Saturday, May 5, 2012

Bolsa Chica.. the next day

Rise and Shine.. day two of surf camp adventure!!


So hubs moves A lot in his sleep..Which every time he moved the trailer moved.. and I kept worrying about the fact that our bed is literally a thin piece of plywood on a rail hanging off a trailer. That was only being held up by two thin metal maybe aluminum poles..What is the weight limit on this?? I was also worried about the trailer flipping... because we are both sleeping on one side..and there is nothing on the other side and we were uneven???.... I KNOW I WORRY A LOT!...But because of all that I kept waking up I do not like interrupted sleep..and getting up at 2 AM to pee. I did not sleep very much. Lets not forget I had some beer, a bloody mary, a few glasses of wine and those Infamous Laurie jello shots. WHY do I do that when I know I am suppose to get up and surf early the next day??

Lately I have been getting up at 2 AM and having problems getting back to sleep.....:-(..so lack of sleep is currently the norm!!!

So Hubs gets up at 5 AM.. hey wanna get up and go surfing?? I'm like no not yet... too early. He gets up a little later. 6 AM.. want to go now? I was No surf is prob not good right now. What is the tide like? He said he would go check. Again... I am not motivated to surf.. still...and I did not get a lot of sleep.
He goes to check surf.. says it is flat..Lets go to Blackies! I was surf is prob not great there right now either..I want to sleep a little more.

So he goes to fish for a while and comes back and makes coffee. It is now 7sh. AT 7:06 I get a text from Irma asking if Bolsa was as flat as it looks on the cam. I say yes..what does Blackies look like. She says 1-3 but in shallow water...and hi tide at 8:50 and prob swamp things out.

I tell Brian he says get your bathing suit on. Everything else is in the Tahoe. We pour us each a cup of coffee and trek on down to blackies. We make great time.


We pull up.. it is small but doable. NOT crowded.. perfect really for hubs. Was A little worried Mo would be to short to catch anything. I tell my hubs this is a perfect day for that 9'6 (Zeus).. You should have no problems. Perfect size for you and that board all around. So we suit up and seriously are in the water before 8 am.

I was thinking I really would not catch much..and maybe take over the 9'6 if I get flustered with Mo. I am still learning him and I really thought too small for an 8'0

OMG It was a very FUN session. Paddle out was easy. Hubs was catching his little waves closer to shore. I paddle out and my first wave I go for was 3 feet. Nice left all the way to shore. It was so much fun..It was so effortless...As I was riding it was like everything just came back to me.. MY MOJO IS SERIOUSLY FOUND!

Jumped off my board and just said.. oh MOMMA Needed that.. I didn't even realize HOW bad I needed that!

My face was splashed with cold water and I felt so refreshed,My wee bit of a hangover is fading and losing out to stoke.

I catch a few waves here and there. AND am so shocked at how easy Mo is.. we have so become one. I am VERY MUCH IN LOVE WITH THIS BOARD!!!

I had one wipe out.. where I was on the lip and just went over. Not a big wave at all 3' was the biggest out there.. if that. BUT I go over and I seriously did a somersault under water...not on purpose. It is what the wave did. I jump to my feet and am in chest high water..and I just started laughing.. Seriously that wipe out was fun! I felt like a kid when I use to do somersaults in the pool.

Then I see Dolphins. I paddle out and they were right in front of me. Then Brian whistled and pointed. Telling me about the dolphins. THEN one popped up right next to my board and did his blow hole thing.. I jumped and screamed a little as I was sprayed by the mist of the dolphins blow hole. That startled me. They are so silent. They are so graceful and so BIG too. THEN realized I was in the pod. They were every where. BUT I was also in a school of bait fish. One dolphin even did a little flip about 4 feet away from me. I was smiling from ear to ear. they were eating and I thought I better paddle out of this..

I caught a few more rides.. and had a fun right also..BUT my first left was my wave of the day...Most of what we rode was close outs..but still fun.

Yes Mo is my BOY!!.. I seriously LOVE this board.

Its Now 9:40 and we get out. We have to get back to camp..make breakfast and take down the trailer and be checked out by Noon.

Brian made eggs and bacon and more coffee.. We were both so happy after the surf session. We both needed it. What a GREAT MORNING! We talked about it all through breakfast. Then we broke down camp and left right before Noon....

We were happy. It was good. We Needed this little get away.. We needed time with each other.. and We needed to surf.

A bit tired and hungover..BUT Very Happy!!!

Bolsa Chica One Night Surf Camp Day 1


OK I FINALLY got my butt back in the water..and even before I did.. I still was not feeling it. BUT once I was in.. I felt like I had just been cured of something..

Maybe the best remedy for life's woes.. is "Just Add A Little Salt Water"!

