Craig and Tristan Cohen launching the first-ever NIFF today! They discuss their goal of building a film festival in Nosara that supports artists and brings world-class story telling to our community.
Tristan shares the goal to create a space where it’s not just about the movie and then leave. He says: “It’s more about the connection that the environment sparks. How to bring people together in a community full of art, but hasn’t quite matched into its fullest potential”.
La Asociación Cívica de Nosara anuncia un nuevo programa Covirena para hacer cumplir las reglas de que estamos en una reserva natural. No más perros, motocicletas, fogatas u otras cosas en la playa que puedan dañar el medio ambiente o las áreas de anidación de las tortugas.
Nosara Civic Association is announcing new Covirena program to enforce the rules we are in a nature reserve. No more dogs, motorcycles, fires, or other things on beach which may hurt the environment & or nesting areas for the turtles.
I’m grateful for so many things about life in Nosara… Surf of course #1, then followed by people & the community in general, then perhaps variety of weather, waves & types of people with season adjustments, & there’s more. But music wasn’t in top choices here until November 1st 2023. That’s when I started playing at Alt Fin Co at Outpost in Playa Guiones K section across from Surf Simply & near Beach Dog Cafe & El Campo.
Since then I’m reconnecting with many friendships, clients gathered over the years & just overall enjoying myself and the challenge of it all. My favorite jam sessions are the freestyle ones where someone just names a subject & off we go… However, on this night I was super nervous because my first time playing publicly with Garret “G Love” Dutton who has been a long time friend since about 2010 when he did his first Nosara Benefit show at that time for the Surfing Nosara Foundation to help local schools. Erik Antonson is to thank for starting all of this and to this date we’re all friends & I’m hoping we can get Nosara Acoustic Roots Festival back up & rolling.
Ideally we get G Love, Jack Johnson, Donovan Frankenreiter, Ben Harper type folks together for an ideal kind of festival. Nosara is a model town for the world to see and in protecting it and its people other places may benefit, too.
My music history is 2 years of piano 10 to 12, then picking up a guitar at 22 years old & mainly being self taught with a bit of time in contemporary church bands before moving to Nosara full time in 2009. My most interesting setup up till 2009 was playing upright bass in a bluegrass band called Tin Penny in St. Augustine, Florida. This style of music really caught my attention & formulated my style for future years.
When when Nosara happened, I pretty much dropped music except for Kaiya’s Del Mar Academy talent show in 2011 or so & a couple times at Il Basílico, Harbor Reef (RIP), and here or there with a friend like Josh, Tacu, or Darrin E on percussion.
So mainly it was me fingerpicking in the jungle in between letting my kids beat me up in karate, boxing, Muay Thai, or BJJ & UFC TUF episodes & Gracie Jiu Jitsu lessons as part of their homeschool.
But the kids are old now & I’m pumped to be back into music. Was terrifying getting out in front of people because when you stink in music super visible. At same time, I’m not trying to make any money or be famous. I just want to make interesting music that flows and generally has pretty strong bass lines.
If you’ve been in town for the past couple of weeks you’ve probably noticed an enormous sailboat sitting way outside at Playa Guiones. We normally don’t have boats that large come and sit around here for this amount of time. Lots of people have been asking what’s going on with that and why is it here?
Photo: Kaiya
Earlier today I spoke with one of the owners, Liesel, and she filled me in. They are from South Africa and are basically sailing around the world chasing surf. They sailed across the Atlantic, through the Caribbean, passed through the Panama Canal and eventually made their way up here to Costa Rica. Early next week once the winds arrive they are heading up to Tamarindo then across the Pacific all the way to Fiji where they are going to surf Cloudbreak.
Overall my personal opinion is their boat is magnificent and I have massive respect for their ability to navigate the world and am jealous of their financial freedom to do so.
However, I am EXTREMELY concerned about boats motoring in and out of the lineups in Guiones. It is very crowded here and I don’t want anyone to get hurt. Fortunately, these guys are really kind and super experienced with boats moving through the surf.
Pelada or Garza are easier points of entry so it is rare to have a boat of this magnitude out front in Guiones.
