Ocean Man

I'm playing this song over and over again, its called Ocean Man by Ween. If you don't know Ween I highly recommend that you get to know Ween.
OceanMan.mp3
Ween is great, pretty much every song is entirely different. Check out the album Chocolate and Cheese if you're bored, its awesome

You've got to love that album cover, right? The music is unexplainably better. If you're still bored you can hear the surf report for tomorrow's El Punto radio show on 91.1 (giving reports is much like being a weatherman and therefore some predictions are made)
August1SurfReport.mp3
I like giving the report, and the radio station seems to like it too. Maybe its because I'm speaking in english and everyone speaks spanish in Costa Rica? Maybe its because I sound like Ron Burgundy? I still haven't heard it on the radio, probably because I hardly listen to the radio unless I'm driving and I'm never driving when I'm here because the waves are right in front.

I shaved a mustache this week, but then Holly wouldn't talk to me. Sorry Ron, I really tried. I've been in bed for a couple of days this week, finally now on this Thursday evening I'm feeling good enough to drink a couple of Imperials. Or maybe its the Imperials making me feel better? Whatever it is, I had the flu pretty nasty but it seems to be on it's way out, which makes me happy because I was feeling just awful. I've missed two days of surfing as well, and to be honest I don't know whats worse, being sick or not surfing. I think my body knows when to take a break though as #1 the surf has been nothing spectacular the last two days and #2 I'm going on surf tour next week to Panama so its better that I'm sick now and not on the tour. I can't wait to get on the road and go surf. I dropped my wife and boys off at the Liberia airport on Tuesday morning, they're gone for three weeks back to the real world if you want to call it that. I took this photo with my phone to remember them by

