Straight from Nicaragua, here is blog 2 from Mike Jensen on his Quiksilver Travel surf trip. Click here if you missed Blog 1.
So we and all our surfboards made it ok to Nicaragua on Friday. The drive from the airport to San Juan Del Sur went fast with a brief stop-by to a lake with a volcano in the background. We quickly unloaded our gear and headed to Playa Madera and got some great first day head-high surf. The ocean (with its 80 plus water temp.) cleansed all the travel grime off of us, and then it was off to eat Mahi Mahi and drink cold Victoria beers. The hotel is nice with Wi-Fi, AC, good food and a friendly staff.
Saturday, we motorboated up north to Playgrounds -the place was similar to Trestles with only 20 guys out. The spot is super fun, but because it is far north, it does not get offshore winds all day. But nobody was complaining of lack of any good waves.
A great thing about the Quiksilver surf trip is that you meet other surfers from all over United States. Bill, a fireman from San Francisco, is easy to talk to and charges Mavericks and Ocean Beach back home with his passion for surfing tattooed on his body. Chip, another firefighter and surfboard shaper, moved to Miami about ten years ago and brings a hard-charging attitude for big barrels.
Sunday has been one of those classic Central American days, waking up at 5:00 am asking Jeff, “did you just hear all those gun shots?” He said that it was just firecrackers and dynamite. I tried to fall back to sleep, but a marching band with horns and drums felt the need to cruise by our hotel several times, then lit up more fireworks just in case somebody was still sleeping. Unfortunately, today the surf was about waist-high, which allowed NY Dan to longboard all day and us shortboarders to have to make the best of it. The beach went for miles and miles and there was no sight that man had ever been there.
Monday we surfed Playa Colorado and I had great time surfing head high surf. Chip got the the barrell of the day. Everyone in our group are becoming great friends and Neal will be leaving us tomorrow and he will be missed.
Here are some photos from Nicaragua. Thanks to Amber Poe for taking the pictures.
