Tsunami!

It's been so long since I've written a post that I'm not quite sure where to begin! So I figure I'll start with today, seeing as it has been pretty eventful. I have been living on the Hawaiian island of Kauai now since mid November and am currently living on the North Shore in Haena, near the start of the Napali Coastline. This morning at around 6am I woke up to one very, very loud tsunami siren going off! It was still dark! I don't think that I've ever jumped out of bed that quickly! I was vaguely aware last night of a possible tsunami warning due to an earthquake in Chile but didn't take it all too seriously until my unexpected awakening. I quickly packed up my essentials, consisting of my guitar, favourite surfboard, computer and passports, borrowed my housemates spare car and headed to higher ground. It was pretty crazy, everyone living in coastal areas were evacuated and all the roads were closed off. On the bright side I got the day off work :) and the tsunami never amounted to much, just a few very minor tidal surges.

So starting on that note I better fill in some of the blanks of my past few months in Hawaii. I knew it was time to leave San Diego when I was wriggling back into my 4'3 wetsuit, and decided Kauai sounded like a pretty nice and warm place to continue on with my endless summer (yes I know it's winter here but it really doesn't feel like it). As usual I booked a one way ticket with no idea where I was going to stay! However the travel gods were smiling upon me, and a few days before flying out I discovered my cousins happen to own the only movie theatre on the island. One phone call and I was set with a place to stay, a truck to drive, and a loving family to look after me until I found a place of my own. I have a lot of stories to tell about the past few months here, including Oahu surfing shoots, watching the Eddie and hang gliding at 11,000 ft just to mention a few! But I'm down with a pretty ugly flu right now, and after todays excitement going to sleep is sounding pretty darn amazing so watch this space and I'll fill you all in on everything else and post some more photos. Aloha and goodnight! xox

San Francisco and a One Way Plane Ticket

Okkkkaaay. I have been one very lazy blog writer. I guess everyday California life has been repressing my creativity and will to write. I have about half an hour before it's time to serve the lunch rush their burritos so I better hop to it and fill in the blanks of the last few months. I will start with my week long trip to San Francisco around mid September.

As my grandparents live in the Bay Area I have visited San Francisco a few times growing up, but this was the first time I actually got to stay downtown and see the city. My dad very suddenly, giving me only a few days notice, decided to fly all the way from Perth to visit his parents so I hopped on a short flight North to join him. Family time was wonderful as always, but the highlight of the short trip was definitely staying downtown and exploring the city. What a neat place! It is just buzzing with culture, music, great food and more homeless people than I have seen ANYWHERE! I also really appreciated how culturally diverse the city is, with people of all ages and ethnic backgrounds. We stayed in a nice little hotel in the center of town for two nights, which provided tequila shots upon check in (thanks mum), and apart from the shoot out on the street by my window at around 3 am it was a pretty good place to stay. Dad and I did all the typical tourist things, ate seafood at fisherman's wharf, zipped around on the cable cars, rode bicycles across the Golden Gate Bridge ect. One thing that really sticks in my mind though was the musical talent all over the city, especially the homeless people. Many of them were busking to survive with any instrument available, be it old guitars, drum kits, pots and pans or their own voices, and the amount of talent was unbelievable. I had one old homeless guy play me a song on his guitar with one string and sing, and he actually sounded really good!

Another highlight of my San Francisco trip was eating out in China town. Dad told me he had a certain restaurant in mind for dinner and that he hadn't been there in about 20 years. We were waking down the street in China Town when he announces "here it is!" and procee

ded to walk straight through a kitchen full of Chinese ladies cooking. I gave him a very confused look but followed behind as he headed up a flight of old stairs, thinking how could this possibly be a restaurant???. When we got to to the top it opened up into this tiny low roofed, old little restaurant with low tables and little stools. Dad told me the place had been around forever and he used to

take my mum there when she was my age. What a trip!!! And the food was really good too. The day before my birthday Dad and I parted ways with a Maori nose rub and I headed back down to San Diego.

I had a wonderful birthday. Possibly the best I've ever had. A few friends got me a camp site in Cardiff and we spent the evening surfing, drinking, playing guitar and hanging out. I felt very touched that although I have only been here a little while I have friends that know me well enough to plan such a perfect birthday! Thanks guys! When I arrived here I only intended on staying for about 2 months, and it has some how turned into 5 and a half! While there are aspects of American life and culture that I find frustrating over all I have had a

wonderful summer. San Diego is a very beautiful place and the waves aren't half bad either. A few days ago I booked a one way flight over to Hawaii, continuing on my endless summer. What can I say, I don't like to surf in a wetsuit!

