Around The World In 80 Waves

I sleep well but wake up really early to a very strange scratching noise at the front door. Tentatively I open it only for what I think is a spider nearly as big as my fist to run inside the cabana.

It turns out it was a hermit crab and I got this poor photograph once I had climbed back off the bed.

I really am that close to the beach here and had to chase him out with a book!

Once the sun comes up I check out the surf which is still gorgeous but has dropped considerably. Due to this and because I still have far to go in Mexico I don’t go in instead treating myself to a monster fry up before departing, having miraculously managed to score all the supplies for one the day before.

The road souh leads me to Zihuatenejo, where I stop to get some more cash. I was already aware of the fighing village because it is where banker Andy Dufresne (Tim Robbins) escapes to in the movie ‘The Shawshank Redemption’

He is later joined there by Morgan Freeman’s character Ellis Boyd “Red” Redding after he is released on parole. (A bit of related movie trivia for you on this is that not everybody knows the story was actually written by Stephen King the writer of horror novels such as Carrie and The Shining)

It is now very much a major tourist resort but the sheltered bay is gorgeous and I can see why anybody would want to escape here.

Sadly for me it is too sheltered and there are no waves so I must push on once more.

After my surf I decide that this place is too good not to stay overnight.

After a bit of running around to find the owner I get a lovely cabana right on the beach. Once I have unloaded the car and settled in I climb onto the hammock on the porch to watch the sun going down.

I have ‘Alone in Iz World’ by Israel Kamakawiwo’ole playing on my stereo and try to play along with my ukulele. I probably hit one right note but couldn’t be sure.

Life feels pretty good today!

Whilst enjoying the view from my hammock and strumming away I meet a few people keen to see who this Mexican virtuoso is.

I am invited to a party at one of the bars on the beach by a Dutch couple called Tommy and Martine. It  is a birthday party for one of the local girls, and all her family have turned up to celebrate. It is a lovely event and the birthday girl doesn’t seem to mind too much when somebody shoves her face into the cake while she is blowing out the candles.

A local bloke called Juan performs his clown act for the young kids. This was the ‘tight’-rope section where all the kids were asked to brace the rope by holding on to the legs of the two surfers at either end. Very simple but very funny.

I have a great night here and am chatting to all the surfers who are staying, all of whom had assumed I was Mexican until my well clipped ‘Good Afternoon’s had greated them in the water. I even met a expat Welsh surfer called James who grew up in Cardiff but has been living in Oz for 15 years. We have a great chat about the six nations s only a Welsh Rugby fan would understand.

Mexico has at times been very hard work and there hadn’t been any real waves for me here so far. As a consequence I can’t tell you how pleased I was when I pulled off the road at Nexpa to find just about the most perfect lefthand point break I have ever seen.

I was in my boart shorts in about 10 seconds, had the board off the roof about a minute later and started paddling out.

In the background of this picture to my right you can see the beachfront cabanas I later stayed in, and the wildlife over my shoulder to the left was pretty spectacular too.

There was a real cosmopolitan crowd in the warm water with male and female surfers from Canada, Holland, Italy, Australia, Mexico, Austria and the USA surfing the perfect overhead waves. I later discovered that every single one of them assumed I was a local when I paddled out due to the look I have been nurturing. (As Hannibal Smith used to say, ‘I love it when a plan comes together!’)

The surf had really picked up and I scored so many really long rides surfing on my backhand, snaking up and down the wave which curves into the bay, with this being the picture of the day. However but I kept thinking about my surf stricken goofy footed buddy Pete Griff who would have chewed his own arm off to have enjoyed this never-ending left hand wave.

The break was so predictable it was worth trying my hand with the GoPro’s video capability. This short wave was for you Pete. (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=H1msaiGfrtg&feature=youtu.be) Hope your legs are getting better. I will show you the better footage when I get back. (It has taken 4 hours to upload this short clip!)

I really really need a wave to lift my spirits. I am bored of driving after so many days behind the wheel. I keep getting fleeting glimpses of delightful coves like this one, but as you can see it like everywhere else is flat, even though a swell does seem to be building. There is no point in me hanging around anywhere like this because I have so many miles that I need to cover.

I keep pushing on thinking maybe the next beach will be better or a swell will have arrived. The beaches are beautiful but any waves I can see are two inch high in four inches of water.

This shot is of La Ticla, which is supposed to be a great right hand point break, but it was so windy while I was there only this kiteboarder was in the water. Expensive ding repairs and the clearly visible rocks put me off attempting to surf the small waves near the shore.

