Surfing: Second Serving

Back to surflandia...Yey! And we're growing... on my first trip here we only used a semi-cramped-but-comfy-still sedan with a surfboard tied on the roof, but now we have stoked's twin, a mini mpv-sedan hybrid seven-seater turned nine that we jammed ourselves to fit. Phew, that was a mouthful.

These shots were taken pre-departure: (most still had work to do)

Three wise? monkeys

Pogi ni papa Thres! Mmmm. (nagpagupit ka ba? aylabyu na!)

While filling up.

First stopover (also known as yosi break) of the night.

Let's fast-forward to (nothing to miss but road, Ria's non-stop sleep, several stopovers and more road)... It's morning, we're here! Seset-up sana ng tulog sina Jerla at Tala... tsk tsk tsk.

High tide! Perfect!

Wave forecast was 3-5 foot swells at short intervals... a bit scary for a surfing noob like me... add to that the fact that I can't swim. But what the hell, let's ride this bitch! hahaha.

Get your gameface on with warpaint! There was a story to the origin of this tradition but I forgot already...TJ, ano nga ulit yung asa chapter one? hehehe.

The girls took lessons with Lemon's crew. And I wish I had too, they had better pictures and they rode more waves in an hour than we mamaru boys in a day! hahahaha.

Here we have Kars making it look easy, Tala bailing out but in the end was able to get a long one, and Rose, well simply showing us why she's the uncontested E.O.H.! (shots are kinda washed out as I purposely left them unedited)

 

 

Meanwhile, eto kaming mga boylets... struggling with paddling out (in our defense, the waves on our side were more intense then theirs)

We took a real beating here. We were not winning, every attempt to head out meant fighting through successive waves (not to mention having weeds tangled on your leash to add to the drag). Once we got through, we didn't have to wait long for a wave to catch, most of them were surfable. It's just that when you are at the top of the crest and you look down, you realize the height you are at and start to lose balance or just plain wipeout. And once you do, you get thrown around underwater like a rag doll... tumbling, hitting the floor, getting impaled by your own board... etc.

I also had a chance to prove one of life's metaphor... that if you throw yourself into deep water and you don't know how to swim, you learn fast enough to survive. This time it was literal. I was waiting for a wave to catch but was unknowingly being taken by the current further off to sea. So when I got hit by a big wave and toppled over, the sand I was expecting to stand on was not there and I started to panic. I flailed my arms into what felt like treading water and miraculously it somehow worked. My method was not that effective as I was bobbing up and down struggling to keep my head afloat while ingesting big gulps of saltwater periodically. My board was further off shore so it was counterintuitive to swim in that direction. I started swimming frog-style but belly-up towards shallow waters but every time I tried to stand up there was nothing touching my feet and I was getting exhausted so I decided to lay on my back and float myself to safety which felt like an eternity. Hmmm, I wonder how many lives I have left? Kinda lost count already. I am now holding on to my belief that if it's your time to go... it's your time to go. Hehehe.

Where was Ria in all this chaos? Any guesses?... ahahahaha.

Let's take this moment to showcase Mimi's footwear fetish.

Okay, back to surf day.

After a couple of hours, we were spent... and injured. TJ snapped his thumb and right arm and got Zoolandered (adj. inability of a person to physically turn to one side). This explains why later on he is seen with a make-shift neck brace.

Lunch time after which, siesta! hehehe. I pig-slept for almost an hour on a bench near where we ate and when I woke up, I headed to the beach and got back on the water. They woke up at around 5 and we got back to some last minute surfing before it got dark. So this is where we get back to pictures.

Some Mimi, Tala and Ria (yep, gising na siya) moments

Line em up!

At this point, we were starving. On to Midway for dinner!

Busog na kaya makulit na ulit... hehehe

Eto na ang painom ni sir Jet! Setup sa beach ng one time use na tent.

Light shot sa cam ni Rose.

Dito nagka sakitan at balyahan sa barya at nagkabukingan. Shhh. Basta pag may kumalat... alam na kung sino!

 

We had to relocate to the huts when the rain came but the revelations were just starting. Here's hoping that it stays in our circle.  

It was getting late so some opted to call it tonight (hahaha). But there remained some brave souls armed with a couple more beers and a sensitive topic who took the conversation to a whole different level. Hehehe.

Ow, and we were approached by Adam, a Brit surfer now residing here. He was drunk as shit but was amusing nonetheless.

On to the next day...

(I won't post download links as most of us have copies anyways. Thanks to Kars and Rose for the extra cams, mine was useless by sunset and I was smart enough not bringing the charger)

Well, just in case here's where you can download a copy from my cam. Password is hmm... sino universal crush ng mga girls? ******

20080913.part1.rar
20080913.part2.rar