California Life

Ok people, I am VERY sorry for how slack I have been with my postings. But seriously how can I follow on from almost being eaten by crocodiles and surfing amazing Central American waves? A bit over a month has passed since my time in Costa Rica, so I will try to briefly fill you in on what's been going on!

Coming back to the US was a bit of a shock to the system. It's been almost a year since I passed through here last. And after living and traveling through such amazing places like the Virgin Islands and the Dominican Republic returning to a relatively normal life can be challenging. Not to mention the thought of going back to full time work. My aim is to spend the summer here working, build up some more travel funds then hit the road again. So I arrived in San Diego early May, hoping to find work straight away. My Auntie and Uncle live in Carlsbad and were kind enough to take me in. The first few weeks here were tough. I was out in the suburbs with no transport and the bus system here is appalling. It's funny that I find it easier to get around a third world country alone than I do in California! The weather was miserable as well, May gray was in full swing, and my poor body was softened from the warm Caribbean weather. For my first surf here I had to borrow a guys size medium wetsuit. It was a horrible rainy day and the wind was howling. On my first duck dive the wetsuit swelled up with water like a balloon and I felt like I was going to sink! I had forgotten what cold water felt like. Finding a job was also harder than I had anticipated, the economic crisis is being felt by all, with jobs scarce and so many homes being lost with people out of work.

Despite a rough start things started to get better after the first few weeks. The first stroke of luck came with finding my car. She's a beautiful old volvo station wagon that I picked up for an absolute steal, and she runs like a dream. It fits all my boards in the back, and pretty soon I'm going to put a mattress in too and some curtains up! Plus I drive like a grandma so I'm pretty suited to a volvo. Being mobile again and having freedom made everything so much better! I can go surfing everyday now, and it also opened up a lot more job opportunities. Next came the job, I scored a sweet job at a popular restaurant/bar in Del Mar called En Fuego.

The weather is slowly improving too. I invested in a 4'3 wetsuit which has made things a lot more toasty. Except the thing broke after only 2 weeks so I had to send it in for repairs, so now I am back to freezing again. Every couple of days I drive to chase some bigger waves at either Trestles or Oceanside. San Diego in the summer is pretty damn flat! I think I may have to take up stand up paddle boarding. Trestles is a quality wave but it gets very crowded. Still all things considered the surf has been OK. I did a day trip down to Blacks with my friend Vanessa and although the surf was terrible we had a great time. The hike down is beautiful and having to walk through the nudie beach to get to the surf is always entertaining. Had one guy wearing only a baseball cap, knee high socks and soccer shoes ask me to take a photo of him.

On that note I will wrap things up, over all I think San Diego is going to be a fun place to spend the summer working. The weather is warming up (although the swell is disappearing) and there are lots of fun things to do around here in summer. Still, it's taking me a while to get used to wearing a wetsuit again...

Crocodiles and Earthquakes

Journal entry 23 April


It was one very long day on the road traveling from Puerto Rico to Costa Rica. The countries seem pretty close together but somehow it managed to take me around 18 hours to go from San Juan to Playa Hermosa. Trying to carry a large backpack, two surfboards and a guitar really doesn´t make anything easier either. I left Puerto Rico with mixed emotions, being excited to get on the road but feeling very sad to be leaving the Caribbean. I found myself in Tortola completely by accident, having never heard of the place. It turned out to be the beginning of an incredible 7 months island hopping, possibly the best time of my life, coming to a close 3 days ago as I left Puerto Rico. Costa Rica seems just as I remember it; hot and humid with lots of tourists, fun waves and good food.

My first surf here turned out to be very eventful. A group of us got up around 6am for a dawn session. It was perfect conditions with no wind, making it beautiful and glassy. Too bad there was no swell! Still it was lovely to be in the water on such a peaceful morning. The marine life was abundant with stingrays leaping out of the water all around me, landing with "plops" like flipped pancakes. I was sitting on a peak alone quite a few meters away from the others. I paddled for a left, missed it, but noticed something floating in the inside. I thought it was a log and it took me quite a few seconds to realise it was a crocodile. It was cruising slowly through the water maybe 10 meters away from me. The two guys on the inside spotted it around the same time as me, and they had paddled to the shore before I could even blink. I calmly moved over to the others, figured that way the croc would have a choice of 4 for breakfast instead of just me. We had all started to paddle in together when I saw it thrashing on the inside to our left, just a few meters away. It was at that point I started to feel a little worried. A wave broke out the back and we all got ready to catch the white water in. Displaying my usual lack of co-ordination I missed the wave and watched as everyone rode away from me to the safety of the shore. Great. The water was really dark and I could not see anything. I just tried to stay calm and paddled the fastest I ever have in my life, making an effort not to splash around too much. I finally made it to shore, and I have never been so happy to have my feet on solid ground!