I mean come on, how could these two little boys not grow up to be surfers and help daddy run the surf camp? I don't know.... I'm not going to push them into surfing but I sure as hell am going to help them out if they want to learn. I finally got to surf with Holly this last week for the first time in three years. Can you imagine that? Having two kids back to back, thats how it happened. Reflecting on the differences between basing our home in SD and basing it here, I'm so much happier now. It was really tough flying back and forth all of the time. I mean, I didn't mind having to do it, but its way better to not have to fly a ton and to be here and overseeing things and surfing so much more. Its just better. I guess thats why I moved here in the first place and didn't try to get a job back in the "real world". Having my own business doesn't make things easier, but its still way better. Today is pay day and I was up to my neck in time cards earlier on. Then I think about how I'll be on the road soon enough and its all OK as these are the same people that run the show when I'm gone. I'm so lucky to have the same crew working for me for so many years, it makes all of this possible.
A couple of comments- first off, I got a comment to my last blog that got lost in internetlandia, I have no idea why it didn't end up on the blog. This is what it said: "Hey, Thanks for the reminder, life is precious and not guaranteed. I often get down on myself for not meeting my expectations. I have so many things going right and sometimes all I can think about are the things I wish were different. With a little imagination, I envision that big boat looking bad ass. I'm still a noob trying to get up, not enjoying many rides yet but someday I hope to take trips like the one you mentioned. I'm headed out to Zuma tomorrow morning. My balance and coordination is still lacking, I wish I got a longer board. Either way, it beats being at the office and sooner or later, it's gonna click. My buddy and I are planning to visit your place during the end of December / beginning of January. We're stoked! See you later, Peter" OK- Peter, dude you rule, thank you for the post. I'm glad to see that I'm not the only one not taking life for granted. I could bitch and whine about the things that suck right now, but in the grand scheme of things life does not suck and we are all doing pretty damn good if we have the time to fart around on the internet and read blogs, right? Its very true. Even down here in paradise there are some people that are SO INCREDIBLY NEGATIVE, it makes me ill. Its like "come on, life is too short", but there are always going to be people that just don't get it. For some reason I've found that most assholes that relocate to Tamarindo come from the LA area (you know who you are), maybe its just a bad coincidence since I've met plenty of good folks from the LA area as well. All I can think is that life is way too short, why not take every opportunity to enjoy every part of it? Another post to my last blog was from Mike Shaw. Mike- I'm really happy for your offer to come and work for me helping me to fix up this old commercial fishing boat. You know that I've been talking about doing this for years. I can't help but think about how pissed off you were at me five or six years ago when you worked for me last time, when I was forced to close the Coco camp.... Reflecting on that lower point of life, you'll probably appreciate this story: Yesterday we had a full day boat trip to Witch's Rock and Ollie's Point. We had finally moved the Candy Lu boat to Coco for the Witch's/Ollie's trips and put a new motor on the Holly Gwee boat for Tamarindo tours going south. Our group was out at Witch's Rock, having great waves, when the Coast Guard showed up. There were quite a few other boats out in the water as well. The Coast Guard sent every boat back to Coco EXCEPT our boat (a refreshing change). Why? Because we were the only ones that had our receipts showing that we paid the park entrance fee.... I find it strange that there are dozens of boats that will take you to Witch's and Ollie's, well inside the Santa Rosa National Park. They charge their guests upwards of $15 for a park entrance fee that costs $6 or $7 at the normal park entrance. Then, on one of the rare occasions that the Coast Guard shows up and demands to see the park entrance tickets, Witch's Rock Surf Camp appears to be the only company that actually paid for the park entrance. Isn't it a good thing to support the national parks if you're going to enjoy them? I surely think so, and I would hope most people feel the same way. Make sure your boat captain is taking the money you pay for the park entrance and actually paying it, not pocketing the money as it appears to be the case with most other companies offering this tour. Seriously, you can't bitch about overfishing and then be fishing the national parks. Why do it with surfing? You can't complain about overbuilding and then wear a Save Tamarindo t-shirt which is basically rich gringos trying to stop high rises so the million dollar views from their homes aren't blocked. The Save Tamarindo campaign represents SoCal style subdivisions and has nothing to do with saving Tamarindo. Tamarindo is going to grow whether or not you like it. Its called the Population Bomb, which happens to be a very good book by Paul Ehrlich that I highly recommend. As long as the birth rate exceeds the death rate the population of earth will increase, and of course people are going to want to visit and eventually live in a beautiful place like Tamarindo. Don't we want urban development that promotes public transit and limits congestion? Walking traffic vs. traffic traffic? What about jobs? "Save Tamarindo" could give a shit about how many jobs would be created here in Tamarindo, if growth within the town was allowed and the surrounding countryside was left to be what it currently is: country. There is a town and a country, seems simple right? The US didn't do everything right, we don't have to bring our baby boomer mentality to CR. Most gringos I meet these days talk about opening businesses and bringing down their gringo friends to help them run things. This is all wrong man. I'm not a Costa Rican citizen but I've lived here long enough to have full respect for everything this wonderful country offers. I hope people don't take CR for granted, this place is great and we're all lucky to enjoy it. I'm going to play Ocean Man again to remind myself why I'm here.

remember to say thank you

I sound a lot like a lot of people I've heard over the years, but lately I'm finding myself thanking everyone and everything. I will get bummed out for something that, in the scheme of things, is really really minor. Then I think about the fact that I have a great life and a great family, everyone is happy and healthy, I'm paying my bills and living in Costa Rica with the world's best job. If I complain you should just punch me in the face. Its easy to forget how good we have things. I just got news that a guy I knew in high school just died, a total wakeup call. A little boy of only 3 years old drowned in a swimming pool in El Llano, a nearby town, just this last Sunday. James used to be next door neighbors with the family. How incredibly tragic. With two very young boys it hits home and helps me remember to spend as much time as possible with my boys.
Today could have been the end of joe. Remember when that woman in the rental car accidentally drove into the surf camp and ran over the security guard? no? scroll back a year and you'll find the account, it was crazy. I ended up burying concrete-filled steel poles between the parking area and what is now my office. I'm sitting at my desk this morning and I hear a loud crashing thump, and another tourist in another rental car thought they were going in reverse and slammed forward into the concrete/steel pole directly on the other side of my office wall, literally right behind my back. Had that pole not been there, I would have had a wall and a car on top of me, which would have definitely meant no surfing tomorrow morning. I guess I'm glad I put those posts in the ground, feeling lucky like when I took my surfboards out of the Pacific Coast Storage locker less than two weeks before they were robbed and other surf shops in town got all of their inventory stolen. Lucky like when I drove a bus to Costa Rica and ended up where I'm at now.
Here's a photo my mom and dad just sent me. They're in Butte Montana with our relatives there. My uncle (or cousin or ?) Frank Hall, part of Hall Bros., they have an auto shop and have been fixing up my dad's '69 Cadillac convertible. My dad had these custom Chargers lights made for his rear bumper. All four bolts light up when the lights are on, and the outer ones blink when the blinkers are on.