Whilst there I met a lovely family who had travelled down in their RV from Los Angeles. I had a great chat with Jordan, Cinthya and Jonathan, exchanging surf tips, and information on breaks.

Jordan usually surfs Huntington Beach back in the US, but is down here for the quieter waves, and Cinthya hails from Mexico originally.

Jordan suggests I push on to the mouth of the Rio Nexpa because the wind should have died by the time I get there.

I keep pushing on.

I passed this on the way south yesterday and like Timbuktu I think it is one of those places in the world that almost nobody has been to, almost everybody has heard of, but nobody knows why.

I didn’t stop so can’t enlighten you further I’m afraid. For some reason I had something else on my mind.

The sea is practically flat so I do another long drive south. The scenery is stunning and sometimes it seems like the jungle is about to claim the road back, but one heavily laden lorry or pickup truck and you are doing less than 20 miles per hour and progress can be painfully slow. It means I drove well into the night yesterday to just make up some ground.

This is not Top Gear though. It is supposed to be a surf trip and I have to say I am getting somewhat bored of driving on these roads. They have as many twists and turns as your average mountain pass through Snowdonia and it is really tiring even if at times it is a lot of fun chucking the car around the corners. However my left arm is developing a trucker’s tan and if I hit one more unannounced speed bump too hard the car may well have another moment on me!

I caused chaos at a toll booth along one of the toll roads last night. Checking my map in the queue it looked like I had taken a wrong turn so I wanted to do a U-turn and go back the other way. Explaining this was hard enough, but the operator had to open another lane and then get all 15 cars behind me to reverse back along the motorway and then turn into the new lane. While thanking him and explaining where I wanted to go he told me it was indeed the right road but just another example of the ‘interesting’ road signage used here. Ooops!

However I made really good progress yesterday and am now in the Michoacan state which is about two thirds of the way down the Mexican coast. I actually passed a few great breaks around Tecoman without realising it but given the sea conditions am sure there would not have been any surf anyway.

I was rather amused the other day to stumble across Top Gear on Mexican TV.

Despite their commentary to the contrary it is actually a popular show here

I had gone to sleep listening to waves crashing on to the shore a few metres away, and wake to this image which should give you some idea of how rustic the place is. As soon as I leave to check the waves I am savaged by sand flies which bite me so many times I look like I have chicken pox!

The noise through the night must have been deceptive because it is practically flat. However I am desperate to break my Mexican duck and Pompis lends me his 9′ board and tells me to head alongside the second breakwater you can sea in the distance here.

I wont tell you it was great because it wasnt but I did get two rides right along the breakwater which I am stoked about. Finally I can claim to have surfed in Mexico, and in just board shorts and a rash vest too. Whilst in the water I was being watched by about 100 pelicans on the breakwater who were passing judgement on my technique, and I saw my by now usual dolphins in the water, loads of fish (no angry ones), but also a foot long green lizard which I am later told was probably an iguana.

Back to the shack (mine is the small one with the blue drum in front of it) to get changed and will head south again.

There is no point sticking around if there is no waves.

I am wishing my mother a very Happy 70th Birthday. One of the big regrets of this trip is that I cannot be there to celebrate this with you.

I hope you get to have some fun today and enjoy the bookbinding course I have treated you to later in the year.

You are always looking out for me Mum and I love you loads for it. We can have a belated birthday meal when I get back.

I also found this online which I hope you like – http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gIkqwWKkQUM

As soon as I leave Mazatlan in the midday sun, the bug is not happy with me. I think I may have ragged it too hard in the morning. I pull in and check all the levels for oil, water, etc and all are good it is just f-ing hot.

A trick I learned in the Sahara desert is to leave your internal heaters on full as you drive, because this takes heat away from the engine. However the downside is that the bug is now a mobile sauna, in which the milk I bought at the start of the day is practically cheee by the end of it! I also cannot go fast because any strain on the engine and I have to pull in again to some shade to let it calm down for half an hour.

All the ground I made up in the morning is lost but I do roll into the small fishing village of San Blas just as the sun is going down. A quick check in my rough guide to Mexico and I spot Stoner’s Surf Camp,  which is named after Ray Stoner who founded it rather than because of the obvious drug taking conclusion I am sure many will have already jumped to. I get this most basic bed in a shack right on the sand for 200 pesos and then have a great night drinking with Pompis who runs the place and is a former champion surfer in Mexico, and Joe who is a surfer from Newport Beach in California who spends half his life in the warm water here.