(click
on small pics for a larger version)
When:
Where:
Weather:
Surf:
Tides:
Who: |
Sat.,
December 28, 2002 - early morning
Session #1 - Domes
Sunny and clear, light
offshores (trunks & shortsleeve lycra)
6-8' with no current
unsure
Alex, Rod and and the
Domes Crew, including the Blond Guy w/little skeg on a long board |
Stopped
by Maria's afer the obligatory stop for hot pan de agua, cafe con leches
and the San Juan Star. Maria's was showing some nice swell but we
were itching for a little more size. Light to no winds early so we
scooted on down to check Domes. Not too many people out... let's
go! We paddled out by the old outflow spot to shortcut the paddle
and hopefully skirt those frequent and pounding inside sets. We made
it out with only nominal difficulty and ready to catch a few. Ealry
on there was a light crowd on the point: a kid from Rhode Island (with
mom frantically wathing from shore), an ex-pat blond longboarder and a
couple of body boarders and the occassional shortboarder. The Blond
Guy kept cursing himself for not installing a larger skeg or bringing it
down to the beach... he simply wasn't expecting the waves to be this good
this morning. With the pitching top-to-bottom curls he was having
trouble making a hard bottom turn or taking off and riding high on the
face with such a samll fin. Alex and I were drilling it. Lot's of
decent drops, bottom turns and inside bowls to work into and out.
The take-offs were jacking up nicely out of nowhere with both the lefts
and rights good to ride. After a couple of hours and a building crowd I
winked to Alex, suggesting we explore some other spots. One of our
first stops, Cliffs, was crowded and going off, full of locals in the know.
I liked the conditions and what could be seen up the coast... we opted
to check one of our local heavy breaks.
Tres Palmas from our porch |
Indicators in the distance |
More indicators :) |
Tres Palmas from Steps |
Maria's is building |
Tropical beach life |
 |
 |
 |
Another view of Maria's
Beach |
Bodyboarder |
Take-off! |
Fair number of cars... |
... parked at Maria's |
View from the ballpark road |
When:
Where:
Weather:
Surf:
Tides:
Who: |
Sat.,
December 28, 2002 - late morning
Session #2 - TdR
Sunny and clear, light
offshores (trunks & long sleeve lycra)
6-10' mostly of the larger
variety
unsure
Alex, Rod and about a
dozen others, including the local we surfed yesterday p.m. |
After
about 2-1/2 hours at Domes we moved on to a favorite spot. Despite our good waves
at Domes I gotta kick myself for not heading there sooner. But hey, when
you see something sweet and willing you jump on it, right? There
were already a dozen in the water when we showed up, a definite crowd on
this heavy breaking wave that has dry reef and underwater caves.
We briefly spoke with an ex-pat gringo who was showing a grin that stretched
from Isabela to Rincón. He tried telling us it was good ;)
He also said it was the first time he'd surfed here in clear, green-blue
waters in quite awhile. Just down from the paddle
out channel was Jim Crotty with long lens setup. He smiled and asked where
we'd been... what took us so long, but that he'd been expecting us.
He shot three rolls of slides including a shot of Alex making a huge drop
(animal wave!). Alex did very well - much better than me, not that
I didn't get some killer pits and pops. One nice sized wave was like a
dragon that teased me with a great drop and slide before completely stomping
on me, picking me up and sucking me over the falls and sending me straight
towards the killer reef. Somehow I paddled out of the ensuing set and into
the channel. Another lip simply crushed me onto my board as I foolishly
tried to maneuver under the bowling section. Despite not mastering
the beast this day it was nonetheless a satisfying session as both Alex
and I departed with those Island-wide grins. As we walked
up to our porch at the Villa and Beth looked up she could only smile and
ask if we'd been behaving. (Postscript: Jim told us on Monday that
the camera shop was no longer able to develop slides - the nearest spots
being Ponce and San Juan. He may have to go the route of mail order.)
| Alex at TdR Going
Deep |
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| Photo by: Jim Crotty |
And
such ended the Dia de Los Muertos as we mixed up some tropical punches,
stretched out on our porch and watched the day come to a beautiful end
-- dead tired but highly fulfilled.
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