SUP, short for Stand-Up Paddleboard, is quickly becoming the new big thing in surfing, and for a good reason - it’s super fun! Stand-up paddlesurfing is just like surfing a regular longboard, only you’re already up and riding before the wave ever gets to you! Green Iguana offers SUP courses of five, seven, and ten days, and we also do single lessons - just tell us what you’re interested in, and we'll make it happen for you!

For first-timers who decide on a full course of SUP lessons instead of regular surf lessons, your first lesson isn’t about riding waves, it’s all about learning how to stand up and paddle your SUP properly in flat-water conditions, to help yobuild confidence as well as muscle memory. This lesson is also a great tour, as it’s held in a beautiful, tropical mangrove estuary, as immersed in nature as you can get. The lesson starts out by teaching you how to stand up, proper balance and foot placement, and how to paddle your board. As the lesson progresses and your instructor guides you around the mangroves while teaching you proper technique, you’ll find your basic skills starting to improve.

After your initial lesson at the estuary, you’ll spend the next day paddling your SUP in the ocean, at one of the local beaches exploring some of the coastal formations, and learning to get your sea legs. The second lesson is designed to teach you to feel comfortable paddling your board in ocean conditions, and while wave riding is not the primary focus on this lesson, if you feel like giving it a shot, we’ll be glad to get you paddling into some small waves. The following days are all about learning how to consistently paddle into waves and how to ride them successfully. You’ll learn how to properly steer the SUP, by shifting your body weight and dragging your paddle.

There will be times during these lessons when you’ll be tempted to take a break and paddle on out and cruise around the coast, exploring the nooks and crannies, checking out the marine life, searching for hidden pirate booty, etc., and you can do this anytime you’re out!

Those taking an Iguana package vacation with Green Iguana have rental of regular surfboards as well as SUP boards included for the duration of their trip. For individual lessons that are not part of our Iguana package vacation, the SUP is included for 24 hours past the time of the end of each lesson. The same applies to regular surf lessons (not SUP).

Please note: Everyone learns at a different rate, and while pretty much anyone can stand up and paddle around inside an estuary on an SUP, surfing ocean waves is obviously more difficult, and has a learning curve that’s about the same as regular surfing. Everyone who takes surf lessons, whether they’re SUP or regular surf lessons, will learn at a different rate, except for kids, who usually surf like pros after about five minutes of instruction, which invariably makes adults feel really old. Also, please be aware that all surf lessons, whether they’re regular surf lessons or SUP lessons, are scheduled around the tides. All SUP lessons and most regular surf lessons are scheduled around high tide, and this may conflict with regular surf lessons, so we suggest one of the following options:

1. If you’re participating in Green Iguana’s Surf Camp’s Iguana package, you can add on a few SUP lessons to your vacation, without losing any of your regular scheduled surf lessons.
   
   
2. Instead of learning to surf waves on an stand-up paddleboard, you can just take one of two SUP tours we offer - the first is a quiet and peaceful two-hour tour spent exploring a tropical mangrove estuary located about twenty minutes north of Dominical. ($65 per person) The second SUP tour we offer is coastal exploration, and this is a super fun, two to three hour tour exploring local beaches and reefs. We use several different beaches as our starting-off points, including the sea caves at Playa Ventanas, the Whale’s Tale formation at Marino Ballena National Park, and the picturesque beach and outside reefs of Playa Dominicalito. ($80 per person)
   
   
3. Your third option is to make SUP surfing your main focus instead of taking regular surf lessons, and schedule a full five, seven, or ten day SUP surf course. You can add on a few regular surfboard surf lessons if you’d like, or forego them completely and focus entirely on SUP surfing. Either way, if you’re taking an Iguana package, you have full access to our entire line of shortboards, longboards, and SUP’s, and can use them whenever you wish. Check out our Reservations page for more details.
   
   

For individual SUP Surf lessons, the cost is $65 per person, per day.