like night and day

5-18-12 and 5-19-12, Fri and Sat

Last week was rough. I had just quit my sham of a job the Friday before. Long story short, they were breaking the law by over utilizing the PT Aides. I told them to change, they denied knowing they were breaking the law but agreed to change and I because I didn't want to be in the middle of all that, I left. I am the PT Super Hero, swooping in to get the bad guys, and then getting the heck out of there. 

I didn't know what my next move was, but I knew it meant starting my job search over again. Did I want to go back to my old part-time jobs? Should I use this as an opportunity to look into a whole different setting? I've been scarred by the small ortho clinic, and I'm not too keen on going back, unless they are really good. 

So in addition to job applications, that whole week I spent each morning going on surfline and reloading the surf cam's every 30 secs. I was willing the waves to get better after each click, to see if it was worth it to drive my butt out there to surf, and each day I weaseled out of going surfing. It also made me seriously consider buying a surfline premium membership. 

So FINALLY at the end of the week the waves looked rideable, there were people out at Porto and I was more motivated to go. Well, the waves were deceiving. I got in around 9ish. I jumped in and the waves were a lot bigger than they looked from shore. I was on my long board, and boy was it hard to get over those waves. It was so consistent because of the wind swell that there wasn't any let up. I made it out with not too much trouble, and got a wave almost immediately. I was stoked, this wasn't going to be that bad after all! However, I took the wave almost to shore, and for some reason, I just couldn't make it back out to the line up. The waves were just too powerful and I wasn't able to hold onto my board when turtle rolling. This was one of those days where a nice potato chip board would be perfect. So I decided to get out to rest and time going out this time. Of course, right when I got back in, the waves starting going again, and I was stuck for a good 15 mins of struggle. I got out, chilled a lil bit and tried for the third time...and well it ended the same way. So that was the that, a good sign to just call it quits. I sat on the beach a little longer, watching the good surfers, and longing to be like them. Ah well, at least I tried. 

I ended up changing and since there was still 1 hr left on my meter, I jogged down to 26th from Porto to see how it was down there. I ended up chatting to Glen who got swept south by the current all the way to the 2nd lifeguard tower from 26th. He was walking more north so when he got carried back to 26th, that would be the sign to get out. 

Saturday:  I went with my friend Olivia who's a beginner. She learned on a foamie at UCSD and this was her first time on a real board. She was borrowing my dad's 9'2". We went to 26th this time, because the crowd would be thinner and the waves smaller than Porto. The conditions were nice and glassy, but the waves were all crashing on the inside. We gave it a benefit of the doubt and jumped in. This time there were nice lulls, so getting out was easy peasy. The only problem was the waves just weren't breaking, so there was a lot of fruitless paddling. Olivia caught one white water wave, and was stoked! I'm glad she at least stood up today, with these conditions. I saw Roy and Don and they were catching the inside waves, that were fast and breaking right on the sand. They were ripping as usual and somehow made it unscathed.

I got one good wave and tried to bail before the sand, but got caught in the sand storm anyways. There was sand all up in my hair and even inside my wetsuit! Good times overall, glad Olivia made it out.

Oahu adventures

Oahu was great, I'm so ready to move there. Right before the trip, I caught "the best wave of my life" at lowers trestles. Well...I caught those same "best waves" over and over and over again on this trip...heaven.

Fransauce recommended I try Pops, which is right in front of the Royal Hawaiian, the pink hotel. There were long lines of waves just coming in over and over again, with plenty of room to play. I don't think I made it to the actual pops, which was maybe another 100 yards out from where I was, but it was still super fun. Our hotel was more east, toward the end of the strip, and we could see a nice surf spot right off our balcony. That place was good, but it was harder to catch a wave because it was more concentrated at the peak, with REALLY good long boarders. I heard one of the locals say there was a pro long boarder in the mix.  I had a frustrating time there, but Christina stayed more on the inside and said she had a great time picking off the smaller waves.

