Amazing Surf

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Got up early grabbed the two large jugs of water we had bought the night before and headed down to Witches Rock Cafe to grab the bus.  Met Gabe and Rubin at the bus.  They had two really short boards so we knew we were going to be in the water with a couple of good surfers.  Great guys.  Took about two hours on the little mini bus to get to the boat launch.  Interesting ride there passing by small homes and corners with children in their school uniforms waiting for their buses.  No matter how much I travel it never ceases to amaze me when I  see perfectly dressed and well groomed children standing in front of what we would consider to be very run down houses.  All of the kids looked happy and several waved to us as we drove by.

When we finally arrived at the boat launch they served us a nice breakfast of bacon and eggs and orange juice before we headed out on the boat.  They also offered us a chance to purchase a premade lunch (do this it is worth every penny)

It was raining when we boarded the little 8 person open air boat that we would spend the next two hours on.  Mike and I grabbed the front seats while Lad, Rubin and Gabe sat on the bench seat in the middle of just in front of driver.  With the waves and the rain it was no time before Lad, Gabe and MIke were completely soaked.  Mike and I were get rained on but were riding high at the front of the boat out of the waves. 

On the way there the driver would point out wild life in the water.  We kept seeing these little black ball size objects come to the surface and then dissappear.  It was a while before we got close enough to realize that they were the heads of turtles.  They would pop their heads up to see what the approaching noise was and then duck under as we got closer.  There were turtles everywhere.  We even came across a pair of turtles that were engaged in an 8 day love making session --- yes 8 days.  I guess they do everything slow :)

After a couple of hours we started approaching Witch's rock.  Apparently the waves and currents moving around this large rock that is just off shore cause sand bars to form on the other side of it that make beautiful pealing waves (lefts and rights)  There were a couple of other boats there but the area is so big that we were able to get our own spot about a half mile away from anyone with perfect big glassy waves.  We were the only ones there!! 

We paddled out and started catching one ride after another.  Saw Lad do one of the best take offs I have ever seen him do grabbing the rail on a steep tubing wave and tearing right as Mike and I paddled over the wave.  Mike had adjusted to his short board well and was catching all sorts of rides - despite the fact that he had done very little surfing over the last few months after moving back to England.  The waves are fast and clean but don't have a lot of power to hold you under the way the waves in Hawaii do.  They make for very fun rides and nice easy paddle outs.  Gabe and Rubin were tearing it up on their ultra short boards and never seemed to run out of energy.

After a couple of hours of constant waves we paddled back to the boat and had our lunch - one of the best ham and cheese sandwiches I have ever had.  We would all have been happy to stay there but we headed off to Ollie's point - another 45 minutes away.  When we got there the waves didn't look very good and there were about 15 guys in the water.  Really strong off shore wind.  If you let your board go it will fly away (just like in the Endless Summer 2 video)  It is a point break so everyone sets up in the same place.  At first we were not even sure we should go in.  After all of the great waves we caught it didn't look very appealing but the captain told us it would be fun.  Sure enough they were great fast rights.  Sadly I didn't surf very well on my (insert nasty name here) board.  Luckly Lad and Mike caught some great rides and Rubin absolutely tore it up.  Lad kept saying Rubin is with us everythime he paddled by Mike.

After a couple of hours at Ollies point we had to head back to the boats to make it back before dark.  Really would like to get back there with one of my own boards and tear it up.  Fantastic surf spot!!

On the way back the nature show got even more intense.  Saw all sorts of turtles - of course - but probably the most interesting thing we saw was a brought to our attention by a huge swarm of dving birds off in the distance.  The captain headed towards the birds.  As we approached it looked like the water was literally boiling below them.  Turns out that there was a huge school of fish frantically swimming in a big circle at the surface of the water.  I guess there was some sort of food that the fish were excitedly eating (while the birds were eating them)  Thousands of these fish seemed to be swimming in one big circle and despite us approaching they kept doing it.  We were able to drift right up to the edge of the circling fish - (will have to ask the guys if they can remember what type of fish they were)

In a short while we were back at the boat launch as the sun was falling.  We were all very excited to have been out for such a good day of surfing and were more than happy to celebrate and quench our thirsts with a few - or rather a bunch - of beers on the way home.  One of the highlights of the ride back was Gabe trying to convince the driver to stop the van and turn around because he had seen a huge bull near the road. 

Great day and somewhere I will definitely get back to when ever I can.