Around The World In 80 Waves

After my Mexican experience I was keen to get in the water as soon as possible upon crossing the border so the first thing I did this morning was drive to Tilapa on the Pacific coast passing loads of plantations on my way to the coastal fishing town.

Once there I hired a boat to ferry me to the beach, which entailed another trip through a mangrove swamp, but it was easily organised.

My boat captain got me to the beach quickly and promised to pick me up again in a couple of hours. He drops me off pointing at a path to the shore, and I hold back payment to make sure he comes back.

I walk down to the beach which is deserted despite being approximately 5 miles long. The waves look small but I dont care, so I get changed and walk towards the water.

In under five feet of walking on the sand which is like molten lava I run back to my stuff to stand on my board bag. I have actually burnt the underside of my feet! Great. I have to use my board bag as a sort of plank across stepping stones. Continually walking to one end and then spinning it around so I can walk further like something out of the Crystal Maze to get close to the damp sand..

I manage to get there and paddle out. I did have the Go Pro but was trying it facing fowards instead of towards me and didnt get anything worth publishing, so cant really show you what it was like. However what I thought was tiny turns out to be a four foot wave breaking really heavily and closing out all along the shore when it does. To spice things up further there is a powerful undertow dragging your legs out from under you towards the breaking waves. I battle through this nasty inside section and have a go.

I only manage three attempts at waves before being chased out by the sea which gave me a spanking. All of which entailed taking a very fast and vertical drop, then trying to turn (making only one!), the nose of the board jamming in the water, then getting absolutely hammered by the following wave. The undertow makes it really difficult to get back to your feet and I get rolled far more than is comfortable by the ocean. I ate quite a lot of sand during this process.

I did surf it though and am happy to have got off the mark early in Guatemala, so after more Crystal Maze manouevres back to the lagoon I meet my boat and am feeling quite pleased with myself for the journey back to the car.