This is a two parter..It is a bit long to put in one post.

As you know I've been going through a few things. One is my upcoming unemployment. Wed. I was informed my final day is May 30th. Bitter sweet and more on that in a future post. BUT it is affecting me..and in a weird indescribable way. I have never before had a job where it ended because the job was done. Lots are sold time to move on. That along with our financial woes..that obviously my unemployment is not gonna help. Has made me a strange person lately.

So to get away from it all. Hubs and I decided we just needed to take a break. For ALL our sanity. We have an arrangement with a friend and a pop up trailer. He told us to take it out and go camping. We were gonna go up to the mountains. I would not mind. Hubs wanted to fly fish..I really for some reason was not feeling surfing. I DONT KNOW WHY??
But Hubs changed his mind and said, hey lets camp where we can surf. AND lets keep it local..

So the decision was made on Monday to book a site at Bolsa Chica. Thursday to Friday. Even if surf was not the best..(which seem to be the case) We still will just be stepping away from things and be by the Ocean.

We arrive early at Bolsa. Called ahead and Ranger at gate said more than likely if we came early we could set up if our site was not occupied or if they were not cleaning it. YEAH NOT.. camp host said 2 PM no exceptions. So we stayed in Day Use area. We went to check surf. The idea was surf for a few have lunch and then set up camp. UMMM.. well very high tide and NO real surf if any was breaking on shore. It was also gloomy and not inviting at all. IF I WAS TO GET MY BUTT BACK IN THE WATER.. I NEEDED MORE THAN THIS!..(Seriously, I don't know what was wrong with me.. usually I would be the first one in there, even just to get wet and paddle..better than being at work..I had no injuries or a previous fright that I was getting over.. i just didn't want to surf??)
So hubs shore fished and I sat and just relaxed on the beach. Then we walked from almost one end of the Beach to the other. We also planned on walking over and checking out the stranded dolphin. He has 2 names. Fred and Bolsa Chica Bob. I like the later better. WE did see him off the highway right before we entered Bolsa. But when we were walking.. we found out there is no way to cross PCH unless you go all the way to Warner, then you would have to walk back. I really thought you could cross at the park entrance..but you cant.. Hmm I don't know why??? So we tried to look at him from State Park Side.. and could not see him. He was still there but not in our view. SO no dolphin pictures.. sorry.

Then we made lunch. Hubs went back to fish some more he did catch a nice little perch. Then he released her. and I beach combed and got a few shells and beach glass to add to decorations in my home.



My friend Irma rode her bike over and found us waiting in the parking lot. We made plans to surf later if doable. I would let her know how Bolsa is..but we were thinking of heading to Blackies for maybe a sun set surf. Chatted with Irma till 2 PM when it was finally time to set up camp. I think I forgot to mention we got there a little after 9 AM.

Still..in that 5 hours...we had a nice relaxing time.


We set up the pop up trailer got camp ready. It got Fricken windy, so no surf. Hoped wind would die down. Left Bolsa and headed to Blackies for surf. All the way to Blackies the shore line was just a wind blown mess. THE waves just North of Huntington pier seemed huge but still wind blown, however there was a few die-hard surfers on them.

Get to Blackies about 3PM...which is also a wind blown mess. Only one person out there maybe a beginner. Just not worth it to go out.

So we call Irma and tell her. SHE said wind should die down about 5..and to check back at Blackies by then. So we head to hubs favorite watering hole, by his work.. and socialize with some friends I had one drink he had two. Waited for 5PM to come.

Get back to Blackies at 5 and can you guess what conditions were like?? Yep Still Windy and NO one was out there then. So as we are driving back to camp. We see all these wind/kite surfers.. I guess wind is not bad for all surfers..
I tried to get a picture of one when we got back to camp..by the time I got my blackberry and ran to the beach he was already pretty far down south. BUT here is a picture none the less. yeah that dot..was right by our camp site just minutes before.


Now back at camp decide to start dinner drink a glass of wine and chill. We made steaks on our fire pit grill. YUM.

We had a few visitors stop by. Jen and her family came to check out the little rig. Then later... My friend Laurie(who I stayed with on my birthday staycation) and her dog Otto came by. She brought her signature dish. JELLO SHOTS..


so we sat by the fire chit chatting and had beer, wine and jello shots.

Drove Laurie to the other end of the park, there it was a hop skip and jump for her to walk home. I would have drove her home but the gate closes at 9 PM.. there is a way to get in after if you need to ..but to be honost, I did not pay that close of attention when he was explaining.



So then off to bed to wake up early and pray for surf. HUBS idea was we get up at 5 AM and surf. I said we will see... I really did not see the need to get up that early.. I mean we were right at the beaches front door.