For starters, a few days ago, five out of nine of us got the flu within hours of each other. The symptoms varied from person to person and I think the adults got the worst of it. Either that or we are much bigger wimps than the kids. It lasted about 24-hours and made the rock-hard foam mattresses feel like a concrete tomb. We seem to be past it and are hoping that no more fall victim to the bug.
Currently, we are in the midst of a storm. Last night, the nine of us left to walk about a mile and a half down the beach to the house of another family in from Colorado. The timing seemed perfect as the power had just gone out at our beach house and it was getting late enough in the afternoon where the sun was not incessantly beating down. We were enjoying a nice slow walk through the edge of the waves when a torrential downpour began. I mean seriously torrential. We were soaked within 15 seconds of the rain starting and it hasn't really stopped since. Thankfully, it was warm rain and there was only 20-minutes left of the walk. It pretty fun. I've always enjoyed the rain when I have nowhere to be requiring dry attire. This was perfect. The kids loved it too.
The power didn't come back on the rest of the night. We decided to get a taxi back home. This was a harder decision then it might seem from the story as we kept thinking the rain would stop. It has only stopped for a couple of hours since. On the way home we noticed all the restaurants were closed so we enjoyed a candlelit dinner at our hotel where they were able to cook out a fabulous sea bass on a gas stove.
And now for the smack down. This morning, Stephanie and I took a taxi up to north Santa Teresa to take a surf lesson. We had known there was a BIG swell coming in, but didn't know it had arrived. Needless to say, the waves were 8-10' on the face and it was a huge challenge just to paddle out. I was almost out when I saw Stephanie barely make it over the crest of a 10-wave and knew I didn't stand a chance being about 10 yards behind her. I am comfortable with the ocean. I've been in it my entire life and some of my earliest (and only, really) childhood memories involve being dragged on the ocean floor. Kind of makes me wonder where my parents were, but it all turned out fine. When this wave hit me, it took me down. And it took me down for a long time. It was, hands down, the craziest wave I have encountered in the ocean. When I surfaced for air it was merely a quick gulp through my hair, which was now covering my face, then bam! It was instantaneously followed by another equally big and powerful wave, which took me down again. I actually had conversations with myself underwater, trying to convince me that I should not panic because I was not going to drown. It worked. One more small gulp of hair-air and a third gigantic wave. By the end, all I could do was lay on my board. Once I regained my breath, I notice there were no more waves in sight and was able to paddle out past the break. While gratifying that I had made it to the holy grail, this posed a totally different problem. I was out there, unable to surf 10' waves and unsure of how I was going to get back. The surf instructor finally came and I attempted to take a couple smaller waves, but really just tumbled my way to shore. What doesn't kill you......
It was fun despite the near death experience and I look forward to tackling the waves again tomorrow.