Another great spot was Hale'iwa, on the north shore. We came here the day I flew in, for a nice sunset sesh. There were tons of groms tearing it up on the inside, and then the older kids and some of the older locals were catching the bigger sets. It was a mix of long and short boards, with these perfect forming waves, once again. I liked this place because the locals were nice, and it wasn't too shallow so I wasn't so afraid of the reef when wiping out. I caught a few good ones, and we stayed til almost sunset.

Hale'iwa

The best part of the trip was meeting up with my old middle school friend, B-Sauce, who KK and ex-house mate, Fransauce, helped reconnect us with. B-Sauce lives in this awesome house nicknamed "The Dojo," with a view of Diamond Head and the water. It had that great old school Japanese feel, with the rice paper windows and curtains at the doorways. B-sauce was great, super funny and an all around SUPER chill guy. He showed us this great hiking trail, that was just as good as the Diamond Head trail, but less crowded and with more shade. We went to Sandy Beach, a famous body surfing place, where we were flabbergasted on the size and power of the waves, crashing right on the sand. It seemed crowded, and it was a weekday, and tons of guys were getting pounded into what looked like right in the sand. Crazy is all I can say.

view on the hike of the east side of the island

B-sauce took us another day to surf at Diamond head. It was a long, narrow and steep hike down, which was interesting with a 8'6" long board and just flip flops. B-sauce had his body board and flipper, and Christina with her 7'2" NSP. Just getting in the water was a trip, there were a lot of rocks and the waves were crashing right on them, so there wasn't a nice calm place to get in. So after struggling with that we got out to the line up. It was a long paddle and kinda choppy, it kinda reminded me of Porto, just because of all the waves breaking and the consistency. It was pretty difficult getting back to the line up if caught on the inside. The current was pretty strong as well, so let's just say, there was a lot of paddling that went on. I caught maybe one memorable wave, and ate it bad the rest of the times. Christina and I also got yelled at by a local because we were in another guy's way trying to avoid getting caught in the wave. I yelled back, and paddled away quickly.

Korean cold noodle dish...which i frequently dream of

One of B-Sauces friends, who is a long boarder and a girl, said she likes to surf at a place called rockpiles. So Christina and I decided to check the place out. It was right off the harbor at Waikiki and it was true to it's name, it was rocky! As we were getting ready i decided to ask a guy in the parking lot about the break. He let us know to paddle straight out, and the better surfers were toward the left and the heirarchy went pretty much down as you went to the right. Right before he got in the water, he said, "Oh yea, watch out for sea urchins, they're right in the shallow area." O.O wow, I'm glad you remembered that little point. The paddle out went pretty smoothly, it was just LONG. I had christina's board with her go-pro attached this time, so i was excited to hopefully get some good waves recorded. It was an evening sesh, but there were still lots of people out, I'm guessing the after work crowd. There were a lot of good surfers out, so in the beginning I didn't catch many. Christina caught an inside wave, but it turned out to be a bad idea because it got really shallow and she scraped up herself on the rocks...and this was after her "bloody walls" incident...that is a whole separate story in itself. So she went back to shore after that. I stayed out for another hour or so and got some really good rides in there! The crowd was thinning out and I was trying to follow the other surfers on where to place myself at the peak of the wave.

catching a nice one at Rock Piles

The last surf spot I checked out, while Christina wanted to take it easy, was on the Northeast corner of the island. It was called Malaekahana State Rec Area. There were cabins on the beach that you could rent, which seemed really cool. I met a surf instructor in the parking lot who convinced me to go out. It was super fun here, I even almost ran over a turtle on my board. Good times. There was barely anyone in the water, so it was paradise. The waves were a little choppy but I caught a lot right to shore.

Malaekahana

I surfed pretty much everyday, hiked a few spots, and ate some really great ahi poke and seafood. I enjoyed the spam musabi at the abc stores and gas stations, and the fresh pineapple and other fruits. All in all it was fun in paradise, I can't wait to come back. Aloha!

Snorkeling at Hanauma Bay

Farmer's market booty

Pipeline

Ahi Poke