The Essential Costa Rica Open Pro is in its third day of action and for the second time in these three days a delay occurred because of the presence of a crocodile in the water.

Round 5 of the male competition was underway when Brazilian surfer Tales Rodrígues alerted of the presence of the reptile, which he later told Surfline website was about the size of his surf board.

Immediately the four surfers that were part of that heat left the ocean, and the lifeguards with their jet skis searched for the crocodile and one of them mentioned seeing it.

On Wednesday when the competition kicked off, an Australian surfer alerted of the presence of a crocodile in the area but life guards where unable to find it.

Due to this unexpected situation the scheduled heats were not completed today; Rodrigues and other surfers expressed their concerned and stated they did not want to take part of the competition tomorrow. Diego Naranjo, representative of Orange Wave, promoter of the event, stated that the competition will resume tomorrow with normality, the organization will continue to search the area to prevent any danger for the participating athletes. “What happened is something extreme, but normal in Costa Rica, like it is normal to see sharks in J-bay and the U.S. East Coast; we just have to continue with the security protocol and do checkups prior to each heat,” said Naranjo.

Today’s results WSL Essential Costa Rica Open Pro 3000:

Out of the four male Costa Rican athletes that were still in competition today only two advanced to the fifth round, Carlos “Cali” Muñoz who got second place of his hit with a score of 14.14 and Noe Mar McGonagle who classified first in his hit with 12.23 points.

The rest of the 32 male athletes who went through to round 5 are:

Tales Rodrigues (BRA) 13.97, Ethan Ewing (AUS) 13.83, Luel Felipe (BRA) 16.93, Vasco Ribeiro (PRT) 10.73, Miguel Tudela (PER) 12.84, Tomas Fernandes (PRT) 10.57, Marcos Correa (BRA) 15.67, Santiago Muniz (ARG) 14.43, Federico Morais (PRT) 12.50, Matt Passaquindici (USA) 11.93, Luke Dillon (GBR) 10.90, Jordy Collins (USA) 12.33, Lucas Silveira (BRA) 12.13, Deivid Silva (BRA) 18.67, Alonso Correa (PER) 15.57 , Ian Gouveia (BRA) 14.93, Jackson Baker (AUS) 13.76, Granger Larsen (HAW) 13.50, Lucca Mesinas (PER) 18.36, Andi Criere (FRA) 14.03, Jorgann Couzinet (REU) 16.50, ONey Andwar (IDN) 15.34, Jake Marshall (USA) 14.84, Mateia Hiquily (PYF) 15.37, Dimitri Ouvre (BLM) 12.56, Timothee Bisso (GLP) 15.60, Keoni Yan (HAW) 12.27, Yago Dora (BRA) 12.73 and Olamana Eleogram (HAW) 11.46

Deivid Silva from Brasil had the best wave of the day with a perfect score.

Tomorrow these surfers will be competing in Round 5, where 16 will continue on to Round 6 and 8 to the quarter finals. Semi Finals and
Finals are scheduled for Sunday.

Women’s round 2 was supposed to take place today, but it was rescheduled for tomorrow, (as long as no more crocs decide to interrupt the competition) with round 2, round 3 and the QF. Four Costa Rican athletes will be participating.