What can you say about a die hard Charger fan? You can sing the San Diego Super Chargers song, thats what!
http://www.chargers.com/assets/002/11568.mp3
It is definitely getting close to football season, I hope you all are ready for Charger Fever!!! This year is definitely the year (even though I say that every year I really believe it this year).
SOME GREAT NEWS: Today we officially reached our goal for Luis Castro to receive his knee operation. Thanks to SO MANY AWESOME family and friends of the surf camp, we are currently at $3170 in donations for the operation. On September 17th at 7am Luis will be undergoing surgery to repair the damage in his knee. He will then be working in the surf shop full time while recovering. This would not have happened if it weren't for the generous donations from so many of you, THANK YOU on behalf of myself and my family, of course Luis, and everyone else here at WRSC that looks at this as you all supporting what we're doing. Its just great. Ironically today I received a new issue of Drift surf mag from England with a multi-page article of surfing in Costa Rica with a full page spread of Luis getting tubed off of Isla Uvita riding a yellow Witch's Rock LSD thruster. It all kindof started sinking in, that we're all in this together and that Luis is furthering his surfing career because of the camp, and that the camp is benefiting from having such a great crew that look at the camp as family. We're all in this together is the only way I can describe it, its a very good feeling.
As a dad, things are happening pretty quickly with my boys. Happy is starting to say DA DA DA DA DA DA DA DA DA DA. What a trip. He can definitely be happy, but lately he's been more interested in screeching like a teradachtyl. I don't blame him, he's just trying to get attention while Otis commands it from everyone. Otis is getting so big its just not funny. Finally this last week he sat on the toilet and took a dump, and then went around the surf camp and told everyone (chicks mostly) that he pooped on the Potty.

Otis is going to hate me for putting these photos on my blog years from now, and yes I'm probably just being the excited dad that takes photos of the stupidest things. I'm sure you don't need to see this pic, but come on, isn't it just the cutest thing you've ever seen? Elmo's Potty Time has been on my tv nonstop for the last four months, I sing the song in my sleep. It sucks. But now all of that Elmo Potty Time has finally paid off for a single dump in the potty. Yes, I just had to change a dirty diaper upstairs about an hour ago, but one time on the potty out of 50 ain't bad.
I've got boats on my mind. Finally, FINALLY THANK GOD, we have our new Yamaha 115hp 4-stroke outboard. It is dope. New boat, new motor, new surf tour. We are starting day tours from Tamarindo going south to Camaronal. Yes, to Camaronal. This is a serious tour. There are a ton of breaks between Nosara, Garza, Samara, Carillo and Camaronal that are hardly surfed. Lost points, outer reefs, and islands. We check dozens of breaks easily by boat, find one that has great waves and nobody out, and go surf. Repeat. Repeat. Eat lunch. Surf more. You get the idea. Oh, and then there is the BIG boat, the one I am officially (THIS IS BIG) buying from Ricardo's father and completing the construction, so that WRSC has a multi-day surf boat for Nicaragua/Southern Zone CR/Panama trips. My wife thinks I'm absolutely nuts, but the way I see it, it pays to see a diamond in the rough. This is one f$%king rough looking diamond, but when I'm done with it its going to be a sweet surfing vessel with hot water, air conditioning, big screen tv, wifi, cold beers and a sun deck.

