Rashes from Hawaii

I've never been so motivated before, maybe in my short life, to get up at 6:30am and gear up for surfing by 7:45. The surf shack was only a 5 minute drive away, but I've been enjoying my morning coffee time that I couldn't let surfing get in the way...and in this fine morning, the view from my patio revealed that the waves were larger than normal...eek...great day to surf!

I signed up for a private lesson, paid way too much, however I got to surf next to one of Argentina's female pro short board surfers, Loli. Was she cute? Absolutely. Was she good? Uh...yah. Did I surf? Did I ever.
After a 3 minute ground lesson and some quick safety tips (just kidding, there's no safety for private lessons), I found myself on a board, mimicking every move that Loli made, heading out to the waves. On the way, I managed to mumble, "oh...I'm a bit afraid of the ocean." It certainly didn't seem to phase her so I naturally didn't let it phase me one bit. We were out about 75 feet when she said, "okay, turn around and get ready." Now, I'm not sure how other surf lessons go on the island, but I'm pretty sure I was just being thrown into a whole lot of crazy (I did ask the owner of the shop to hook me up so that I could be surfing on a shorter board by the end of the lesson...careful what you wish for?).

She said paddle so I did. She said up so I did. Behold, up and standing on surf board on my first go! I paddled back to Loli and told her, "well that wasn't so hard." I got a little sure of myself, not cocky, but she did have to put me back in my place to listen to her. I realized that I had no idea what I was doing or more importantly when to paddle or what to look for and that I had to completely trust the pro. Trust? Right.
So I did and I caught a 3 foot wave with a 10' long board! Loli was impressed (alright alright) and said that I made it look easy so she gave me her 9' board. Awesome. After a few bails but NOT being run into the coreal (hence the fear of ocean), I finally got up and started to...kinda turn.

I must have seen over 50 waves - some I paddled to ride, some I paddled and missed, but most of them, I was paddling against some big waves to get back in line for another surf. Exhausting...the arms are not built for this kind of rediculous exhaustion. My arms were about to fall off and I said to Loli that I needed a bit of a break. What does Loli do? She says get ready to paddle. Oh..okay. She pushes my board for a head start and I, once again, find myself paddling, feeling the wave start to push, my board start to drop, I jump up and go...I caught my last wave and rode it all 50 some feet to shore. When I looked back, I realized that I was way out past the baby surfs. Yup, so not only did I conquered this fear of the ocean, but I rode this ocean with shear pleasure (double fist pump inserted here). I plan on going back when my arms don't feel like air and riding along the surf instead of in front of the surf....not even sure what that means, but I'll figure it out.

Uh...no pictures of this one...but here's some of the volcano I went and saw yesterday. Grandpa and I went up 10,000' and had a misty 360 view. I felt at home...like I was back in Kananaskis, playing in the rocks, up high with hardly a soul in sight...well...only a few bus loads. But few went to the summit! Truly some fun times over the past two days and once my wee arms are rested, I'll be back in the surf. I hear there are some 45' waves on the east shore...just kidding. I'll leave that to the likes of Loli.