Tamarindo is a surf town first and everything else second. The beach break in front of town is sand-bottomed and forgiving, which is why there is a surf school every fifty metres; the harder waves are at Playa Grande across the estuary and at Avellanas and Negra to the south.
The other business here is the water: catamaran sunset trips, estuary boat rides into the mangroves at Las Baulas, and diving out at the Catalinas. Playa Grande is a leatherback nesting beach between October and March, and visits are guided and regulated.