Tres Palmas...

Yes, I have spent several hours during the past few days looking at this wave in Rincon. It is absolutely spectacular and can hold the biggest swells in the island (and possibly this entire side of the Atlantic Ocean)

Check out the link below for some pictures: First off, you'll see a ton of local Bodyboarders at Crashboat Beach in Aguadilla. Then the monstrous wave you see is Tres Palmas, looking about quadruple or quintuple overhead. The surfers who are on the wave have obviously been towed into the wave by Jetski as one can see how early they have gotten into the wave. Even though they rode slightly smaller waves, the guys who paddled in may have been even more impressive, as they had to drop all the way from the top.. absolutely amazing stuff.

http://www.surfpr.com/modules.php?name=Forums&file=viewtopic&t=3375

And if you're still interested, this is another excellent link with pictures of the tow in surfers at Tres Palmas.
http://www.playero.com/main/LoadWhatsUp.do?id=448

My front yard... going off!!!

Look what I woke up to this morning... the beach in my front yard was going off on the second day of the North swell hitting the island right now. It is the largest swell in a decade and has been nothing short of spectacular. On this morning, the waves were a bit cleaner than yesterday, and about 6 guys, including pro surfing brothers Graves and Toth went out in the water. They paddled into waves with about 20 foot faces, at least triple overhead. Freaking amazing. These pictures, and my crappy zoom, really can not do it justice, although I want to thank my landlord for letting me snap them from the roof of the house.

Tupi Cabrera, some photographers and videographers check out the scene before a larger crowd began to gather.

Zoom in on this, and you'll see one surfer paddling for the wave as another two bob over the top and to safety before it breaks.

Make sure to click on this photo to enlarge it, and then magnify in on the surfer riding the wave, you can then appreciate some of the size.

If you magnify on this one, you'll see a guy dropping in on a wave, unfortunately, the electrical line seems to block a better view of him.

Calm before the Storm?

Here is a view of nice tranquil Caribbean waters which lie south of Rincon heading towards Mayaguez.
Last week was definitely exciting, as I hosted a ton of visitors. First of all there was Carlos and Sarah coming in to visit for a week from Columbia, SC and New Orleans respectively. They stayed in Rincon but we hung out together pretty much every day, exploring various surf breaks, waterfalls and newly opened restaurants like the Taco Maker. During the middle of the week, my new friend Matt Cox came into town from San Juan to do a job interview and then headed directly to the beach with us (while still wearing his suit) to join us in the water on a bodyboard. Later that night we headed to Mayaguez to feast at the Ponderosa and clean out the Mayaquez Resort and Casino. Carlos and I walked out with earnings of around $20 each!!!

On Friday, Papus, Carolyn and Kobe stayed in Rincon and joined us for dinner/drinks at the Tamboo beachfront grill. They were my Salsa gurus and I hadn't seen them since they relocated to Knoxville, TN about 9 months ago, so catching up was fun. Then on Friday night/Saturday morning, Joel and Megan from St. Petersburg, FL flew into Aguadilla and we spent the next two days exploring and surfing various breaks. Saturday we hit the North Coast by Isabela surfing Jobos and Middles. On Sunday, we took a look at Rincon breaks like Domes and Maria's which were very small. Luckily, we salvaged the day with a terrific late afternoon session at Wilderness up in Aguadilla. I think I had the longest ride of my life there, independently verified and described by Joel as being around 30 seconds long and covering around 150 yards.

There were lots of people coming in and out of my apartment, so I could definitely understand when my landlord Eloy asked me "Exactly how many people do you have staying in your apartment?" I explained the topsy turvy situation and reassured him that this kind of traffic won't be happening again. Joel is coming back for his second straight weekend this Friday again and then my Mom will be coming to stay with me the week before I leave on April 8th.

