Lea Poses

Lea is completely afraid of cameras. She shakes uncontrollably when you bring it out and will do anything in her power to be as far away from it as possible. As soon as she hears the beep of the digital focus, she's gone. For Christmas, I got Ian the Canon Powershot SX120 IX with a 10x optical zoom. Look at these pics! Pretty Little Lea. We got you on film baby! These were taken from far enough away that apparently, she didn't mind. In our world, these photos are gold.

15Gs Later

The down payment for the casita got sent via wire yesterday. It's official. Ian is a homeowner! Construction begins next week. Rich has already reserved the laborer's time for the frame and the roof, and the quicker the house gets done, the sooner we can skip town. We celebrated at The Shack with lunch and a beer in the company of our roommate, Cully. Congratulations, my love ... I can't wait for the adventure.

I've broken my surf funk. Despite sparse sessions, I managed to score a couple good waves at Puaena Point last week and just yesterday, even though I didn't get any rides, I made it to the lineup after struggling inside for an eternity. Sometimes just making it out, is accomplishment enough. Yesterday was one of those days.

It's already been a big winter on the North Shore. Christmas Day saw Eddie-size wave heights again. At one point, the bay closed out washing five boards onto shore and sending in half the lineup. The paper said there were 25 rescues and a bunch of assists. Thousands of people drove to the country to watch what they probably missed on the 8th, thus creating the notorious North Shore wave traffic which incidentally, coincided with our Christmas dinner at Alligator Rock. Ian and his family drove up in the thick of it. The beachfront pad where his family and my family spent Christmas, is a mile from the bay. My parents are staying there for the next ten days thanks to our friend Theresa, who needed a cat sitter. It's so close to the water, there is sand on the inside of the windowsills. Dinner was awesome. Ian barbecued a turkey again. Thanksgiving was just the test for what was on Christmas, perfection. Mmmmmm.

And on the technological front, guess what Ian got Melly for Christmas??? An itouch. That's right. I'm back everyone. I have something Apple again. I love you iTouch. And you too, Ian.

Surf Funk

Surf funk sucks balls. I'm in one right now. I can't stay standing to save my life and just the other day, I went head first, over the falls at Lani's and whacked the rail of my board on the back of my calf. What a kooooook! And it was only two feet. I dream of ripping. I dream of barrels and steep drops and sweet cutbacks. I have awful balance by nature. My worst event in gymnastics was the balance beam. When I pop up on a wave, nine times out of ten, I squat. As I'm squatting, I tell myself to stand up. But by then, it's usually too late. My squat kills the momentum and I can't make it around the corner. So, yeah. Stance matters. I'm working on it.

On the pro front, congrats to Taj Burrows who won the third jewel in the Triple Crown, beating Kelly Slater in the finals at Pipeline. Poor Kelly. Second again. Tough run for the Floridian.

The Van's Greatest Day

There are handfuls of special days in life where the events are so monumental, that you can remember the intricate details of each moment with the wreckless fondness of passionate love. This past weekend has shaped up to be just that. As the Eddie went, so did hearts of the island of Oahu, throbbing with the pulse of the tumultuous ocean as spectators lined the horseshoe bay to witness a historical day in surfing. The 25th annual Eddie Aikau was highly anticipated, highly publicized and in the end, a rivaled competition that came down to the last heat of the day. Chalk one up for Cali boy Greg Long who nixed out Kelly Slater by a mere ten points, to win the event in a stunning finish.

The way the week panned out was perfect. Weather models called for a forty year storm with hopes of unprecedented wave heights. The opening ceremonies for the Eddie came on Thursday night, December 4th. By Sunday, the ocean grew restless. Ian, Jenn Marr, Sees, and myself paddled out to Puaena Point at 4:30 and the shifting had already begun. The point was confused. The mixing of swells and the sucking current gave us high hopes for the next few days. Ian and I had a vision before leaving town on Sunday afternoon. We were going to see the Eddie and we were going to see it from the sickest spot the bay could offer. That was our goal. That was our vision. And ladies and gentlemen .....

