Around The World In 80 Waves

A few more snaps of my time at Pavones because I surfed it so many times once the swell had arrived.

I’m not going to say much because as ever I am having IT issues, the latest of which is the electrical supply in my room does not work, so I cannot easily charge up my computer, which has itself decided separately not to allow me to use the USB ports anymore, making the charging in turn of my phone, Go Pro, etc practically impossible!!!! The computer’s days are numbered, it just doesnt know it yet!

I hope the pictures speak for themselves! A word of explanation on this one though.

The wave breaks so quickly here you really have to build up as much speed as possible to try and link up the different sections. Even then it will often catch you up and break on top of the board, which has a very similar effect to having a rug ripped out from under your feet.

The left at Pavones is simply epic.

You can actually ride it from the rocks at the point that you can see on the left of this picture.

From there you keep going past the river mouth which is just out of sight on the left. 

It doesn’t stop there however because you keep going to the mini-point where the picture above was taken.

Indeed turning my camera around at that location you can then see the bay in the distance where you can keep riding all the way into the shore. If you think I am joking check out this video of Robbie Naish doing it on a Stand Up Paddle board (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=J9rI76MuaXI) He needed several cameras just to catch it all on film and tracked his distance travelled using GPS! I haven’t bagged anything in that league yet, but still trying.

You are never too far from the shoreline all along this ride, and it is covered in rocks. At low tide they are a nightmare to walk across, because they stretch right out to sea and you slip, stub you toes, upend yourself, etc across several hundred metres of them. 

I have had a few sessions in the water here already enjoying the smaller surf before the big swell arrives. I was barefoot for the first of them but enjoyed the benefits of my booties after that. However they didn’t stop me going over the falls on one wave in the morning when I wasn’t wearing a rash vest and I scraped across more than one of the boulders under the water with my back which was a tad worrying.

I’m not complaining though, and only wish this wave was a right. As lefts go I can’t imagine much better, and have been having fun whizzing down the line looking over my shoulder as I go. More to come from his break too as the waves build through the rest of the week.

Wave 50 means I have reached my half century. Good batting!

Despite our surf safari it was still early by the time we opted for the morning glass on offer at Playa Hermosa, which was the best of a not particularly inviting bunch that we had seen.

We found a shady spot to leave the car in under the trees just above the water line.

Apart from a few families who had started their day at the beach early there was nobody about and we paddled out with the break to ourselves. There are towering hills surrounding the bay, all completely covered in dense vegetation and the beach truly lived up to its name which translates as Beautiful Beach. (However I should probably point out at this stage that there is a Playa Hermosa approximately every 20miles all the way from the USA/Mexican border.)

I thought I was paddling out into a fun waist or chest high session where we were not really going to be challenged but loads of great waves would be snagged by us both. However I could not have been more wrong.

This was the picture of the day but don’t think for a second that it was easy. Only about one wave in twenty didn’t suddenly lunge up to at least head high and then close out right across the bay onto about a foot and a half of sand, with the spray, sand and possibly you being sent flying twenty five feet into the air. The wipe outs here were unreal and I shant need to see a chiropractor any time soon after getting my whole spine wrenched into place with an unnerving series of cracks on one!

This picture is a crazy shot of me trying to ditch my board and bail off the back of the wave rather than drop into yet another pit of oblivion. By the looks of it I probably went head first over the falls with the lip and was lucky not to land on my board as I went.

I dont know if it was on this wave or not, but on one I took such a hammering that my shorts were nearly torn off. When I eventually got back on my board and back out past the impact zone I realised it had ripped my fly open and my wedding tackle was actual hanging out the front of my shorts. I thought better of publishing those shots from the Go Pro.

Despite all of the above we both had a really enjoyable session, then spent the rest of the day talking breaks, boards, freediving, seafood, travelling and the merits of bikini clad female surfers in the bar back at Dominical.

I got up at 5am this morning and took the car for a quick spin along the coast to Playa Hermosa, which is supposed to be the best break locally.

Although it was super clean it was just dumping on the shore in a Puerto Escondido fashion so I wasn’t tempted into the water there. Huge board snapping potential.

