Some of the travelers looked like they'd walked to Costa Rica from their home countries, anywhere from New Zealand to France, Argentina to Switzerland.

"Can you tell me a good place to stay that's not too expensive?" asked Liz McKay , from Vancouver, British Columbia. "I think I want to try it here for a while."

Among several hotels around the bay, perhaps the most unusual is the Playas de Nosara on the bay's north point. It is an elaborate, towering structure of stairways and verandas, but with a "Twilight Zone" feel, where few people seem to be staying or working. The vacant feel, however, just accents the hotel's stunning vistas .

Not far north of the hotel is Olga's, a mom-and-pop ocean-side cantina that, for about $3, serves a lunch of freshly speared fish, black beans, rice and vegetables. Knowing a little Spanish expedites the meal.

Past several rock points to the north is Boca Nosara, the Nosara River mouth, which feeds into the ocean and provides a popular fishing site for locals. The river mouth also hosts a nice wave, but rumor has it the place is a feeding ground for bull sharks and crocodiles. Along the river bank the pelicans would hardly move to let us pass. Howler monkeys called from the trees.

"Si, crocodiles and sharks out there, not good to go out there," a local fisherman using a hand-line yelled across the water. "Stay on shore."

South of the Nosara Hotel, the bay stretches toward the other rock point, past waves, palm trees ripe with coconuts and a scattering of fine haciendas sharing the jungle with more modest abodes. In addition to year-round surfing at the bay, Nosara offers excellent deep-sea and river fishing, scuba diving, sailing, horseback riding, canoeing, hiking and more, all within about 10 miles. But getting to these activities takes time because of very poor driving conditions. The rainy season, from May to December, turns dusty roads into mud.

But we were there to surf, and we spent most of our days in the ocean, even during the noonday sun, when the sand is so hot you literally cannot make it to the water without sandals. Thick layers of sunscreen also are mandatory. We caught more good waves in eight days than in a summer of weekend-warrior trips to the Outer Banks.

"I've been coming here for seven years straight, and I've yet to hit anything but good surf," said Ed Willis of Atlantic Beach, N.C. "You'll see me here next year."

Mornings of surfing were followed by breakfast in the open-air restaurant of our hotel, the Villa Taype, about a hundred yards from the bay. In the shade of a palm-thatched patio, we'd feed papaya skins and hibiscus to our iguana neighbors that lived in the dead tree. If not surfing until dark, we'd join the gatherings on the beach to watch the sunset. Latin sounds from the Casa Tucan bar drifted in the night as we walked to the Harbor Reef Lodge restaurant for fresh red fish and sweet slices of fried banana.

And there was the night of the full moon and surf party, after which my old roommate and I got lost on sandy pathways and semi-roads that sort of run parallel to the beach and sort of not.

"Yes, it's easy to get lost after dark in Costa Rica," laughed the night clerk at Villa Taype.

Central America's loose and easy pace of life is addicting, as is the surf.

"You guys hit good waves, but it gets bigger and breaks longer when it's a north swell," said Jamie Schwartz, another Virginia Beach transplant and agent for Surf Sand Real Estate. "It can get even bigger and better during the summer."

Prices in Nosara remain a pretty good bargain, especially in summer . Poor roads should keep the bad side of progress out for a while, along with the cautious attitude of a civic league that recently said no to a Marriott. But even now, the cracking of hammers and buzzing of saws increasingly share the sounds of morning with the birds, the rushing palms and, of course, the waves.