The End of Spring PR Trip 2010...
Random roadside Cuba Libre and nacho cheese chips!
That’s just the pinnacle moment of another funny adventure I found myself on two days ago, my second-to-last day in Puerto Rico. It was yet again another failed attempt to seek entertainment with my good friend Masso. This time, we were looking for a spot to surf in the towns north of Aguadilla because the swell was almost gone from there. We started out checking all the spots of Isabela—Jobos, Secret Spot, Golondrinas, Las Dunas—but to no avail. It was even flatter than Aguadilla!
Pretty much flat at Golondrinas. That wave in the picture is 1.5 feet and breaking on the shallow reef.
We even ventured 20 minutes further to Quebradillas. No waves here either, but we did find a really cool public beach park. We declared our search for waves a failure, and resigned ourselves to walking around the park. Typical beautiful PR beach, but this one had a river coming out of the mountains flowing into it, with little mini rapids and freezing-cold water. On the other end of the park, a tunnel built by the Spaniards (or really, the native Taino laborers under the whip of the Spaniard) hundreds of years ago as a pass through the mountains. On the other side of the walk-through tunnel, pretty cliffs and rocks out into the ocean.
Tunnel, otherside of tunnel
Well, no waves, should we go have a drink instead? We check out a bar by the park, but find its “tourist prices” unacceptable (“she sees you’re a gringo, she charges us $5 for a drink”). So, we travel into the city proper of Quebradillas with the idea to find a store and get a small bottle of rum and some coke. We find no such small bottle anywhere. We next attempt to get food at Taco Maker, and my credit card is not accepted without ID. Fail, fail, fail. We are 0 for 3 at this point. So, we hang our heads and head for home.
On the back roads home we find a small mini-mart/speakeasy in the middle of a neighborhood. This is where we score a small bottle of Bacardi, a liter of coke, and some nacho chips--$7 total! We were already laughing at our multiple failures and sweating profusely from a blazing hot afternoon with no wind, so we sat right there on the side of the road to enjoy the spoils of our journey. At some point, we began laughing at how we ended up in the middle of this neighborhood drinking Cuba Libres on the side of the road.
We headed back to Aguadilla, and got the crazy idea to go back to Surfer’s Beach to surf (the very place we left originally because the waves were “too small” to bother paddling out). With only a sliver of daylight left, we quickly ran out of the van and down to the beach. The waves were teeny, and I had a bit of a rum-buzz, but we had so much fun surfing until we could no longer see! It would be my last surf in Puerto Rico.
The two days before, however, the waves were great! Back in the head-high to overhead range at Wilderness. I had fun surfing, though I was a little disappointed that I wasn’t able to do a lot of the stuff I had learned on the smaller waves on these bigger waves. I was surfing a little more conservatively on the larger, more powerful waves. I even had John, a local surf photographer, come out one day to shoot me. It was really crowded this day, and it must have taken me 20-30 minutes before I was even able to get a wave. Unfortunately, John ended up having an equipment failure after a while, and only got pictures of me on my first couple of waves, which were nothing spectacular. I am still really happy to have some surf pictures! I also happened across more pictures of me surfing from early April on another photographer’s website, which made me even happier… at least I have SOMEthing for PR surf shots, even if they aren’t me at my best… as opposed to having none, like I did before.
Shot by Osiris Torres, Wilderness April 3, 2010. Osiris has a great site mysurfingphoto.com
Yesterday, it was decidedly FLAT and not a surf day, so I went scuba diving with Darryl, local dive instructor I mentioned in a previous blog. We were lucky that the conditions that day were ideal for a really cool dive at Shacks Beach. I haven’t been on a dive in 12 years, and I must say this one was incredible for my first time back. The reef at Shacks is quite expansive. We explored it for an hour, even going through some “tunnels” in the reef to get to different sections. I saw tons of different coral, sea fans, urchins, and tons of colorful tropical fish. We also saw a spotted Eagle Ray which is a little bit rare. He was super cool!
Shot by Darryl Stansbury, the reef at Shacks beach
What timing, they are calling us to board our flight to Orlando now…and I am pretty much done with this blog. I have a few minutes before my row is called…
My closing thoughts on this adventure? I am so incredibly glad I came down here for a month. I did do what I had intended: surf as much as possible and progress my surfing. I met some great people, ate some great food, spent time in the incredible PR nature, and experienced a different culture. It’s a bit of a transition time for me in life, and I really got some insight on what is important to me and what I want out of life. I really couldn’t ask for more.
A Few More Pics...all these and more can be found on my facebook profile: www.facebook.com/people/Courtney-Dutson/843524367
Carved by the Taino natives hundreds of years ago, now held up by yours truly. On the road to Quebradillas...
Cheers Masso!
River runs thru it... to the beach at the public park near Isabella
In the town of Isabella