It was definitely an exciting first day in Costa Rica, there was even an earthquake that evening. I was sitting on a huge wooden bench outside when the whole thing suddenly started shaking pretty strongly. It didn´t last too long, and at least there was no tsunami! The waves were good yesterday, perfect conditions with a good swell. It was a solid head height, slamming down on the sand bank in barreling A frame peaks. Only about one third of the waves were rideable though, the rest closing out with a board annihilating "thump" on the shallow sand bar. I was sitting outside waiting for a set when the guy next to me yells out,"Wow, what the hell, did you see that?" Said he saw about 8 small sharks swim right below us, and judging by the look on his face I believe him.

Last night we were blessed with one of the most amazing thunderstorms I have ever seen. I went down to the beach to watch it. I have never witnessed such explosive electrical activity, it was beautiful. This morning my encounters with sea creatures in Costa Rica continued. Four of us took a boat out to a place called The Island, a fun left point break that works well on a big swell. It took us about 10 seconds after jumping off the boat to realise the water was full of jellyfish. I have never seen anything like it. There were literally hundreds of them. They were small and brown, maybe the size of my hand including tentacles. Almost every time I paddled I could feel them brushing against me, like acid on my skin. We would all be sitting out back waiting for a set when someone would start yelling,
"Oooooh, oh, ouch, AHHHHH", and start thrashing around in the water, trying to get away from the jellyfish. At one point I accidentally paddled through a group of about 50 and got stung on every single inch of exposed skin, and considering I was wearing a bikini that was a lot. I was yelping, and may have had more than a few tears in my eyes. The worst thing was that the boat had left us there, and was not returning for another 2 hours, so we were stranded in jellyfish infested waters. My body is still stinging and I´m covered in red welts. The things we do for waves! Still, I am feeling happy to be back in Central America and can´t wait to start heading up to El Salvador. Hopefully I won´t be eaten by any hungry sea creatures along the way.

P.S. Ranifly Bikini website is finally up and running, my fist official modeling gig! Go to http://www.raniflybikini.com/

FRUSTRATED!

Ok I just spent an hour or two typing up a post, it wouldn´t publish and I lost the WHOLE THING. I´m too angry to type it up again now but I will in the next day. Watch this space to find out more about encounters with crocodiles, sharks, earthquakes and jellyfish!

Coral Branding and Flying High

So I have been back in Rincon, Puerto Rico, for a little over a week now. I caught the ferry to Mayaguez which was 12 hours of hell without a cabin, 4 hours in line in the sun clearing customs and then hitching back to Rincon. The surf has dropped off again so I figured now is a good time to do some blogging! I attempted a longboarding session yesterday, but due to the Easter long weekend it was a nightmare in the water, with shrieking small children bobbing around with all the co-ordination of beached whales on their surfboards, getting in my way! Three days ago the surf was smoking though. For two mornings we had perfect gentle offshore winds, with a solid head height swell producing some beautiful waves. After a lovely morning session near Sandy's I decided to paddle out at Dogman's. I was a little hesitant after watching a few sets roll in; it looked big. It was a maneagable size most the time but every now and then a few monster sets would crash down, and I knew I really didn't want to be on the inside for one of those. The paddle out was a bit tough but I made it ok. I sat for a while quite far out the back, getting a feel for things. A nice little inside left walled up, I paddled, dropped and rode it a little ways before kicking out on the inside reef. I spun my board around and began the paddle back out. I was almost back out when I looked up to see a dark blue mountain looming up before me, blocking out the sky. Crap. I couldn't go forward, I couldn't go back, I was smack bang in the middle. All I could do was take a big breath and begin a feeble attempt at a duck dive. I don't think I even got halfway under the wave before it ripped my board out of my hands. For the first time in my surfing life I experienced being pinned on the bottom. The force of the wave threw me flat on my back like a starfish, and held me down against the reef. I came up gasping for air, my back stinging from the contact with the reef. I copped about 4 more waves before the ocean gave me a break and I started paddling like a lightning bolt trying to get back out. I almost made it before the next set took me out. Another 5 waves on the head and a whole lot more paddling and I finally got back out! When I came in from the water I realised my back had gotten scraped up. A quick check in the mirror revealed the coolest looking surf injury I've ever had. I must have landed on a brain coral, and it left a perfect detailed imprint on my back. You can see every little line of the coral. I call it a Puerto Rican ocean branding. Who needs to go snorkeling when you can just look at my back? I wonder if it will scar.

