Unexpected Fun

I didn't expect to have as much fun as I did today. I had a surf lesson to give at 10 am, so I decided to mosey on down to Matanzas and check the waves there, since Andy said he had actually had fun there yesterday when I was at work.

As I walked along the top of the boardwalk, I could see little green lines peeling off like a point break, with only one guy out. It was only about thigh high, but the best shaped waves I have seen in some time. Pale green, groomed to perfection, they wedged up and sparkled in the sunshine.

I paddled out, excited about it, the beach deserted, the waves so perfectly formed that I could only imagine how good it would be if a real swell came along. We have our first tropical system brewing out there in the Atlantic, and just knowing that... everything seems that much better, somehow.

I had so much fun out there. It was wave after wave, little green tubes and tapered walls, with stingrays and dolphin darting here and there. Brian paddled out on the SUP, and I saw him get some good ones. He asked me if I wanted to try it, but it just doesn't interest me. I might like it, but it seems so bulky and awkward that I am not inspired to try. It seems good for paddling around on a river, but for waves... give me something that I can maneuver!

Soon, Tara, Eli, and Hope walked up the beach for Hope's first surf lesson. That kid was amazing! She charged, and stood up on nearly every single wave. I told her that this day was almost exactly like the first day I learned to surf. I told her it was forty-one years ago, nearly to the day. "You've surfed for forty-one years?" she asked, squinting up at me in the sun. "Yep," I said, "and I still feel like a kid every time I paddle out. Stoked!" She smiled, and caught another one, as I raised my arms in victory and watched her scream with delight.

I caught a few when she got tired, and watched a good surfer ride one and do some tricks. I even went back out after the lesson, as the wind was still offshore.

What an unexpected surprise today was. I would live it over again, any time, any day. I just wish Andy, Karen, and Bob had been out there, surfing with me.