Dirty Thirty – Surf Camp

Depending on the odds you give me, you can say that I am going through a third or half life crisis by selling most of my possessions and travelling the world. My 29^th birthday was wild with Jess getting me a tattoo so we wanted to go all out for my 30^th  - which provided mixed results.

We finished work last week and decided to start the travel part of our vacation with a bang and go to a five day Surf Camp. Monday morning we jumped on a bus and travelled about 2hrs South West to 7 Mile Beach. The camp was a quick walk away from a pristine beach that was made for beginner surfers like us.

We split into groups and hit the water in our standard issue, make-you-look-like-a-fat-white-chubbo, wetsuits and started our lessons. The first couple days were spent finding new muscles to ache and ways to bail off a surf board in the least graceful way. Jess, of course, made it look easy and was getting private lessons from an instructor that thought he could replace me. I was making steady progress and consistently getting up.

We were greeted to Dolphins swimming offshore for a couple of the days and one of Jess’s other boyfriends, (who she named Sawyer – Lost reference), was fit enough to paddle out and get some great video of them on a GoPro. The night life consisted of stuffing our faces and falling asleep early feeling like the waves were still floating you on the bed.

At the very end of the third day I caught a wave, crashed and rolled up on shore like the whale that I am and realized that it felt like a donkey had kicked me in the ribs and I was having trouble breathing. I figured I got hit by the board and the sting would lessen as the night wore on. Boy was I wrong! I woke up on my 30^th Birthday with a mystery bulge in my rib cage and was having trouble with simple tasks like sitting, standing or lying. I figured the water would help me stretch things out and make me feel better. Wrong again. It was official… I am old. I missed out on one and a half lessons but took the opportunity to take an extra couple of thousand photos of Jess not being old.

 

 

All in all it was an amazing trip and another good birthday story. We will continue to surf when we can, and think that the camp was and awesome place to meet some great people and have fun even when you are reminded of your own mortality.

 

 

The Surf Camp crew.

 

 

Each day the instructors took video of us using GoPro cameras. Here is the final week summary video. If you look close you can see us a few times.