“Heavy...”

Sitting high atop the hill at our Surfer’s Paradise lodging, you watch as the towering waves break over the shallow reef far in the distance. The distance between ourselves and the waves make it seem as though the barrelling giants are not very big at all, but the photo evidence afterwards, zoomed in, show the double overhead monsters churning through. One outside set catches everyone off guard out in the water, with set waves climbing towards the triple overhead mark. Surfers are getting barrelled left and right as the howling offshore winds shape up the peaks. Fear sits like a lump in my belly as I contemplate whether or not I will be going out into the line up. I decide to wait a day and hone my skills a little more at the beach break next door, having not surfed for a few days.

Our little hotel is situated in a very nice spot, on a nice clearing on a cliff overlooking the foreboding wave off in the distance. After walking all over the countryside in the thirty six degree heat that morning, we had packed up from our hostel in town and set up shop in the middle of this surfer’s paradise. After taking pictures for quite some time, Denielle and I take the surfboard over to the beach break, a short fifteen minute walk, where I would attempt to ride closeout after closeout wave. Some brief shoulders appear a little while later and I work on my late drops, getting ready for the reef break the next day. We watched a beautiful sunset, and then went into “town”, which consists of little more than a few houses and a couple of restaurants, to get some supper and go online so Denielle could talk with her sister before their big trip across Australia. We came back towards our hotel after internet and found a nice little pizza place where we tested two of Panama’s beers, Balboa and Atlas, which tasted surprisingly similar.

Bound and determined all night to at least paddle out into the line up if for nothing more than watching, I lay restless in bed. Having watched a few guys stand up after the wave is over in knee-deep water, the consequences were quite large. But in the words of Colin Gustafson, I didn’t come here to watch. So I woke up, had breakfast and made my way out into the water. The paddle out was close to a kilometre, and I donned my reef booties for the walk along the rocks towards the channel before beginning my journey. I kept telling myself that I would just watch, and maybe, if a wave came along that was just right, then I might paddle into it. After sitting amongst a large group of surfers, it became quite apparent that I would not be getting many waves with this many people in the water. There was one takeoff spot, and it was deep, steep and a little scary. The waves were a lot smaller than the day before, but still well overhead.

After getting frustrated for a while, I paddled inside to watch some guys get barrelled from the safety of the channel. This was quite a sight, and one that not many people get the opportunity to have. To see a guy take a late drop on an overhead wave and then tuck immediately into the tube directly across from you is quite amazing. I had just decided to paddle back home across the open ocean to our hotel when the crowds started to leave. Now there were just four people in the water. Well, I’m here, I might as well go back out. So I went into the line up and soon found myself in position for a little overhead wave. I paddled hard, and caught the wave, but knew that I was later and didn’t think I would make the drop. So I leaned back a little too far to await impact, and to my surprise, my board caught an edge and I engaged in a bottom turn. But my weight was too far back and I quickly face planted into the smooth wave face. Fear shot through my mind as I anticipated getting dragged over the shallow sharp rock reef. Boils would rise to the surface as the waves passed over the ever-present rocks. But to my surprise, I came up unscathed. However, I was now in the impact zone.

I paddled out hard towards the line up but took a few waves on the head, even hitting my board on a rock while duck diving under one of the rollers. It was hard, as I was getting pulled further inside with each set wave, but soon paddled out to the side and back out to the line up. That wasn’t too bad, so next wave that came, I went for, and caught early, made the bottom turn and raced down the face. It sectioned off in front of me, so I pulled up early and over the back. What a ride. My adrenaline was pumping. I got back into position and caught one more wave, slightly overhead, with a steep drop in. I made the bottom turn and raced down the face again. The wave face was incredibly steep, and I feared that I wouldn’t make it, but I had a lot of speed, and then I just began to relax. I reached out with my hand and dragged it upon the vertical wave face as I crouched down. I could hear the hollow air behind me, like wind in a tunnel as the wave barrelled over my back. I was in the barrel. Not fully so that I could see it, but it was a barrel none the less. I pushed forward and pumped up the face to gain speed and rode the wave until it ended. There would be no topping this, so I began my long paddle back to the hotel. I’ll have some pictures posted in a few days, as I just got in, so haven’t had time to post them. But there are lots of photos from the day before, of much larger waves, to pass the time until then.

Right now we drove a couple from Australia into town that are staying at our hotel. They flew into Bolivia and are bussing their way all the way to Los Angeles for their honeymoon. We’re going to try and find some groceries at a different store, although the restaurants are pretty cheap. After that we may go to the beach and regain the tans that seem to have faded with all of the sun safety business the past few weeks. I’m looking forward to going back into the water tomorrow and the next few days, and then it’s further west I guess, towards Panama City.

Tyler.