Last few days in PR

Oh boy! What a great trip it was. My last few days I was on my own, as Sheena went home on Thursday night. Friday morning the waves weren't too good so I did a lot of relaxing around the apartment and some errands--oil change for the Beach Bomb, getting a spare car key made, groceries. I had another wonderful lunch at El Carey and surfed at Wilderness in the evening. The current was super-strong the whole time, and I was paddling like I've never had to paddle before. I really can't remember the last time I was surfing in a current that strong--what a workout! It was a bit windy in a bad direction for the wave quality, but it was still fun. Anytime I'm out in the ocean surfing is a good day!

Saturday and Sunday, I just had the biggest urge to be outside as much as possible. I put off doing work and just really tried to soak in PR for my last 2 days. I went again to Wilderness Saturday morning only to find the current was still crazy. I went out anyway and again had a paddle battle of epic proportions. It was great exercise, but really not the funnest after 2 days of it. I made it a short sesh and headed over to Crashboat Beach to lay out and read and relax for a bit.

To my surprise, there were still waves at Crashboat, and only 2 people surfing them (as compared to the huge crowd there usually if it is breaking)! It was small, just over 2 feet, but perfect peeling right-hand waves off the point of the concrete dock (the picture above is not the best, a lot of the waves were bigger and more powerful, thankfully). I quickly grabbed my board and paddled out to surf. It was a lot of fun... and afterwards I took a good long while to lay out and read. I needed to bring back as much of a tan as possible to wintery Florida! It was an incredibly beautiful day out, warm but not uncomfortably hot, blue skies... not too crowded on the beach for a favorite hang out spot like picturesque Crashboat Beach.

Saturday at Crashboat

Saturday night was so much fun! My friends Diana and Hector who own El Carey restaurant invited me out for pizza and beers. They were joined by another married couple they were friends with. We all got along so well and had such a fun conversation for hours. We drank pitorro, which is like Puerto Rican moonshine, but very tasty as it is mixed with various fruits. So stoked to be getting to know my friends down there better and better, as well as meeting new people I really click with.

Side note, I see so many happily married couples in PR and I think that is super cool. Not sure if it's a cultural difference or just who I happen to be meeting, but I dig it. Happily married surf families especially. I love to see husbands and wives who have been married for years still being so sweet and caring to one another.

As seems to be tradition, I had my last surf of the trip at Surfer's Beach on Sunday morning. Small waves, but fun. It was an incredibly beautiful day out and I had a couple local friends out in the lineup with me too.

Later that afternoon, I spent a long time walking and sitting on the beach at my favorite spot, Wilderness (there were no waves there). I was really taking in every bit of beauty around me... appreciating every little piece of coral, the beautiful sea, the sand, the sun, the sky... and feeling so happy in that time of extreme gratitude. Also listening to some of my favorite music on my iPod which made it that much better. As I went to the parking lot to get my car and leave, I ended up running into this cute surfer guy I had briefly spoken to that morning at Surfer's Beach. We ended up staying over an hour there on the beach talking. He was super cool! We also met up later that night for beers and shooting pool before I had to fly home. It's too bad I met such a cool guy during my last few hours there but glad to have gotten to at least hang out with him some.

Pleasantly uneventful red eye flight home... it all happened so quickly and now I'm back on my sofa in Cocoa Beach typing this. It's good to be home but I definitely miss warm, beautiful PR. I plan to travel back in March, and I can't wait! Until next time...

:)

Fruit salad I made from starfruit and passionfruit from the yard

passionfruit guacamole I made from avocado and passionfruit from the yard. mmmm

I found this in the guest book... from the first time I ever went to PR with Jessica Williams and Pepe, and we stayed at the same place! Cool