Cali Trip - 3

Truthfully, I was fully prepared for a big disappointment. Instead, everything has been off the chart, as if California wanted to prove to me what the big draw was..why property is so expensive, why gas is so expensive. If there was ever a reason for foreigeners to come to the states, California seemed to have it.

One thing to know is that parking is a premium. Everywhere we went, we were surprised if we found a parking space. As east-coasters, our big advantage was that we were still biologically 3 hours earlier than the locals. We were both up and at 'em way before anyone else. So it was that when we arrived at Huntington pier Sunday, even though we had to pay $15 to park, we had one of the best parking spots. From what I have seen here, I'm sure people were waiting to get in later in the day. The waves were big and not perfect. The guys had a hard time catching the waves and I noticed that almost everyone was riding boards that were so small that they were about a foot underwater when they were sitting still. Lots of older men and some guys that didn't look in great shape were out, even though the situation was way beyond my abilities. I noticed some young people trying to get out that looked like they had no business in the water that day. I had a hard time understanding that. We sat on the pier for hours, people watching and watching the surf action up close. Then we took to the beach and it was then Pam spotted two guys on SUPs doing crazy stuff, like shooting the pier. This shot is of one of the two, and I'm pretty sure it is Laird Hamilton!

Cali trip - 2

Sometimes in life, the really interesting things just happen. On Saturday, we decided to drive around the boat harbor in Oceanside. We had stopped earlier in a park in La Jolla that had a big place where sea lions hang out..what the photos don't show is the smell...which is about as bad as a zoo.
I thought that was it until late in the day, when we stopped to take a sunset photo, and heard that same familiar barking sound and saw this sea lion, striking a pose. He was fending off any other sea lions that tried to come on to the dock with him, and they kept trying. About two dock over there were a pile of sea lions just snoozing, but one of them would bark, and the big guy would bark back. The people that had boats there were laughing and telling us that the big guy comes up on the dock for a photo op...it really did seem like that with about a dozen people snapping pix and trying to get their best shot while the sea lion preened to show his best side...this trip is just plain full of happy accidents...

The Cali Trip

This is one of those trips where you just go and see what happens. So far, it has been amazing. There is a hurricane down by Baja, and it is causing sizeable waves up and down the coast. Our very first morning, we thought to get up from our hotel room in La Jolla, and just drive to the beach. It was almost 7am and this little street was lined with cars and people getting boards off the cars. We found the very last empty parking spot and sat on a park bench for an hour watching the most incredible waves and surfers. I found out by asking someone that this was actually, WindandSea, a famous surfing spot. Far from worrying about localism and getting beat up for trying to surf here...it looked like a place where you don't get in the water unless you know what you are doing...I get that feeling a lot here. There are places like Huntington Beach park, where it looks like you could learn to surf, and then there are places like this where it looks like you could die out there. Sometimes taking photos sounds like the best thing to do!

Florida And The Whirly Girl Season

What's it like to be a Florida surfer? On a day like this, you are just hoping that the leftovers from the latest hurricane will send us swell for one more day so we can benefit. If, like me, you live far from the surf spots, you count on the webcams and weather reports. With hurricane weather, it's more difficult to predict, so a day like today that was supposed to be washing machine conditions turns out to be nice and semi-glassy with hundreds of surfers out...but not us landlocked folks, we find out too late. Then there are the other times, when you drive for an hour and a half only to find the prediction to be wrong and it's unsurfable. We shall find out soon, and what it does mean is that in spite of all of the technology produced in the last 40 years, you still get excited about what it might be like once you climb out of the car and mount the steps of the walkway to the beach. It could be anything, but it's never boring....

The Days We Wait For

In Florida, the thing you want for the outdoors are those summer days when the water feels great and the sun shines bright. Not much fun for going to work with a coat and tie, but just what you need for the beach. We are in the middle of it now, every weekend calling out to me from Tuesday, promising that it will be as much fun as the last. Someday in the future, it will be cold and windy, but for right now, I shake off the sweat and think about the next trip to my favorite place...

Just Another Beautiful Summer Day On The Water

We hit the water at 7:30 am yesterday and made a leisurely trip to Dog Island on Lake Maitland. It's a great way to enjoy a summer day before it gets too hot and too many ski boats on the lake. It seems like no matter how many times I do this, it just feels like the right place to be. You don't have to be a millionaire to be happy, you just needs moments like this...

When Tuesday Turns Into The Best Day Of The Week

Unexpectedly, I got a call from one of my surf buddies and was invited to go with them on dawn patrol for some tropical storm Bertha waves. The hype was that Tuesday morning was the day the wind would swing around. It was difficult and exciting..and that was just getting there before sunup! The waves didn't look small, but they didn't like it was going to be difficult until we got in the mix. The water temp was perfect, like bathwater, but the sun was stuck behind some early morning thunderheads, which gave bit of a creepy look to the morning. We headed out into the water, doing our best not to think about sharks feeding in the early morning hours and proceed to wind our way through the sets. I thought I had it timed just right and got outside without anything to complain about when a cleanup wave came and carried me all the way back to the beach. That is part of the problem with my 10' 6" Mickey Munoz board. It paddles very fast and loves to catch waves, but a cresting wave is likely to take me a long way back in. I finally got the nerve to take off on what looked like a closeout and got a good ride. I was stoked because I have spent so much time on paddleboards lately, that I was getting concerned on being able to get to my feet on a wave.
I was starting to feel more at home as the sun came up and boldly stayed a little too long in one wave. I got munched, and then realized that I could not even reach my board and hang on to it. I was smack right in the middle of the closeout zone and took 4 waves in a row before I could get my board back and right then, I decided it was a good time to take some photos!
Great friends, a beautiful morning, and pix to prove it all happened...going to work after? no problema....