We didn't score the spot of our dreams on Sunday night. Waimea Bay has about ten plush parking spots that hand over the best birdseye view you can get. The big waves were coming overnight and George Downing, director of the contest and master swell chart reader, was calling it a fifty percent chance for a Monday morning go, with a greater chance on Tuesday. Ian and I settled for a spot at Three Tables, just north of the bay. We came prepared. A memory foam for the van's bed, four pillows, a sheet and my favorite blanket, a cooler full of rations ranging from marinated chicken breasts to Frosted Flakes and milk, a thirty pack of Coor's Light and our favorite Peppridge Farms Brussel Cookies. The dogs had their own bag; plenty of food, special water dishes, the Chuckit, Lea's Dogtra collar and a lead for constrained roaming. We got kicked out of our spot at midnight due to park hours and rowdy neighbors, and ended up moving just across the street. Mad amounts of people were already hoarding the bike path and the dogs went wild all night. At 6:30am with the noise of the waves pounding the shore, I reached for my phone and called Jenn Marr with the last of the battery remaining. Jenn Marr. Our inside source. Jenn was on the pro-women's bodyboard tour for many years and has an extended history with the surf community on the North Shore. Her baby's daddy is Marvin Foster, a notorious big wave surfer from the 80's with a longtime reputation in the country. She knows all the boys like her brothers and has a direct line to the lifeguard tower at Pipeline. And today, because she was working the event, a direct line to the tower at Waimea. "No go," she said. "Too stormy and too big. Not the right conditions. Eighty-percent chance tomorrow though." With that said, we emerged from the van into straight chaos. Since most of the island thought the contest would go on Monday, most of the island had already arrived. There were people everywhere. The bathrooms were out of toilet paper by nine, and we were left begging for tissue to strangers, in an effort to wipe our asses. Despite the contest not running, there were plenty of waves to be had. We watched from the beach for awhile, then from the cliff, and then headed up to the Pupukea heiau to have lunch and watch some more. When we'd had enough of big wave fun for the day, we drove to Kahuku for shrimp, then to Turtle Bay for a few cocktails and a cutthroat tournament with our friend, D-rock.

In the evening, we watched the waves some more. By then, it was breaking third or fourth reef Log Cabins. We were fortunate to watch the sunset from a beachfront house at Keiki that our friend Anna, manages as a vacation rental. Water was coming all the way up to the seawall and as Puna charged the beach, Anna reminded me of her near-death experience in that very spot, five years ago. In a similar size swell, Puna was almost swept to sea. As the water came rushing up to the wall that day, I grabbed Puna off the ground just as the beach filled with water to our waists. That same day, we watched a guy get ripped off the seawall and sucked down the beach. As we were calling 911, he made it out. Waves on the North Shore can take lives in an instant.

After sunset, we headed for the bay and low and behold, there was one spot open. SCORE. Celebratory beers and totally PSYCHED. We spent some time inching the van back and forth until we had a perfect view of the lineup from bed, then walked to Foodland for some more rations. We had much more sound sleep that night. No partyers. No streetlights. And the dogs didn't make a peep. Ian says it was the greatest night of sleep he's ever had in the van ... probably because deep down inside, even the ole' Volkswagon knew that it was the start of good things to come.

We awoke to the sound of stirring dogs. It was still dark. Ian opened the van door and before us appeared our roommates, Kitri and Mike. The dogs were happy to see them. They had coffee and musubi and posted up in the front seat. As the sun rose, the waves went from black to shadowy gray and the first surfers of the day, paddled out in thin light. We watched from bed. We watched dawn turn to morning and the waves get their blue. For a while, it didn't seem like it was going to be big enough. Again, we called Jenn and she told us that they'd call it after the free surf, around 7:30. We watched some more and kept our fingers crossed. Right at 7:30, the microphone from the bay rang loud and clear: "The Eddie is On!" Oh yeah! The cheers! I still get excited as I write this.

Right around 8am, a man with a camera approached the van. He was obviously digging on our setup (and he wasn't the first ... haha.) Then he announced that he was from the New York Times and, "do you mind it I take your picture?" Well, no, DUH. Of course. We'd love it if you'd take our picture for the chance of making the New York Times. His name was Marco, he asked us a couple of questions, got our names and gave us his email. Well, guess who got their picture in the New York Times online edition the next day? That's right. We did. The link is at the end of this blog.

