#TBT Puerto Rico 1997: My First Surf Trip
A Blog A Day 2017: Blog #21
Thursday, September 21st
The first surf trip I ever went on was to Puerto Rico. I flew down with my friend Spencer on Carnival Airways, and we stayed at the Rincon Surf & Board for a week. I fell in love with "The Enchanted Island" on that trip...the people, the food, everything. Even after 20 years, and a couple of return visits, I still look forward to my next trip there, and fantasize about living in Puerto Rico full time. Who knows, maybe one day I WILL relocate and spend the rest of my days on the island. Until then, here are my "Surf Journal" entries for that first trip (originally printed in External 732 Fanzine, issue #5).
(Thursday, March 20th- 4:10pm)
I woke up early, psyched for today! I went down to the Inlet (Manasquan) to check the surf. It was small and really not worth a go-out. I went by the surf shop to pick up a new pair of boardshorts, and headed back home to eat. I was back at the surf shop, a short while later, where I met up with Spencer. We rolled out to my house, to load up my gear, before taking off on a few assorted stops. We checked in at the airport and, eventually, boarded. After sitting on the plane and being delayed for almost two hours, we're taking off. The trip begins!
(5:30pm)
Oh, joy! It's in-flight meal time. Let's see...chicken. I'll pass on that, thank you very much. I gave it to Spencer to eat. The beans and rice, salad, and carrot cake were pretty good, though...and the flight attendant slipped us second servings! It turns out that Adam (an acquaintance from back home) is on the same flight with us. Cool! Someone for us to talk to. I heard TR (another acquaintence from Manasquan) and a few others are already down in Puerto Rico. Before I left, I was told TR's been scoring head high surf the past two days; oughtta be a party when we get down there. We're supposed to get a really killer swell, like really BIG! Things look to be an interesting time for the next week.
(Later)
As expected, our plane got in late and then we had to wait forever at luggage claim for Spencer's surfboards. His friend, Chris, was waiting for us and, after we loaded everything into Chris' beat up little red Suzuki Samurai, we made it out of the airport around 9:40pm. We stopped for something to eat before going to Rincon Surf & Board so we could unload. We met up with some people Spence knew from previous trips to Puerto Rico, and went to the Calypso (bar) to hang out. After about 20 minutes, Chris gave Spencer and I a ride back to the guest house.
Riding around Puerto Rico, in the back of the Suzuki, at night was like something out of a movie or a dream. All the narrow winding roads surrounded by palm trees, the small little houses, traffic signs in Spanish, the occasional rooster or chicken or stray dog running out of the way. The warm night air and humidity are a welcomed change from New Jersey's winter weather. The wind in my face, the unfamiliar scenery; I felt like I was caught up in some sort of fantasy. Right now, this all seems so surreal, like at any second I'm going to open my eyes and I'll be back in NJ.
(Friday, March 21st)
With a little help from all the roosters crowing, I woke up at 5am. I lounged around for a few hours with Spencer, before Chris came to pick us up. A couple of guys from Southern California came in last night, and wound up hanging out with us today. We went for breakfast at Punta's Bakery (an egg and cheese sandwich for $.75, a donut for $.10!) before driving into town to buy some groceries for the week. We made a quick surf check, and went back to the guest house to put our groceries away. Chris drove us all down to Domes, but it had gotten really crowded out in the line-up and wasn't worth the hassle. We wound up paddling out in between Pool's and Sandy's and surfing for two and a half hours. The waves were small (2ft.) but fun. This is the first time I've ever ridden a reef break, and I had a good time of it. That is, except for launching a rollo onto barely submerged reef and dinging my board. That, and getting really bad sunburn on my back because my sunblock wore off, were the only downsides to my first day here.
Since Chris had left to get his Suzuki worked on, the four of us (the two Cali guys, Spence, and me) walked the half-mile, uphill, back to the guest house. We were hanging out in the Cali guys' place when TR got back. I was surprised to see him, and stopped to talk with him for a bit. It amazes me how small the world can be, sometimes. I flew all the way to Puerto Rico to run into someone I surf with in Manasquan, let alone staying in the same guest house. That is pretty cool!