But all the buzz around the island now is about the swell of the DECADE which is going to peak on Wednesday and Thursday. They are saying it will be the biggest waves to hit the island since 1999. Most of the beaches will be closed since it will be so gigantic. My plan is to search for more protected/shielded and smaller spots since I don't want to have anything to do with the 20-30 foot waves (triple to quadruple overhead - yes, you will be able to fit four surfers standing up on a surfboard underneath the open faces of these waves!!!) The swell is starting to build right now outside my apartment, only about 3-5 seas right now, but one can sense that these are the harbingers of the maelstrom that is about to pummel this island.

Here is a nice link with the surf forecasts for this region: http://www.surfline.com/surfline/forecasts4/forecast_mo.cfm?alias=puertorico&county=nwpuertorico

Hopefully I'll be able to post some good pictures on the blog after this weekend too.


Rocky, rolling on his back and having a ball.


Carlos and I tower above the waterfall.


Traffic cop: Only in Puerto Rico would it make sense to allow a mentally challenged individual to direct traffic.

Say "Hello" to Rocky!!!

After receiving various criticisms over my blog being too Feline-centric, I decided I should strive for a little more balance by showing you a picture of this friendly pooch waiting outside my door. His name is Rocky and he belongs to the landlords above and is a very friendly and well-behaved dog.

As for goings on.. just been doing a steady amount of surfing as my shoulder continues to recover. Never surfing too long and the surf hasn't been too big lately either which makes things easier. The one exception being a session up at Wilderness in Aguadilla on Friday morning. There was good size there - about head high - as well as very strong offshore winds which held the wave up for a long time. Unfortunately, it also makes it a lot more difficult to paddle into the wave, especially if you're riding a shortboard as I was (and also if you're still a big time surf rookie!). There was also a very strong current in the water, so once you reached the take off zone, you couldn't just catch your breath, you had to keep paddling continuously just to hold your position. So, in between that, and lots of aborted take offs ie. paddling like a madman to try and catch the wave while the offshore wind just holds it up and keeps it from breaking, I was pretty tired after about 2 hours. And most significantly, my shoulder was tight and swollen again.. dadgumit! Luckily a day of rest on Saturday, lots of ultrasound, stretching and some light easy days in Rincon have reduced the stiffness and swelling and I am feeling good again.

And politics, yeah, those have been in high gear around here the past few days.. and what was cute for the first day or two, has now become incredibly annoying. The candidates have been having rallies and parades, which they conduct through major streets and highways... they usually consist of tons of cars, tons of people drinking on the side of the roads, 4 Wheelers, ATVs, motorcycles, horn honking, tire squealing, engine revving, loud ass music and speakers, and traffic blockades. This was all just building into a crescendo for the actual Primary election which occurred yesterday on Sunday.

And Sunday was a special day alright as alcohol sales were banned on the island! Although there were no planned rallies on that day, people still gathered on the streets, especially in front of the campaign offices. And late on Sunday night, there was another traffic jam in Aguada as I was driving back home from Rincon. As I was sitting in my car, all of a sudden I see about a hundred kids just hauling ass down the street towards me.. a few seconds later, about 30 cops decked in Riot Gear in pursuit run by.. who knows what had beeng going down.. but as I sat there, I contemplated that for once I was actually grateful for the blandness and general apathy associated with politics back on the mainland....

Here, experience the excitement as my progress is once more ground to a halt as another political cluster--err I mean parade passes by.

Looking out my front yard, it's the US Coast Guard again. This time, it looks like they're keeping an eye on a snorkeler in the foreground.. that must be a hell of a swim from Santo Domingo!!

Someone else told me that they haven't gotten sick of the sunset pictures yet, so here's another attempt to actually push your tolerance for these pics over the limit.

No news is good news

Yes, haven't posted anything lately because I've actually been able to get out in the water and do some real surfing! A moderate sized NW swell hit the island this past weekend and I was finally able to get on it with my surfboards. All my rehabbing and the recent acquisition of a personal ultrasound machine have definitely helped me recover. I'm not at a 100% but I am vastly improved and continuing to convalesce.

So unfortunately, when I am shredding it up in the water, it is impossible for me to take any pictures... so may as well just send some new pictures of the sunset...