Ummmmm

All these folks with emails like jamesmcdooley@costaricarealtors.com are drooling for the chance to check out the Sin Fin.

I guess I've got some dedestruction to do.

A cash infusion of 5-8 thousand smackers could just make this trip interesting again...

HA HA HA HA HA HA HA

Mmmmmmmmmmmax

Mal Pais

After a week of dodging big closeouts and crackheads in Dominical we picked up an expedition photographer and headed north to Bahia Herradura.


We looked forward to surfing the ¨world class wave¨ at Playa Escondida so we headed straight there... on a very big day. There were 30 guys in the water and sitting deeper was the only way to catch anything.


I didn´t respect the wave enough and almost got killed when I fell on the first wave of a big set. After taking four on the head I noticed a very large rock right behind me... things got worse... I got all cut up and beat up... had to ditch my board when my leash got tangled in the reef and was holding me under.... sliced the shit out of my feet hopping on the reef between piles of whitewater... my board washed up eventually... and now it´s a seriously dinged up piece of shit.


Standing safely on the reef I spent the next 15 watching people riding one hell of a beautiful wave. I was joined by a Tico and a Gringo who had also gotten washed ashore by the big set... the gringo´s board was broken in half... the Tico had some nasty scrapes... this made me feel a bit less moronic.


The crew could only handle the disgustingness of development in Bahia Herradura for one night.... and the marina wouldn´t sell us gas because we´re poor... so we set sail at dawn across the Gulf to the Nicoya Peninsula.


Now the boat is (hopefully still) anchored in Tambor and we´re all in Mal Pais. Hugh snapped his board and is living on credit so he´s off to Canada for work. Tu Laki seems to be going his own way as well. And the photographer seems to have arrived a bit too late to capture any hint of magic the little voyage held.


Everything else is up in the air.


The boat is up for sale. Cheap, too. I´m hoping someone bites because I´m ready for a change... ideally pocketting some dough and surfing a month from the comfort of $10 a night rooms while dealing with the realization of reentry.


Culture shock? Sin Fin has been another planet.


I am, however, looking forward to catching up with family, old friends, and the Teets.


Anyone want a boat?


Max

HEAVY WAVES

So...

Me and Tu Laki are still getting along and we've added a third to the crew...

Hugh Wiley... a young Aussie crewing and surfing his way around the world... a much better surfer than Tu and I combined... usually the best in the water at any given break.

We surfed small Pavones and Cabo Matopalo before heading N to a calm night in Drake Bay. We all the the GRIP-E (FLU) but probably not the swine variety... after a few early evenings we attempted the controversial "drown it in booze" cure and are footloose and fancy free once again.

There in Drake Bay I awoke in a cloud of acrid rubbery smoke... a small electrical fire almost took down the boat... and fried both the iPods... thank God I was on the boat (the others were dreamily pursuing some Tica barkeeps... yeah right)... the gas supply is kinda close to the batteries and it all could have gone BOOM.

I haven't told Tu Laki about his iPod yet... he's going to be devastated... his first iPod got gangked... the second a victim of some sort of power surge during the fire.

We're now in Dominical, super laid back surf town with a mean beach break... tomorrow morning (if the boat's still where I left it) we're sailing north to Quepos to get legally checked in again... still currently in Columbia according to the passport... hopefully this doesn't fuck us... I'm expecting the boat will be thoroughly searched by the Tico Coast Guardo.

From Quepos its a mere 30 miles to Bahia Herradura where I'm looking forward to annoying and teasing billionaires at the hideous Los Suenos Marina/Development/Manifestation of Evil...

... and quite the little reminder of my halfhearted dabble with selling out at a similarly named bad joke in the Cove of the Dead...

Hey PUTITO, I surf better than you already...

The rest of you please pardon a momentary ego-trip.

Despite the Suenos folks Herradura offers a great anchorage a mere two miles from waves at Playa Escondida, four miles from Little Fiji, and six miles from Playa Hermosa... we will be staying there for a while... perhaps long enough to make a bit of money chartering folks to boat only waves.

The waves are slated to get scarily massive on Thursday... approaching 8 foot swell... today it's 4.5 feet and I'm still half drowned from the morning session so it should be exciting.

As long as the boat and I stay primarily above the water and off the bottom things can only get better in the near future.

And I knock on wood for the fifth time today...

HASTA EL TOPE! TO THE TOP!... as in fill er' up again... or today's lyric of the day from none other than Ancient King...

"IF YOU KNEW WHAT LIFE IS WORTH YOU'D LIVE IT UP."

So...

MAX