I lounged around and crashed out for most of the afternoon, since the surf had gone flat. Later, we went to Kim's house and played Mortal Kombat. We stopped at Punta's again, for something to eat, and went back to the guest house where I sat around eating Honey Combs, swilling Mountain Dew, and watching reruns of Beverly Hills 90210. Spence crashed out around 7pm and, after watching The Princess Bride, I did likewise around 11:30pm.
(Saturday, March 22nd)
I woke up, around 3am, to the sound of people laughing really loud. TR's friend, Brian, was celebrating his 30th birthday. From the back porch of his room, Brian was laughing and heckling Spencer. "SPENCER!!! YOU DROPPED IN ON ME AT INLET!!!" Spence woke up to hear him, looked at me, and the two of us fell out laughing. We went up and hung out until around 4am, when we all decided to call it a night. Right about sunrise, around 6am. I woke up and ran over to TR's room. TR, Brian, Spencer, and I loaded up our boards and set out on a 40-minute drive up north to Middles for a morning session. Middles breaks almost every day at a decent size, or so I'd been told. Today, it was microscopic. What a buzzkill!
Our stop at Burger King for breakfast was interesting, to say the least. Between our sorry attempt at ordering in Spanish and the confusion of speaking in both Spanish and English, it's no wonder our order got messed up. To top off this fumbled expedition, none of us had brought any tapes to listen to (sort of). Almost all of the radio stations in PR are Spanish, and the few English-speaking stations play nothing but dance music. So, the only music we had to listen to were two cassette singles that TR and Brian had come across at Aguadilla Mall. For almost an hour and a half, we listened to U2's "Discotheque" and Dishwalla's "Counting Blue Cars" over and over and over and...
When we got back, I hung out at TR's place and watched some Nickelodeon. Then I hung out with the Cali guys, Brian and Collin, for a while before coming back to the guest house to check the Weather Channel and take my vitamins. Brian stopped by, and we headed up to the other guest house. I went up to Kogi's (the guy who takes care of the Surf & Board guest houses). There, I found Spencer lounging around on the couch playing with Kogi's little dog Brutus. Eventually, we came back to our place and Spence decide to take another little ciesta. It's 11am, 80 degrees outside, there's no surf, and we have no car at the moment (neither Spencer nor I are old enough to rent a car). Talk about getting skunked!
We're supposed to get swell tomorrow, but I heard that yesterday. Spencer's kinda hoping it'll come up later this afternoon. I don't know. I just want some rideable waves. It's good, in a way, though. With no rideable surf, I get a chance to take care of my sunburn today, and stay out of the sun a little. I got burned like a piece of toast yesterday, and it hurts like hell today.
The rest of the day was spent driving around with Chris, and hanging out on the beach at Sandy's. We made further attempts at attaining a rental car with no luck. We hung out with a few cute girls from Cape May (New Jersey), and went swimming with them to cool off for a bit. Later in the afternoon, clouds rolled in over the beach, so we got a ride back to the Surf & Board. Spence popped on the Weather Channel, and then we watched The Princess Bride again.
Me and Spencer hung around at our place for a while before going to see what Brian and Collin were up to, and to go settle our bill with Kogi. A little later, the Cali guys came over, along with this gorgeous girl from San Juan, who's staying up in one of the other guest rooms. We all loaded up into her Ford Explorer, along with her two friends (another gorgeous female and her boyfriend), and drove into town for pizza. When we came back, I watched Sixteen Candles, the Dennis Rodman Spring Break Tour, and I crashed out for the night.
 |
| The two boards I brought to Puerto Rico with me. The blue Rheopaipo Thrasher developed a bad case of "banana rocker" in the warm waters of PR. I used it one more time, back home in New Jersey, and then sold it. I bought the grey Custom X Basix as a back-up board for my Puerto Rico trip. It became my "Go-To" board on this trip, as well as back home in NJ...but that's a whole other story... |
(Sunday, March 23rd)
I slept in this morning ('til 9am), ate breakfast, and when Chris came over me, Spencer, and Chris took off for the car rental place, stopping to pick up Kim on the way. We got the rental car (well, Chris did anyway), and he gave us his Suzuki for the week. Good deal, we have wheels and the swell is supposed to come up tonight. The girls from San Juan left for home today. I picked up some post cards to mail out. The Cali guys, Spencer, and myself went for a quick surf in between Pool's and Sandy's where we went out Friday. It was really small and really not worthwhile. We hung out at the beach for a while, and met a bunch of girls from Bergen County (New Jersey). They seemed pretty cool and said they'd meet up with us at The Landing tonight. We did meet up with them, later on, but they brushed us off for a bunch of meat-necked jocks on spring break. Anyway, Spencer and the Cali guys went into town and brought back pizza. After we ate, we went to The Landing, then the Tamboo (tavern), and then to the Calypso. We, eventually, went back to The Landing and played pool for an hour or so, and headed back to the guest houses.