I would have taken a photo from further away but the boat is on barrels in between two houses in Coco. Its simply too big to get in one frame.

I'm posting these pics as the "Before" photos. My current plan is to get the boat in the water, tow it to Tamarindo, place it in the lot next to the hotel, and complete it here in town. I would trailer it but I worry that its too tall and would knock down the phone/power lines. Its definitely rough. I need to lower the floor, then lower the ceiling. I'm building three cabins, two heads, upgrading the galley substantially, doing tons of stuff. I will complete the project with a Skullbone Pass (www.skullbonepass.com) skull and crossbones and some cave paintings of dudes surfing, as if cavemen pirates built the boat. This will be the third boat that I've built since I moved to Costa Rica, and I still consider myself as someone who knows nothing about boats but the reality is that I know a ton, I've been using boats for seven and a half years daily and know a ton about fiberglass construction. This is where my job gets even more fun as I get to finally build my pirate ship. If anyone knows where I can find some cheap second hand cannons please email me.
I went to San Jose this last week. Besides two philly melt sandwhiches, one chicken breast salad, one Denny's gallo pinto and of course a Moons Over My Hammy, I spent some time at the 91.1 radio station making my partnership with them official. This Monday my reports started airing on the radio, I am doing three each week, Mondays Wednesdays and Fridays. I'm pretty stoked to be doing this, because I can now tell my wife that I must surf so I can do a proper report. Yes, this works. I also spent quite a bit of time dealing with some vendors of heavy equipment. Zephyr Eco Project, my startup aimed at sustainable development, is finally making good progress as we finalize the machinery we need for road construction in our finca. We already own a backhoe but are now buying a dump truck and a tractor / dozer machine for cutting/leveling/maintaining roads.

I plan to use the used cooking oil of WRSC and other restaurants in Tamarindo to fuel all of the machines, and my focus is on building/repairing/maintaining roads while seeding hillsides and preventing erosion or other negative impact associated with developing. The way I see it, I'm in a country full of bad roads. Starting up a new company that builds/fixes roads is a pretty good idea. We should have the equipment in the area in the next 60 days, so anyone who needs any earth work done, please let me know. We'll be renting the equipment with an operator by the hour, so if you have a small project we can do it. If you have a larger project and need some quality road work, we can do it too, as long as it doesn't interfere with what we're doing at the Zephyr finca. Just like when I was a kid with toy trucks, its the same thing except they're much bigger now. Why are dump trucks so freaking cool?? I have no idea.
I finally moved my family back into our house in Avellanas. I've done some repairs to our well so now we have plenty of water. The house is great. There was a nice big cow pie on my front porch when we got home the other day, as cows can and do enter our yard and hang out there. I played a game with Otis yesterday where we counted the different animals we saw from the house to the surf camp. We saw one horse, 8 cows, tons of chickens and roosters, a couple of pigs, 6 dogs, some parrots, an ox, and we heard some monkeys. Not a bad commute to work if I must say so myself.
I'm getting my toyota hilux fixed up for my trip to Panama, which is coming up quickly. Really quickly. Like in two weeks or so.... I'm putting in new suspension, new window tinting, some upgraded headlights, crap like that that people like me get excited about. My truck has gone to most every surf break from mid-Pacific Nicaragua to mid-Pacific Panama. I can't believe that my job is surfing and that I get paid to take people to great waves. I guess someone has to do it and it might as well be me. I make sure to be really thankful for the opportunity and I'm really trying hard to do the best job that I can. We've had a lot of swell these last three weeks. I've lost 15 pounds since the start of July because I've been surfing so much, theres just been tons of waves every day. I love the fact that I'm surfing great waves, often at low tide when "there is no surf in Tamarindo", by myself surfing the right off of the rivermouth with nobody out. It is amazing how often I get waves to myself down here, or with hardly anyone out. I should probably not even talk about it as to not jinx a good thing. Regardless, if you show up and aren't an asshole in the water, there are plenty of waves so lets go surf. hasta- joe