After a bit of a surf safari I returned to Jaco and decided to go into the beach break there where the locals were ripping it up.

There was a really friendly vibe in the water which was packed with North Americans from Canada and the USA, but I didn’t bother with the camera which meant I missed the opportunity for a shot of the biggest face plant of the trip so far after taking off and stacking on one of the bigger waves that break so quickly here. After that I was a tad reluctant to get in front of one, and was starting to get a bit peeved with the wind which had picked up and was causing so much chop on the water.

However I nailed my last ride of the day and the Ticos (as the Costa Ricans are proud to be called) were cheering me on down an epic ride down the line. I got out really stoked and may go for another dawnie here tomorrow for another slice of the action before moving on again.

My car is not really suited to the beach roads around here so Dave offers to give me a lift on the back of his quad bike to the beaches at the next town along the coast.

It is ok though because as well as my board shorts I have my flip flops for protection whilst balancing side saddle on the back with my 7’10” under my arm trying to avoid oncoming traffic on the main road.

We get to the beach unscathed and Dave is happy to hang around while I notch up the forty seventh break of my trip. 

There are a few people in the water but I quickly notch up a handfull of rides going left and right in the shoulder high waves.

Aware that Dave is waiting to give me a lift back and conscious of all the tourists piling into the water on the shore as the sun gets lower in the sky I catch one more ride in to the beach very pleased with my little afternoon session. 

The only other thing to report is that some toe rag nicked my flip flops from the beach when Dave’s back was turned.

This meant I had to ride back to The Green Rooms barefooted on the back of the quad bike.

I hope they like my flip flops, but in all honesty knowing my own feet even I wouldn’t want them second hand!!!

I am awake early and after enjoying a lovely coffee that had already been brewed for me by my host Dave, I stroll barefoot down the hill to the beach.

The sun is coming up and because it is the morning after the big night of the Easter weekend the beach is very quite at 6.30am. I paddle out on the peak directly in front of the path, where there is only one guy in the water. 

I had a brilliant session catching loads of rides in the early morning sun.

I caught more waves than I could remember taking them left and right having a really fun time in the water, whooping and hollering the whole time as I charged down the line.

There are so many pictures from his morning’s session it is hard to identify the best one.

However I have added a selection to give you an idea of what it was like.

There were loads of little fish in the water, which I was trying to shoo away, conscious that the food chain would be following them, but didn’t see anything which might worry me.

Woooo-hooo wave 46 and there is going to be swell here all week.

Looking forward to an afternoon session already.

Late in the afternoon I take the family over to Playa Grande from Tamarindo. We take the option of the 40 minute drive there as opposed to the one minute paddle across a crocodile infested river mouth followed by a 20 minute stroll down the beach you see here. I paddle straight out and catch two great shoulder high waves, one left and right. However when I paddle back out I am faced by a frothing mouthed local youth who is going bezerk. I’m not easily intimidated and being my size helps, but this kid is seriously pissed apparently because I caught something he felt he should have had, which was bullshit by the way.

He is raving right in my face, yelling that I don’t show enough respect, shoving my board, throwing water in my face and stating that he is now going to prevent me catching anything else there. This may sound quite intimidating but like most Central Americans he is tiny so the scene is like a Jack Russell terrier trying to pick a fight with a Grizzly Bear, all of which I find quite amusing and am grinning in his face telling him he needs to grow up. However this only serves to send him into orbit like some sort of Tazmanian Devil and he is doing everything bar swinging a punch. (Wisely I hasten to add – I was just going to sit on him in the water and see how he coped without air!)

This is going on for about 10 minutes and I later discover that everyone is laughing at the scene behind me, as he is suggesting we go into the beach to get into a ruck. Tempting as this was I declined pointing out his immaturity once more, but was glad when Doren had exchanged child minding duties and paddled out alongside me albeit completely unaware of what was going on because it gave me a bit of support. The kid still took one last opportunity to surf directly at my head before wisely retreating. Despite the ravings of this local loon I still caught a few more and had a great time there before driving the family back to Tamarindo after the sun had set.