The next day after a morning session I was beginning the long walk up hill back to my house, I had been out surfing for around 4 hours and I was pretty tired. I got about 5 minutes up the road when a local surfer stopped his truck to offer me a ride. On the drive we got talking about the Virgin Islands and I told him I had lived there for 3 months, and how much I had loved it.

"Got a passport?" he asked me.

"Um yeah sure, why?" I enquired.
Turns out he is an ex pro surfer who now works as a pilot and ownes his own planes. He had to fly to Tortola in his private jet to pick up some friends who were over there on a surf trip, and asked me if I wanted to come along. The flight was amazing! Cruising along the coastline of Puerto Rico is so beautiful. I got to sit up in the co pilot seat with the head set on and everything. We only got to stop in Tortola for a few hours which was a pity, I have a few good friends that I would have loved to have seen. On the trip back I got to fly the plane most the way from San Juan to Aguadilla. At first I was rather nervous and my hands were definitely a bit sweaty and shaky; it's a strange feeling being up so high and having the control of a plane, but after a few minutes I got the hang of it. The family we went to pick up were really lovely, and it was a pretty amazing afternoon. I feel like I have achieved the ultimate in hitchhiking, the holy grail, the ride on the private jet! Not bad for walking up a hill with my surfboard :)

This weekend is the Easter long weekend, and it feels strange not having it at home. I have no one to buy me chocolate. The family of my best friend of 15 years hosts Russian Easter around this time too and it's such a blast. It's all about amazing food, lots of vodka and great company. I wish I could be there. Also in the next few weeks is my favourite music festival back home, Fairbridge Folk Music Festival. I have gone every year since I was 5. I can't complain too much though, when I'm surfing awesome waves and flying around the Caribbean! Plus last night I went to a pretty good reggae concert, Midnite, playing at Bamboo beach in Isabella. I have about a week left in Puerto Rico now before heading back to Central America.

Happy Easter everybody! xoxoxox

North Coast Perfection!

I've been a little slack with writing posts lately. I've been back in Puerto Rico for a little over a week and I haven't written anything about the last part of my trip to the Dominican Republic. I spent my last week hunting waves on the North coast around Cabarete. It was my intention to only go for two nights and return to Santo Domingo to see the DJ Tiesto concert but I loved it so much there I ended up staying around a week. Cabarete is a very different place to the rest of the Dominican Republic. It has a lot of tourists and has much more of an upper class feel, with lovely beach front bars and resteraunts. It's very hip! The majority of the tourists are European, and a lot of girls from Norway come there to study abroad. Cabarete is considered one of the top places to kite surf in the world as everyday around late morning the trade winds swing in, creating excellent conditions. Along all the beaches you can see hundreds of kites zipping around, brightly coloured against the perfect blue sky. The main surf beach is called Encuentro and is about a 10 minute drive out of Cabarete. Accommodation is very expenisive in Cabarete so I opted to stay in Encuentro where it is quieter and I could walk to the beach. I found an amazing place to stay run by a lovely German lady called Veronika. She has a few little cottages on her property and she gave me a wonderful price. Its a 5 minute walk to the surf, has a swimming pool and heaps of animals. I couldn't have imagined a better place to stay! See http://www.activecabarete.com/surfbreaklodge for more information.

When I arrived so did a really big swell. It was too big for Encuentro. Only two crazy locals were brave enough to paddle out and they got worked! I managed to hitch a ride up to Sosua and surfed a spot called Sosua bay. It only breaks on a really huge swell and is a crazy A frame reef break. It comes out of nowhere and just wedges up so fast and big. Then it suddenly peaks and slams down in a racy, spitting barrel. It's not a long ride, more of a drop and hold on for dear life kind of wave. Everyone was out there on 6'6 or 7'0 boards but all I had was my 6'2. I had to paddle so hard to get on the waves and then when I did the drop was insanely scary. I surfed there for two days until the swell dropped enough to surf Encuentro again, and I probably only got about 4 waves, but I was proud of myself for getting a few. Once the swell dropped Encuentro was a lot of fun. It's a nice reef break with peaks that stretch all down the beach. I had a wonderful time on the North coast, I only wish I had gone there sooner. I made a lot of good friends and had great surf . It took 5 hours by bus (caribe tours) and cost only $350 pesos one way. The bus was a lovely coach bus, with reclining seats and televisions. I felt very safe. It was a perfect way to spend my last week in the Dominican Republic!