Friday on the beach

I'm just chilling after a solid week. All is good in the surf hood. My wife and boys are here, I'm seeing them as much as I want. No hurrying up and doing a ton of work just so I can waste another day in an airplane or an airport. I'm surfing every day without a wetsuit, work is going well, the world seems to be falling apart everywhere but here. My buddy Chris told me he just lost $25,000 in the stock market while my biggest problem is a fly that lives in my office and keeps landing on me leg or foot bugging the hell out of me. Just minor shit really. I got some good news and emails lately. Darren, old school WRSC Coco employee and friend from the past, posted to my last blog saying whats up. Whats up bro, very cool to hear from you? Where in the world are you? I just ran into Eric Smith's boss here at the camp and sent a pura vida to Eric (another old school WRSC Coco employee from SD). You guys should cruise down, the place is great, we're doing exactly what we've been doing for so many years. There was a nice swell this week, its been great right in front of the surf camp or across the river. Town, after being quite slow last month, has been a lot busier. We got hit with a group of 30 in the restaurant last night during a random Thursday, the place has been pretty much packed every single night. I have a new publicist, which is a funny thing to say. Ellen Zoe, who seems to know just about everyone. She hooked me up with 91.1 La Radio and now I'm starting to do a daily surf report on the radio here in Costa Rica. You can also hear it online on their website, www.911laradio.com. I really like doing things that force me to have to surf more. I have made some choices in the past that led me away from surfing but I think I've learned my lesson and won't make the same mistake again. I got some bad news from the Pro Mejores here in Tamarindo, they are saying they must close due to a lack of financial support from most everyone in town. I think it is something really important and I think if you've taken the time to read my blog you should take the time to read the posting:
http://www.tamarindowiki.com/Top-Story/Last-Call-Asociacion-Pro-Mejoras-de-Playa-Tamarindo.html
I have offered for the Pro Mejores to operate out of the surf camp for free, but if there isn't financial support from the community there might not even be a Pro Mejores group. Who wants that?? Don't you realize that Save Tamarindo is a bullshit campaign started by rich gringos who don't want their mountain top estates to have partially blocked ocean views? There is no betterment of the community, only complaining. No resolutions, just campaigning without a long-term plan. I hope to get more involved with Pro Mejores, so that I can ask these rich developers why they can't give one tenth of one percent of their profits for the community that made them rich.
After my truck incident on Sunday night in Coco, I ended up breaking the same $250 part that I broke after my truck incident in Zephyr last month. I have the worst luck with that truck. It should be the greatest truck ever, with big plush seats and a huge diesel engine. Its not. I personally am always on the worst roads, where a lighter truck (aka my toyota hilux) is much better. It doesn't fall in and bounce out of a big rut. The dodge does. The dodge is so much heavier that it performs poorly on beach sand or thick mud. When it gets stuck its a much bigger pain in the ass, you simply can't take five or six guys and pick it up and move it. It is good for car seats and safety from hitting cattle on the highway and a perfect truck for my family, so I gave it to Holly. I don't want it anymore. I want to drive my hilux, I've already fixed the suspension and AC and am driving it on the surf tour to Panama next month. Much better. Oh, Eric Smith, I still have a dented hood from when you hit the (parked) Imperial truck in front of WRSC, remember that? just messing with you. It gives the truck personality. So, now with my old school truck, my old school nintendo, my cell phone destroyed and life simplifying itself down to a state that I can manage without raising my blood pressure level above "tree sloth", things are going pretty good. Actually, I just went and did the surf report, here it is- surf_report_July11_2008.mp3 See you tonight at WRSC for graduation, where Patrick McNulty on behalf of the fine citizens of Providence Rhode Island present a medal to Carlos Arias for his help in rescuing a local fisherman two months ago in Avellanas. He was attacked by a morey eel and lost most of the flesh from his lower arm. A quick response by Carlos and member of the Lola's bar in Avellanas and the man was rushed inland and met the ambulance that then took him to the hospital in Nicoya. People think that Tamarindo's lifeguards are a huge change, but you have to remember that these guys (our instructors and guides) have been saving lives since we started the surf camp. It never makes the news because the victims always live. Here's a photo Tommy Hodges sent me from a past trip to Witch's Rock. Tommy is super stoked, he just had a birthday and bought himself a spot on the surf tour to Panama. That is quickly approaching, only about 4 weeks away...

