Dominical Surf Photos

First off, I am VERY hesitant to post these photos, but because I often receive emails from friends asking me “Where are the pictures of you surfing? You need to post some.” I have decided to do just that. Know that the reason I have not done so before now, and only do so by request is that I simply do not feel that I know how to surf yet (and have never had a photographer with a high powered lens taking photos, but my house mate just happened to be shooting my fellow house mate that morning and took some of me as well!). You see, when I first started, my friends told me that it will take ‘a good year’ of surfing before you can really surf. I’m going on my fifth month, therefore I’m less than half way there. Some days I feel like I’m improving, and some days I feel like a COMPLETE beginner! The other day I was having a bad day of surf near the river mouth in Playa Avellana in serious winds, not catching anything, but instead being pushed by the wind out further and further because it was and off shore wind, every time I paddled to stay on the inside, I was sprayed in the face as if I were nailed to the bow of a boat in super choppy water face first. My board, just like the bow of a boat would slap against every single choppy wave and spray me in the face non-stop. Anyway, I found myself a good distance away from the other surfers and there was much sea-life activity that morning. As I was watching different fish boils, and had noticed several large fish riding a wave as I’d paddled out, I saw something large and brown surfacing just beyond me and my board. This motivated me to paddle into the wind, and spray and get back to the other surfers, but even as a got closer to the other surfers it continued to surface. I asked one of my local friends I was surfing with that day if he’d seen it and he informed me that it was a sea turtle. Just as he said it, it raised it’s turtle head out of the water and he was so amazingly cute!!!! He continued to bob around me and at one point he was not more than four feet away from me. What an incredible day to be in the water that day! In Dominical, I saw a huge Sting Ray (is that a Manta ray?) fly out of the water while I was surfing one day. He had about a three foot wing span and was so beautiful. OK, here you go, I gotta go practice my surf !!! Life is so beautiful and full of wonderful little surprises! Pura vida to all.