Ch 8 La Playa West Coast

Ryan and I got to the beach after one of the most intense car ride of my life. It's like our driver thought he was in a formula 1 competition! He was going 120 in 40 zones. I've never experience anything like that before. At first I was scared but eventually I realized that this guy was just an amazing driver, better than anybody I've ever seen. By the end I was starting to enjoy his daring maneuvers.

Playa Mariposa: This was the beach right outside the hotel. It might look beautiful but the currents are very dangerous. Even only a few feet in the water you can feel the water trying to pull you out. It's hard to explain why this is. It has a lot to do with the water depth, slope and length of the beach. Instead of going swimming I chased hermit crabs and collected coconuts. I never really found any interesting shells, all the best ones were occupied.


WAVES:

Learning about big waves and the ocean was a highlight for me. Surfing was fun... well, boogie board... which is like surfing, except the board is smaller and you don't stand up. This was more than enough for me, as learning how to surf takes a lot of time. I can't begin to tell you how powerful and interesting waves are. The ones I was going for were about 1-3 meters tall (Which is considered to be very small). It's pretty funny, when catching waves you need to be close to the curl point. The only problem is that the curl point for small waves is the breaking point for bigger ones. So, it's actually safer to try and get bigger waves because you don't get swamped as many times. Being swamped is an interesting experience because you see a big wall of water coming at you and there is nothing you can do but huddle into a ball, hold your breath and be careful not to get tangled in your surf chord. The rolling motion can cause the wire to get wound around your neck and arms, which is bad.

The first time I caught wave it was after being pummeled for over an hour. When it did happen I felt myself suddenly flying towards the shore like I was being pulled by an invisible motor boat. Once you're actually riding a wave, all you need to do is stay balanced and steer! The force of the water will push you almost all the way to the shore.