Cover photo: Tony Zacharek

The swell that hit the Central American Caribbean a few weeks ago made history on all the islands that were in its path and then on the continent. Perfect conditions and tubes and more tubes almost everywhere. Leon Glatzer went to the east of his country, Costa Rica, and found plenty of sea but bad winds. He had to force his luck and his pocketbook, spending more than planned to get to Bocas del Toro and surf several of the surfer's best waves.

That extra effort was key to turning the bad luck of the first instance into the great hits seen below.

"One of the best aerials I've ever done in my life," if an aerialist like Leon says it, you have to stop and look at it carefully. An immaculate Kerrupt from the Costa Rican who shows that man doesn't live on tubes alone. Sequence: Shane Leon

Tell us if the trip was planned because it was known that this swellazo was traveling to the Central American Caribbean or if it was already scheduled beforehand and you got lucky.
We saw this swell coming a week before with Fabián Sánchez (SurfingNation photographer), but the original plan was to go to the Caribbean of Costa Rica, to Salsa Brava, but when we arrived it was too big and too overgrown, with waves that were unsurfable and also very stormy.

We were a little sad because we had high expectations. Two hours later I received a call from Bolívar Andrés, a friend from Bocas del Toro who surfs incredibly and is the captain of the trimaran we were on later for the entire trip. I call him “the captain of Bocas.” He is one of the most incredible people I have ever met, very humble and passionate about surfing more than anyone else. He called me and told me that all the pros were in Bocas. And that it was epic and offshore all day. Fabián and I raced off there.

We didn't have the budget to travel but we definitely didn't want to miss this swell, so we took the risk and it ended up being one of the best trips of my life.

Were you going from wave to wave using the trimaran?
No, we just slept there parked on a dock. He had another small boat and we used that to move around everywhere, from wave to wave.

Compared to the other places you've been, how does Bocas rank?
It's in my top 3 of the places I've surfed in my life.

Describe the best wave of the trip.
The best wave of the trip was one where I started with a five-second barrel, went out, did a Kerrupt Flip, and then a big carve. I combined my three favorite moves on the wave.

And the worst blow?
At Silverbacks, I fell headfirst and was underwater for about a minute. I was really scared.

If you could sum up this trip in a few words, what would you say?
A surreal trip. I never imagined that such a spontaneous decision would be one of the best of my life.