some more pics surfing the party wave

Here's a pic from a video where I caught the same wave as FH. Of course, he surfed it in and I wrecked.

I surf goofy foot. Also, on most waves I managed to keep a safe distance from FH.

when the board shoots straight out of the water it's called tombstoning the board

the surf board fins are supposed to be IN the water

Two of my favorite still shots from the vid where I wreck into FH:

FH's board (left arrow) and my board (right arrow)

FH calmly surfs on while I flounder behind him

We saw three snowflake eels the past few days in the low tide. The marine biologist Tony said they're coming in because the water is unseasonably warm. Very cool!

damn women drivers

Today conditions were rough at Olas Altas. And then I accidentally wrecked my surf board into FH's board. I didn't just ding his board. I rode up the back of it.

When we got back to shore the "life guard" Mario was like "dude, is your board okay?" and I was like "yeah, fucking women drivers". The board, for the record, is more or less okay (minor repairs necessary).

seven feet, rocks

Yesterday Olas Altas was big, almost as big as during May's storms.

The waves were big and fast. It took forever to get out to the line up. At one point I just let go of the board and dragged it behind me by the leash.

FH and I caught a wave and I fell off almost immediately, which sucked because it took me 10 minutes to get back to the line up. On the second wave I was determined NOT to fall no matter what. I paddled my ass off and suddenly was in the slot. I got up on the board and had one of the longest rides I've had. Then the wave crashed on my head. Miraculously I didn't get washing machined or hit by the board.

When I got back to the line up FH said "I can't believe you caught that." It turns out it was a 7 foot wave. FH was paddling into it (I followed, figuring he knew better than me which waves to catch) when he realized I was also paddling in and he stopped because he thought I was going to get munched by the wave and potentially injured. He said he saw me get into the slot and then was shocked that I was standing up. He saw the top of my head for a second and then saw the wave come up over my head. I'm not sure how I caught the wave but I was glad because the rest of the morning was a shit show.

The next wave I tried to catch closed out. I got washing machined by three waves. Right as I thought I was getting close to shore and out of the shit I put my feet down and realized I had drifted into an area that FH told me to avoid because it's full of rocks. And the rocks are covered in sea urchins. If you avoid getting scraped up by the rocks you'll get stung by the urchins.

the rocky area I was caught in at low tide - normally the rocks are under the water

 I managed to get out of the rocky area after a few minutes of struggle. Then I decided it was time to go in. Meanwhile, in the line up, FH had been looking for me. Because I was getting washing machined he couldn't see me at all. I think he was pretty glad to see me stumble up on the beach.

Also, there are locals that watch surfers from the sea wall (far left in the above picture). I'm not positive about this, but suspect they called an ambulance when they saw me getting washing machined in the rocks. As I was trying to make my way back to the beach I saw the ambulance pull up with its lights on. After I got back to the beach it left.

I talked to a marine biologist Tony, who is also a surfer. He said what happened (and it's very common even for people who surf there every day) is the rip tide pulled me into the rocks. As I was surfing I thought I was surfing to the right but the tide was pulling me left. You can't really tell on the wave.

As celebration for surfing my first big wave we went out for drinks at the freeman. Nice views from the roof.

sunset from roof of the freeman - rocky area of olas altas at the bottom left

El Faro - light house is far right - it's one of the highest lighthouse in the world - we hike up it in the early morning as a warm up for surfing

sunset - the large stone island at the far left of the picture is host to seals, and of course sharks

moon over the historic district of mazatlan - FH's house is near the blue building in the center of the picture

mexican food

Not quite the same as in the US...

At playa norte today, best fish ceviche, although today we found a piece of octopus in it (which I'm allergic to). No bad reaction so far.

home made tortilla chips...porque no?

And a big shout out to Taqueria Playa Sur. Best vampiros ever (here vampiros are like a taco pizza - I didn't find any english web pages with Maz style vampiros). And papa locas (again, english recipe, not quite the same).

Taqueria Playa Sur is an outside restaurant. This is the grill. We got there before closing. Normally there's a long wait if you go during dinner hours.

Vampiros (on the left) and papa locas (front). Yum.