At 8am the Eddie was on. As the morning progressed, the waves got bigger, and by the final heat, the bay was on the cusp of closing out. We saw everything from gnarly drops to gnarly wipeouts to neck-breaking, closeout barrels. Sick, sick waves, people. Friends stopped by the van. My sister posted up on the roof. Chip came with sixty more Coor's Lights and three packages of hotdogs.

Ian calls it, "the van's greatest day." And really, it was. It was our vision. And damnit, it was perfect. And yes. Yes, I'm going to say it ....

It was all for the love of waves.

This is a special thanks to Jenn Marr, who graciously scored us a very hard-to-get 25th anniversary poster of the event, and who graciously interrupted Kelly Slater in the podium, (who was apparently in the podium because he didn't want to sign autographs), to autograph our poster just seconds before announcing the winner. I will never forget her waving that thing in the air yelling, "Hey Kelly, will you sign my friend's poster?" God, I love that girl. Other signatures were acquired in a team effort, but I will say, I scored Bruce Iron's. (Ian made me ask him) The poster is being framed with a copy of the Times picture below it.

Classic.

http://www.facebook.com/l.php?u=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.nytimes.com%2Fslideshow%2F2009%2F12%2F08%2Fus%2F1209SURF_3.html&h=a3561863111ec3ee01391f9bd1c58aa0

Waves

I suppose if a random stranger read this blog, they'd see that the title is "For the Love of Waves," and assume that this blog is about waves. Well, in fact it is. I just haven't written about them yet. If I haven't made myself clear to this point, the reason we're moving to Nicaragua is to surf and live simply. I know it sounds hippie but have no illusions, Ian and I are hippies. Shocking. I know. Sorry babe. I'm done putting words in your mouth. The reason I'm moving to Nicaragua is to surf and live simply. And I'm a hippie. I totally admit it. For Ian, the move is also an investment. I'm just lucky enough to go along for the ride. Some people have career goals in their thirties, other people have babies, I, on the other hand, want to get barreled. Is that wrong?


The best session I've ever had was at Lani's. The best wave I've ever had, or maybe I should say the biggest wave I've ever had, was at Toe's. That day, I was surfing with the boys. Having someone see your biggest wave ever, is almost as much fun as surfing your biggest wave ever. I remember Cully's fist in the air and the hoot from that stranger, just as much as I remember my shaky stance and the speed I felt as I somehow, made it around that corner.



Those are the moments that never leave you.










Here are a couple little vids Ian took of the waves in Nicaragua. Not too shabby ......

Contract

On the Nicaragua front, Ian got the contract yesterday. I don't know why I was surprised that it's written in Spanish.

Seeeeeeeeeeeack.

Today Lea drank ocean water and threw it up in the car. Then she ate it. Then, she threw it up again, and ate it again. Ian described the stench as "old fish tank" and insisted on eating our KFC lunch at KFC because he didn't want to pass food that he's going to eat, through the odor. I didn't want to pass food through the odor either, so we ate two number twos in a booth crumbed with remnants of the kernel's recipe. Later that day, as I was enjoying my mandatory afternoon nap and Ian was cleaning leftover puke from the backseat of my car, I awoke to the feeling of extreme dampness. My immediate assumption was that Puna had pissed herself on our bed and indeed, she had. Right in the middle. Awesome. Sometimes I think this blog should be called "For the Love of Dogs."



And since I haven't talked much about waves yet, maybe I should. Today I had two closeout lefts at Piddley's. It was an "in between" day for me today, which is always a bummer. In between for me on the north shore is usually about four to six feet and means that the spots I normally like to surf when it's two to three feet are too big, and the spots that break two feet when its six to eight feet everywhere else, aren't breaking yet. (i.e. Puaena Point and Freddieland) The boys surfed Hulton's for a while though, and the dogs got to play at Lani's. The north shore is supposed to get super big this weekend and there is already talk of the Eddie. Wouldn't that be nice? I think we're going to camp up there on Sunday.