Here's a pic from Owen Fitter, a photographer (www.fitterphoto.com) I met at the camp a couple of weeks ago from Philly-

You should click on the image, its huge. I set it as my computer wallpaper, so whenever its low tide I can look at it and see someone getting a sweet low tide wave in front of WRSC with nobody out surfing... oh, that and its an incredible sunset. I'm chilling with a bit of pirate juice watching the sunset over the surf. I'm really happy I live in tropical paradise with great sunsets every day.

Well, its a Friday, time to downshift. Maybe a low tide surf, maybe just an Imperial and to go hit the pool with Otis for a swim. See you down here in paradise, hasta - joe
It%27s%20Alright%20Ma.mp3

witch's rock

Yeah this is Witch's Rock Surf Camp. Where is Witch's Rock? In the middle of nowhere, drive a long way, then hike or jump in a boat, sooner or later, depending on the weather you'll find it. You'll know it when you see it. Perfect waves, nobody out, just you and ma nature getting your fill of waves on a Sunday afternoon. That was me today, a great way to spend the lord's day getting tons of rights and lefts off of el Burro at Roca Bruja.

Here's a pic of Ricardo today, driving the panga while sitting on the center console. It was a beautiful day today, awesome sunshine, clear light-blue water and white sand beaches, and of course surf. I love getting out on the boat. This boat is the one we keep in Playa Coco for boat trips to Witch's Rock and Ollie's Point, it's name is Candy Lu, named after my mom. Hey mom, guess what, there's a boat in Costa Rica named after you! My moms never been on the boat but I'm sure she is more than happy for her son who gets to take it surfing to Witch's Rock as often as possible. Today I went by Ricardo's house before the trip. His dad, Felipe, has built a 43 foot commercial fishing boat which is sitting on stilts and barrels next to his house. He wants to sell the boat, I'm considering how I could buy it. It would make a perfect surf tour vessel, it just needs a lot of work. Me, along with one other guy (ironically named Felipe as well, as if all fiberglass guys were named Felipe in Coco) built the Holly Gwee and the Candy Lu boats in Coco in my backyard. There is something awesome about building boats in your backyard. Ask anyone who came to WRSC Coco back in the day, I always had a boat on barrels. Remember the boat Myaru? Even that boat got pimped out in it's day. Anyways, back to Ricardo's dad and this boat, the vessel was built for long-lining, going as far as Ecuador. Commercial fishing has been heavily regulated in recent years and Felipe wants to sell the boat. All I can think about is "I could put beds there" and "I wonder if I could get wifi internet on this thing" and "wouldn't it be sick to jump from the top deck 15 feet, doing a backflip into the water", things like that. Pretty much where I'm at is this: I'm hooked on surfing and anything that will get me to great waves, and boats are part of this equation when you live in remote parts of the world. A boat like this makes multi-day excursions a reality. I'm ready to have that reality. Now I just need to find a way to pay for it, but its happening (somehow). Holly and the boys are going to show up at the Liberia airport tomorrow and I'm going to say "hey, I'm buying a really shitty boat and turning it into something great" and my wife is going to look at me and not even try to rebuttle because thats just what I do. Its one of my perks. If I'm going to take on something, its going to be something like this. I could bore my shit to sleep buying stocks or collecting stamps or watching American Idol. I'd rather be a pirate and work on my pirate ship.
So today on my way to Coco, I saw two surfers at the Guardia bus stop. Board bag = surfers, without knowing what I was doing I stopped and offered them a ride. Two South Africans, Tom and Ryan, going to Coco. I told them I was surfing Witch's in the afternoon, they were stoked and paid the gas. They ended up being really good guys and really stoked on the surf at Witch's Rock. We had plenty of waves to ourselves, nobody out in the water at all. The wind had switched offshore but there was some weird currents in the water. The surf wasn't all-time but it was nonetheless really fun. On the way home we got pissed on by a huge raincloud that didn't let up from the national park all the way to Coco. Tom, Ryan and I took all of our gear back to my Dodge, which was parked up on the beach on this empty lot, Ricardo went to moor the boat. Ricardo shows up, we go to take off, Ricardo says "hey, cut through this lot", I do that, its raining a ton, I don't see the huge 3 ft by 3 ft by 3 ft huge freaking hole and drive my truck right into it.

