Shredding

Today was a low key day of just hanging out at this beautiful little beach. We had the usual lounging about having breakfast and coffee and watching a beautiful sunrise.

It was partly cloudy but pleasant, so I decided to pull out the snorkeling gear and go and see what I could see. I set out toward the closest rocky point near us. The visibility wasn’t great, maybe 15′, but there were a surprising number of fish. Probably the biggest one I saw was 36″ or so. At one point a school of about 100 18″ silver fish went streaking past me. That was pretty cool. It was no Roratonga, but it was better than I expected.

I swam back to the shore and dropped off the gear and tried to do a real swim. I did about 250 meters which doesn’t sound like much, but when you are working back from shoulder surgery, it made me happy!

After the swim, there was some more lounging and reading. Stressful.

Jason and Cynthia were headed out for some boogie boarding, so I joined them on the surfboard which was now usable thanks to the surf wax and leash I had purchased the day before in Cooper’s Beach.

As always with surfing, there is a great cognitive dissonance between what I think is happening and what is actually happening. In my mind, I am the dude on the left. The reality is far more like the right.

The waves were dinky. I caught a wave right at first and then sat there and sat there and sat there. Paddled around. Sat. Paddled around. Sat. They were just too small to surf, so finally I went back in and got a boogie board. That was far more successful.

I showered off and then continued the stressful lounging.

We headed into Cooper’s Beach for supplies. It’s a nice little spot and probably a more practical place to live than Taupo Bay.

We lounged some more. Had dinner and then watched the full moon rising. I guess it is a rare “worm moon.” I have no idea what that is, but it was gorgeous. I tried to do a time lapse, but something went wrong. Dang.

I can sense that the trip is starting to wind down. A little more lounging and now I actually looked at the calendar to remind myself what day we were heading back to reality. I am looking forward to seeing my puppy again. I do miss her badly.