Holy Mary Mother of dog fees. I just got off the phone with Continental and these mutts are going to cost us a fortune. It seems like the cheapest way to fly them there is to book a flight from Honolulu to Managua as a single journey to avoid double dog fees on two separate flights. We were looking at flying first to either LA or Phoenix, getting a ride to Houston, then doing the second leg from there to Managua. We thought it would be easier on the dogs but it means paying the transport fees twice. Just from Houston to Managua costs $389 a dog, plus a 55cent per kilo gas tax on each mutt which comes out to about $20 per dog. (I know. Gas fee??? wtf ... ) It's another $200 per dog on Hawaiian if we do the first leg and take a couple of days on the west coast. THEN, if we fly the dogs all the way from Hawaii to Managua as a single journey, it's an extra $75 for Continental's Houston International Airport Doggy Rest Stop which is nice, because they clean up the dogs, give them water, and take them for a walk before they do the last leg to Managua. Has anyone done the math yet? Minimum $500 per dog. One way. Not including Hawaii's "import tax" of $189 on the return trip which the state taxes you as part of their "direct release quarantine fee." Too much information? Sorry. But geesh. The lady on the phone said, "What? You're flying dogs from Hawaii to Central America? And back?" She thought I was insane. Grand total : $1200 per dog to go back and forth. More than the price of a human.

Maybe we are insane.

Today we talked about driving again. Anyone want to donate a decent 4WD vehicle that can make it from the west coast to Nicaragua and back?

On a lighter note, we had a lovely day at the beach with the dogs. Lea's shock collar has changed her completely. Gone are the days of that crazy look in her eye. She is attentive and she listens. It's as simple as that. She comes every time she is called now. It only took a couple of zaps for her to figure it out. Now we just have to vibrate the collar if she starts to go astray. Congratulations Lea. We are so proud of you!

(For the record, Lea has never felt the full wrath of the collar. It's strength ranges from 0-127. Lea's highest zap was 69. Ian and I have both felt 127. He insisted, much to my dismay.)

Some pics

La Vista development is doing some pretty awesome stuff with the construction of the casitas and I thought it was about time I'd post some pics of the real deal. Ian took these when he was down there in September. These are photos of someone else's house being built, but it provides a nice visual for how ours is going to look. All the casitas are made from eucalyptus and they all have vaulted, thatched roofs. The windows at the top of the roof suck hot air out of the casita so it stays cool. We've drawn up a rough floor plan for ours and to keep it priced at 45K, we're able to get a 600 sq. ft. lower level with a 300 sq. ft. loft. We've included a guest room in our plans so friends and family can come visit and we're able to sleep four when it's suitable enough to be a vacation rental. For more information on La Vista and for more photos of the development, go to http://www.playacolorado.com/ click on "properties" then click on "eco-lots."

Dogs

One of our primary concerns in the move to Nicaragua is if, and how, we are going to get our two favorite mangy mutts from the most isolated islands in the world, to the middle of Central America. Let it be known that we LOVE these dogs and want with all of our hearts, for them to be with us. Maybe I should start with a couple of character sketches to let you understand the personality traits that we have working for us in this situation and the ones that are ultimately, working against us.

PUNA : Age 5 and 1/2 Birthday: June 7th 2004 Born: Puna, Hawaii on the island of Hawaii. Puna's greatest attributes: listens very well, is not easily distracted, can "spoon" on command, and has the experience of travel. Puna's greatest loves: tennis balls, tennis balls, tennis balls, going to the beach, and catching flies mid-flight. Puna's greatest dysfunctions: She leaks .... aka, she's incontinent. She has terrible audible gas. She is also very independent and has run away from home a bunch of times. As a result of this behavior, I've had a handful of meltdowns thus spawning a dedicated North Shore search and rescue team consisting mainly of myself, who has mastered the art of hanging cardboard missing dog signs to telephone poles in Haleiwa, my sister, who usually alerts all the lifeguards in the area to be on the lookout for a brown dog with pointy ears and no tail, and Chip and Ian, who comb the neighborhoods by car or bike, yelling her name for as long as it takes. Let me take this moment to thank the other volunteers on this committee : Anna at Keiki Beach, Toby at Fresh Aires, and Sarah H at Alligators. Puna and I love you.