Yeah, the same thing. Front right tire is deep in a rut. My cattle guard is all messed up, I've busted off my license plate and part of my bumper. whoops. I always laugh when people get really pissed off about things happening to their cars. I mean, I understand, it sucks. But its not like you broke your leg or something. An hour later Peeker (my longtime neighbor in Coco who I've known for as long as I've been in CR) and his son help tow my truck out. I was really stoked, as I had thought that I'd need a backhoe to get my heavy truck out of this hole and since it was a Sunday night that wasn't really likely. I jump out of the truck all stoked and immediately kick a huge rock. Ask my wife, I've got a big problem with my big toes, with my big feet in general. They are bigger than I am able to control and I'm constantly kicking the shit out of things. Just read my past blogs, I'm sure I have a half dozen big toe injuries in there!

It sucked. My foot was all covered with blood and feeling bad. A couple rum & cokes in the can seemed to make it feel better though. We drink beers at Bar Matapalo, where everyone from Jimbolo's son to Domingo to Papalino give me big hugs and tell me they haven't seen me in years. They haven't. I used to live next door to their bar. WRSC Coco existed long before WRSC Tamarindo, these were my neighbors, my friends, and in Paulino's case my boat captain. I bought my first car in Costa Rica from Peeker, he was selling it for a friend who was in prison. It was a 1977 Toyota Landcruiser and had been driven in the ocean occasionally. It rusted into a million tiny pieces. To sum up the experience: don't drive your vehicle into the ocean. Thats about all I've got for now. Today is just another adventure. Most people have days like today and recount them over and over again. I have so many days like today I talk about them once and then forget they happened. At least its way more interesting than living in the states with paved highways and beach parking lots.
Still bored? I don't know what you think, but I think Sonic Youth is the bomb. I can get lost in their songs, just utterly lost. When I get bored I get unbored listening to Sonic Youth - Superstar.mp3