(Monday, March 24th)
Spencer drove down to check the surf around 6am. No luck. It's flat. Another day of getting skunked by the lack of waves here. With nothing better to do, I slept until 9am...but then there was swell (a small swell anyway). Me and Spence went down to check the beach at 11am, and there were chest high sets rolling through. We came back to get Brian and Collin, loaded up our boards, and we were off. We surfed Domes for almost two hours. There was a nice bowl coming through that was fun to backdoor on the take-off. Conditions were slightly disorganized from the onshore winds, and the crowded line-up (consisting mainly of bodyboarders, like myself) got a little hectic. So, we went to Punta's for lunch and headed over to Sandy's for a go-out. The Suzuki started freaking out on us and is out of commission for the rest of the trip. The transmission broke, and now the Susuki only drives in reverse. We had to leave it in the parking lot at Sandy's until the mechanic can come pick it up tomorrow. Seeing as how we were already there, and stuck for a ride, we surfed Sandy's for a couple of hours before walking to Indicators and backtracking to Domes. Spencer and Brian went back out at Domes for another hour and a half, and Collin hung out on the beach. I was kinda beat, and opted for a little ciesta under the trees. There was a nice, cool breeze on the beach and the sun would, occasionally, poke through the trees to shine down on me; propped up against my board which itself was propped up against the base of a palm tree.
Chris, Kim, and David came to pick us up and crammed seven people into Chris' compact rental car. He dropped us off and came back later to drive us down to Pool's, where there was a bonfire on the beach. There was, I'd say, about 50 people sitting around the fire drinking beers, playing acoustic guitars, and banging on bongo drums. It was kinda fun. After an hour, the bonfire got sorta beat, so the four of us walked down to The Landing, and then back up the hill to the guest house. Just a little ways up the hill, we hitched a ride with some guys from LBI (Long Beach Island, NJ) and a couple of girls from Long Island (New York). Brian rode on the hood, Spencer and Collin sat in the trunk, and I rode on the roof of the car. Back at the guest house, the four of us lounged at mine and Spencer's place for a while, and cooked up a ton of food to grind on while we watched Daria on MTV. I did the dishes and crashed out for the night.
(Tuesday, March 25th)
I slept in a bit, again. Around 9am, I went with the new people, staying in one of the other two rooms of our guest house, who moved in last night. Spencer and the Cali guys couldn't all fit so the three of them stayed in Rincon. Moe, his girlfriend, and I headed up north in search of waves since Rincon's pretty much flat today. I got the chance to check out Rincon Surf Shop; a small shop, but pretty cool. We checked Jobos, Surfer's Beach, Wilderness, and Middles. All small, but Surfer's Beach had the most potential and looked like fun. We went back to Surfer's Beach around 11am and, by then, the onshore winds had kicked up. It was 2ft. and totally windblown. Me and Moe gave it a go for an hour, but really didn't have much fun in those sloppy conditions. I'm just glad I didn't step on any sea urchins while I was out. Trying to pull urchin spines out of your foot is not a fun task, from what I understand.
We drove back to the guest house where I sat around watching way too much TV and eating, because I couldn't get into my room. Spencer decided to take a little afternoon ciesta and locked himself, and our only key, in our room. When Spence came to, I grabbed my camera, CD player, and my notebook to do some writing in. I took a few photos, did some writing, and listened to a bunch of music to pass the time. I'd have gone crazy, by now, if I had not brought music to listen to. I'd kill for some good size surf right about now.