I am up early and meet up with an American surfer called Harry I had met here and went off on a surf safari to try and find some bigger waves. Our route took us 18km along a dirt road towards Playa Avellana, which was at the limit of where I am comfortable with in the little green surf machine these days. Along the way we get a shakedown at a police road block and they are licking their lips when they discover I am not carrying my driver’s license (I had left it locked in my cabana rather than risk it getting nicked from an unsecured car while I was in the water) or my temporary importation documentation. Despite many threats of massive fines and the car getting confiscated, which are clearly attempts to exact a bribe, we stonewall them. They say they are phoning the traffic police to come and really cause us some trouble but I can see the ‘telephoner’ miming into his telephone so still don’t offer anything saying I will pay the fine if it is necessary at the police station. Reluctantly and empty handed they let us pass, but NEXT TIME…!

After all that we rock up at the beach only to find it is looking very naff. We paddle in more in hope than expectation at the only peek we can make out along the huge sandy beach. However I am pleasantly surprised by what we score though and catch a hat full of fun rides going left and right on the chest high waves that the howling offshore wind is still doing everything it can to spoil. The water is surprisingly cold, but I am staggered to see locals joining us in the water wearing wetsuits. One paddles up to me to ask why I am not cold in my shorts but I can only offer that the water in Wales never gets close to being this warm! Personally I can’t figure out how he could bare to be in neoprene in this relentless heat.

After a quick drive to Tamarindo, I help the family move hotels before diving in with round eight of the latest battle with my failing IT. I am getting so ticked off with it in this heat that I was about to jack it all in so that I can just focus on my holiday rather than this never ending frustration which keeps putting me in a bad mood. That I am typing this means I won another short term victory in this on-going war!

After a day of tearing my hair out once more at the all too frequent IT issues I’m experiencing on this trip I meet up with the family and drive us all down the dirt road to Playa Langosta which is just around the headland, but more exposed to the swell as a result of that. Doren is on child minding detail first, whilst Micheala who is two months pregnant grabs their board and paddles out with me. From where we have parked next to an exclusive resort we have to cross a fast moving stream to get to the break on the other side and I have a moment of mild panic when I think I have lost the pregnant lady to the strong current. Not to worry however because Micheala has just been washed out past me and then proceeds to catch about four waves before I have even caught one!

The wind is still howling offshore and paddling for a wave feels like people are throwing buckets of water in your face. It also blows the front of the board up making getting onto the waves quite difficult. I did bag a few shoulder high waves though, and this picture would suggest it was far better than it actually was.

Doren paddled out after the baton of child minding had been exchanged and the two of us enjoyed the fact that we could actually catch something unlike the session we had experienced at the start of the day.

Not the best surf again but the break gets a special mention for the sunset we were surfing under.

We all head back and after dropping off the others I spend the evening cooking for two Danish girls staying at the same place as me called Mie & Line who are skint. I had stocked my fridge with supplies and was glad of sharing them with the two teenagers, because I could never eat all the fresh stuff I had bought to ensure I enjoyed a decent home cooked meal for the first time in ages. They also liked the taste of some European food even if it did take more than two hours to prepare due to the crap electric stove in the kitchen here and the power cut we experienced half way through cooking!

I am seconds from the beach and grab my board first thing in the morning to go down there. It is still massively windy, but it doesn’t really matter because the surf is appallingly small. I almost feel guilty claiming this as one of my waves because I only actually surfed one wave and that was for two seconds at best. They are clean waves and the wind is offshore but if they were as big as a foot I would be amazed!

On the positive side I had met a bloke from Vancouver (there are Canadians everywhere in Central America) called Doren as I walked down for this epic session and after telling him about my journey the two of us have a laugh in the ‘surf’ and I am using that term as loosely as I can. Doren has work to do and I’m not sticking around for long so we get out, and I’m introduced to his wife Micheala and their two lovely kids as we walk back up the beach.

We arrange to meet up later and try another beach which should be more exposed to the swell on offer at the moment.