Toes on the Nose

I totally crave Stand Up Paddling everyday!  I love cruising beautiful flat-water areas for relaxation or pumping out a few miles for a great workout or I especially enjoy hitting the surf for some fun waves.  I still have many unmet goals when it comes to SUPing, but this is one that keeps me motivated to keep improving especially when I see cool shots like this one:

Sweet! Mark my words... that will be me some day.

Not So Cool in Baja

My good friend, Pete, has invited me to travel to Bahia de Los Angeles for the past three years.  He and his buddies enjoy fishing and "The Bay of LA" is a quant, little fisherman village located in Baja, about 8-10 hours south of San Diego (dependent on stops and traffic).  I'm not a fisherman so I was never interested in going but then I saw pictures of the beautiful bay and figured I could spend my time SUPing while they were out on the boats fishing.  I decided to go this year.

Had to bring along the BOGA Classic and BOGA El Rey to cruise on the bay.

I was handling the heat for the first couple of days.  Of course, hanging out with great company and eating good food (including Negro Modelo on tap) helped.

There are many tasty dished in Baja.  Breakfast... yum

I was especially amped to get to the Bay so that I could eat the fresh fish.
Lunch... Abuela making fresh-caught fish tacos

We even brought our motos to the Bay of LA but it was harsh dealing with the heat
coming up from the asphalt on the ride back to the villa.

But I can only last so long in the heat when there is no AC, especially at night...ugh!

This was on our drive into the Bay.  It topped at 113 this day.

If you've never been to Baja, you should check it out.  Of course, it would be best to go with someone who has the experience of driving down.  There are so many neat little coastal areas to visit along the way.  I'd definitely go back to visit Bahia de Los Angeles when it's cooler.  Actually, next time I plan on driving a few more hours (more like another day of driving) to Todos Santos for surf!

Beach sights... 'cause the surf SUCKS

San Diego in June... surf has been horrible! Here's a couple things I saw at the beach on my last surf check.

Clever little Coronado surfers! Look what they did, they made the acronym SUP from the word TSUNAMI... how funny! Now it says SUP HAZARD ZONE. Hahaahaa... they're such funny guys there.

Big Ape Hangers and a pair of surf racks. Cool stuff.

BOGA Fun Day

Yesterday I had a BOGA Fun Day with some friends.  A few of them were trying it for the first time.  It's almost unbelievable how popular stand-up paddling has become in just the (almost) 2 years since I've jumped on board.  Below is shot of the spot where I'd go and train on the water.  I liked it here because it was quiet and secluded.  Rarely did I see any other SUPs in site, such as in this photo.

My baby girl enjoying the serenity of the bay.

In less than an hour from the time of our arrival, swarms of people set up camp along both sides of us.  Most of them were there to stand up paddle.  I'd say there were about 15 stand up paddlers on that tiny strip of beach.  I was shocked!  I was happy to let everyone jump on the BOGAs of course but now when I'm looking for a quiet place to paddle I'll have to go to...  (not telling of course.  Let's see how long before this new place gets discovered.)

Summertime

I love my job.  Monday- La Jolla Shores, Tuesday- Cardiff, Wednesday- San O.  This has been my schedule so far this week.  It pays off being in the education field.  I feel fortunate to have a job that enables me to pass on my knowledge to the younger generations so that they may someday become independent, hard-working individuals.  Best of all...  I get the next 7 weeks to do anything I want, mainly surfing.

I wake up each morning with the toughest question, "Where should I surf today?"

I probably won't be getting to this surf spot this summer... The Seli, in South Africa.