We have yet another roommate. Kristen is staying in the third room of our guest house, the one me and Spencer originally mistook for a storage closet. She's a short cutie, with short blond hair, from Hollywood (California). Me and Spencer got to meet her when we came back from having dinner at The Lazy Parrot with Brian and Collin. Later, the five of us walked down to The Landing. I played some pool with Spencer, while the Cali guys chatted with the Jersey girls we'd met earlier in the trip. By this time, I'd had enough of the bar crowd atmosphere. I got the key from Spence, and walked back up the hill by myself.
(Wednesday, March 26th)
UH!!! UH!!! OWWW, FUCK!!! I got up at 6:30am to go check for waves, and made the mistake of trying to skate downhill to the beach. It's a very steep, winding hill with lots of rocks and potholes. Oh, God, did I ever eat it! I was about a quarter of the way down when I ate pavement, and slid about 20 feet downhill on my chest. My white t-shirt was now torn and as black as the asphalt. The palms of my hands were shredded, with pebbles embedded in my skin. I had some pretty nasty road rash and a wrenched ankle, but it coulda been worse. I limped back up to the guest house and crashed on the couch. Damn, that hurt!
(9am)
The Cali guys just left. Off to San Juan Airport. Spencer headed up north towards Wilderness with a few guys from Long Island. I wanted to go with them, but I was still feeling a little banged up from this morning. Instead, I watched Sixteen Candles with Kristen. She brought out the pillows and blanket from her room, curled up with me on the floor, and we chilled for a while. Moe and his girlfriend came back from snorkeling and told me that, in the past two hours, the surf had gone from flat to solid head-high. Kristen and I were on our way to the beach, anyway, so I ran back into my room and grabbed my board and fins. Yes, finally something decent!
We walked about halfway down, when the guys from LBI picked us up and gave us a ride over to Domes. I surfed for an hour, while Kristen layed out on the beach reading a magazine. The waves were solid head-high and a little disorganized, but with some really fun bowls to play with. From Domes, we walked down a dirt road that comes out by Pool's. Along the way, a couple of locals let us jump in the back of their pick-up and gave us a ride. Once at Pool's we walked down to the Tamboo, and then to the guest house.
Kristen drove me into town so I could mail out my postcards, dropped me back off at the guest house, and left to go take pictures of the sunset. I grabbed my gear and started down the hill for the beach when Moe drove by. He turned around, I threw my board in his car and, since I couldn't fit inside, I jumped onto the roof of the car for the ride down to the beach. I went out at Parking Lots for an hour before sundown. The waves were still solid head-high and slightly disorganized, but were still very rideable and looked to, slowly, be building. I started to walk back, after the session, when "Negative Guy" (this short, stocky longboarder with a big mustache, from Long Island, who swore everyone and everything sucked; "This sucks!" is like his motto) gave me a ride up the hill. I asked him where he surfed today. I forget where he said. I asked him how his session was. "The wind was on it. It sucked." I had to do my best not to laugh. Spencer and the other guys didn't get back until after dark. We all went to El Tapatio for dinner, and scored some killer grinds for cheap. I had two bean burrito platters for $4. After dinner, we got dropped off at Brisa's bar for the Wednesday night slide show. Spencer and I hung out with Chris, Kim, Dave, three super cool guys from South Africa who are doing a worldwide surf trip from Indonesia to Hawaii and so on, as well as hanging out with a bunch of other people we've met in our time on the island.
(Thursday, March 27th)
Just after 6am, I got up and got dressed. Spencer got up to get ready to head up to Wilderness for the day. I woke up Moe, loaded my things into his car, and we were off and on our way to Aguadilla Airport by 6:30am. I checked in my luggage, went through Customs, and all that fun stuff. I ran into yet another guy from LBI. Puerto Rico is like a home away from home for New Jersey surfers and bodyboarders, apparently.
Moe and I checked the waves at Parking Lots before going to the airport. It was head-high to overhead and glassy. Spencer should should score some killer surf at Wilderness today. I wish I could stay a few extra days to ride out this swell, but my boss shot down the idea of me taking a few more days away from work. Not cool. Oh well, at least I got a few days in the water. Puerto Rico was a really fun trip, and I do plan on going back. I just have to learn some Spanish for next time.