getting back into the groove

I'm not really sure what I was thinking when I moved my family back to San Diego last August. I mean, at the time it made perfect sense. We had been living in Costa Rica since the beginning of 2001. I was 23 when I moved here. I'll be 31 in a couple of months. This place has become a part of me, so much so that I didn't realize it. We were about to have baby Happy in late January or early February, which I knew meant that we were going to have to either go to San Jose Costa Rica for at least a month, or probably more. This meant at least two hours to the ocean. This meant no surfing. I already went through that once with baby Otis, Holly and I lived in a hotel room with a kitchen at the Best Western in San Jose. I wasn't really feeling it, it had been a while since I had had the time to chill with my family and friends from high school and college, so we rented a house in SD and put the camp on autopilot. Well, that was great and all, but I have to say that I'll probably never do it again. It seems like a good idea, but the reality is that the surf camp is very much a part of me, and when I'm not here I'm thinking about it more than I should. It takes me 8 hours to accomplish in San Diego what I can do at the camp in 2 hours. I was having to fly back and forth so much I've earned enough air miles to travel to Mars. All of these flights costing money, things costing so much more in the US, the economy entering what GW Bush calls slow economic growth but I call a damn big recession, all the while I'm thinking to myself "hey, it could be a hell of a lot easier". Living down here is a lot easier. I flew down on Sunday, Holly has been busting her ass and did a second garage sale after our Saturday one, then cleaned the entire house with the help of our neighbor Sam and Moises and my pops. My folks and mother and law helped with the boys, Larry is selling my boards as I only sold a couple, Justing is selling the Uncle Rico Van, we're trying to figure out what to do with our vehicles. I'm thinking about wrapping my truck in WRSC graphics and parking it in front of our cottages in OB. I really have no idea what to do, but we're on the right path. I was going to fly back to SD to get Holly and the boys, but since I'd have to buy another ticket to come back down, and since James is on vacation so I'm covering for him at the camp, I'm flying my ma in law Suzanne to help with things and for a short CR visit. So, perhaps Sunday or Monday I'll see the family. Its going to be nice, as its been tough being gone more than I'm at home. Down here I get to chill with my boys all of the time, its going to be perfect.

Here is some good news. We finally have the cash for the new outboard motor. We are buying a Yamaha 115hp 4-stroke. I've had two, the one on the boat in Coco we've had for five years and its still running really strong.

Don't you love how we do things in Costa Rica? Just back that boat up on the beach to the garden so we can mount the outboard. Once its mounted we roll the boat on empty oil drums down to the beach and wait for the high tide. Then we walk it over to the rivermouth and take it out to sea through the channel. Pretty sweet.

I had this boat built last year, but just now got to the point where I'm putting it in the water. I'm going to break a bottle of Imperial on it for good luck. I hired a fiberglass guy named Felipe back in the day, seven years ago when I was living in Playa Coco, he and I built the first two boats. This boat I had made at the Coco boat yard by Rusty Bragg, I'm naming it the Otis Zephyr. I guess now that I've got Happy I better make another boat so I can name it Happy Zephyr :-)

A reporter from Nylon Magazine has been staying at the surf camp for the last two weeks. His name is Christopher Garland and he's writing an in-depth story on the surf camp and what we do here. I hadn't heard of Nylon but I understand its like a new hip Vogue-type mag. Like a good host I took Christopher out a couple of nights ago to Matt K's Bar 1, finally checking the place out. Not that I was bitter that I taught him how to run a restaurant/bar in Tamarindo and had him bail to start his own bar. Being the pirate that I am I found myself a large, very large bottle of Flor de Cana Nicaraguan rum and proceeded to get really drunk, pirate drunk, with Chris, Sonya (who used to work at WRSC five years ago) and her friend Summer, a guy named Jamie who is a friend of Fast Eddie Foster from London who I haven't seen in years, and a few other people I don't remember what their name was though. We had quite a party, although I wonder how I'm going to come across in Nylon Magazine. What can I say? I can say pirate.

Some great news- a past WRSC guest just donated $1000 towards Luis' knee operation! I heard the news and I was super stoked. There have been so many f#$king cool people that have stayed at the surf camp, I am so happy for Luis knowing that someone cares that much about him and his surfing future. I don't have the name of the guy who made the donation on my computer but I'm going to get it and make a press release on the website. Thats the least I could do.

Well, I guess thats about it right now. The weather has been 90% sun and 10% rain, tonight there was a rain shower and some lightning so we brought the tables inside in the restaurant and the house is packed. Lyle is playing guitar but on break since its open night, there is a chick singing and she sounds pretty damn good. For some reason I'm in my office on my computer instead of in the bar, probably because of all of that rum in Matt's bar, and probably because I want to get my work done so I can surf tomorrow without guilt and so when my kids show up I can chill out with them and not look at a computer for a while. See you in CR, you know where to find me.