Monday, December 26, 2005

Mellow surf day

First thing I hear apon awakening is sister Liz leaving a message on the answering machine. The whole Lopes crew is heading to a beach on the east side of the island for surfing and boogey boarding. I jump out of bed, walk into the kitchen niche and grab the phone. "Hello Liz."

"Hi Dad."

"No, this is Michael. So, you're going surfing?"

"Yeah."

"Can you pick me up?"

10 minutes later, I am in the big black pick up truck with my trusty board in the back with one of Liz's and their big 12 footer. I get on the horn with Bri and let him know where we are heading.

At the beach, we can see about 5-7 people surfing the small waves. Liz and I paddle out together and soon are catching the small waves. It has a bit of the feel of summer. Bri soon joins us. I've already caught about 3-4 waves that took me all the way to the beach. It is days like this that long boards rule. Some time later, Roberto paddles out on the giant nerf 12 footer. It is that kind of day here. The North Shore is huge. Very few reefs can handle the 20 foot+ waves. Thus, we all end up here with gentle waves that Caio can boogey board on as well. Roberto ends up catching several waves that take him all the way to the shore. He paddles back quickly and effortlessly.

The highlight happens when we all catch the same wave, big enough for Bri to below me at the base while I cut across the lip. Bri and I to go right while Ro went left. Liz witnessed the moment from the beach.

Liz had a big barbecue for a bunch of her friends. Some of them had come all the way from Long Island. All of them had kids. The house was in a constant state of mayhem as the kids all became a giant tornado of energy fueled by sugar and a seemingly endless supply of toys. Bri convinces me to go down to Shores and boogey board. Call me crazy, but it is tough to get into it. I just kind of flounder around and wait for the lucky ride to take me back to the dry sand.