LEA: Age 2 and 1/2 Birthday: exact date unknown but around May 2007 Born: Kaneohe, Hawaii on the island of Oahu. Lea's greatest attributes: best guard dog ever. So good that she wouldn't let our friend past the front door while we were gone one day. Lea also loves to be in the car. This is particularly nice when we surf and don't have to worry about someone breaking into it. Lea's greatest loves: Hunting anything that moves, particularly cats, but not limited to cockroaches, mice, chickens, geckos, mongoose, pigeons and dogs that are smaller than cats. Lea's other great loves include sticks, drinking ocean water, playing with her cousin Ruby and eating watermelon rinds. Lea's greatest dysfunctions : going bat shit crazy. Literally. Hunting might be her greatest love, but it's also her greatest dysfunction. There is no stopping this dog once she has a cat in her vision.

That is, until two days ago. We've finally invested in an e-collar. More on the Dogtra 280NCP Platinum series later.

So, as I've said, we are weighing out our options for transporting people and pets to Central America. Getting the dogs down there will not only be expensive, we worry about their well-being once they have arrived. Obviously. Between holler monkeys for Lea to chase and an extensive coastline for Puna to lose herself on, we have our trepidations. But both of us can't imagine life there without them though.

Ian had a good conversation with Rich today. Rich is the owner of La Vista and the man who is selling Ian the casita. There were some worries alleviated about money and logistics and it sounds like construction on our little house will start sooner than later. Ian signed his power of attorney away on his last visit so things could get started without him being there. Details of the contract are being drawn up over the weekend describing what's included in the investment. The ultimate goal is to have a livable structure by the time we get down there in March. Today we talked again about driving versus flying and the best way to get all of our things down there. It's difficult finding accurate information on the subject of importing a foreign vehicle into Nicaragua. We've been using a forum site called nicaliving.com that is helpful but often conflicting. All of the government websites are in Spanish and even though Ian speaks it well, there is always the question of accurate translation. Today things seemed much more real and I was really wishing that money grew on trees.

Details

How to transport two people, two dogs and a small quiver of surfboards from Hawaii to Central America requires some fine attention to detail. A single surfboard on a single leg journey from HI to CA on United is $175 per board. It's an additional $175 per dog and that only has us to Cali. (This of course, doesn't include the cost of our own tickets.) For a while we thought we'd fly everything and everyone down there (the dogs are part of everyone) and buy a car when we get there. This is turning out to be a very expensive concept as a decent 4WD vehicle in Nicaragua will cost a minimum of seven to ten grand. The other option of course, is to drive. Besides the inherent danger that seems to accompany this idea, it has become the logical choice. To import a car into the country requires the vehicle to be less than ten years old and a ten percent import tax on its assessed value. After gas and Nicaragua's "assessed value" of the car, it should be cheaper and certainly more adventurous than flying. The dogs will have a better time of it too. So we plan on leaving Hawaii in March, buying a used car in LA and heading down soon thereafter. As of now, this is our plan. I'm sure it will change tomorrow.

At the Start

My boyfriend Ian, is a man of great ambition who sees potential for growth and development in an eco-friendly development named La Vista, just north of Gigante, Nicaragua on the Pacific side of the country. On a recent visit, he became acquainted with two men from Australia who had recently bought up a grip of land in the afore mentioned area and were selling plots in the La Vista development that boast an "off-the-grid" lifestyle complete with thatched roof casitas and the ability to run off of solar and wind power. The purpose of Ian's visit was to stake out a spot for a meager investment. He wants something that's his, something that has the potential to generate revenue while we're are away and something that we can potentially flip in the future if in the end, it's not the life for us anymore.

Being the man that he is, I trust his judgement with all of my heart and am excited at the prospects of living abroad, learning Spanish, and running as far away from the race of American life as possible. I have no problem with the notion of surfing my thirties away accompanied by the most simple form of lifestyle that two human beings can reasonably create. Life in a thatched roof casita with the man I love sounds pretty righteous.

So begins our journey...