Thursday, June 04, 2009

Oahu day 1

First day in Oahu and already double windsurfing/surfing session.

That's because in the morning I was able to pick up my gear that arrived safe and sound at the harbor. BTW, the number of cubic feet (hence dollars I had to pay) was only 58... cheap!!
Problem was that it was in one of the containers of the upper row and I had to climb up there to get it... just kidding.

Ray's truck happily loaded.


Got the gear, drove back home, put fins in and drove to Diamond Head.
The ocean from the cliff is absolutely gorgeous. The inside shows the reef with its canyons and coral heads, while on the outside the blue of the water is truly something.
The waves didn't look all that good though and I ventured out a bit sceptical...
Well, 6 waves in one hour don't quite make an epic session, do they?
The wind on the inside was superlight, the waves were choppy, mushy and weak.
Took me forever to slog upwind to a break with no surfers where right while doing my very first turn I figured that it was actually a blessing that the waves were mushy and weak... god, do I suck on this other tack or what?!

This guy, instead, made it look pretty good.


He must be a local.


He must be a local too.


The sunset surf session at Ala Moana (not Bowls, one of those breaks in between...) was much better. Kinda small, but super clean and very, very rippable.
I caught 17 waves in 1 hour and 24 minutes (yes, I have a wave counting device...). Considering that I got out around 6.20, I must have caught the last one around 8.
Sunset time today was 7.11, but the moon was out early and almost full and the lights of the city made for a surreal magic atmosphere.
I guess the feeling of connecting with nature gets amplified by the vision of the contrasting opposite.

I had a similar moment later on.
While in line at Safeway, in fact, I noticed that none of the food items that both the persons in front and behind me were about to buy were natural products available as is in nature. They only bought boxes of processed food with weird names. That made my salad taste even better!


The only thing that bugs me in that photo, CLEARLY is the plastic container. Guess what, I'll wash it and and use it again for the rest of the 2 months... I may even bring it back with me to Maui!

I would have many more things to write about my first impressions, but I need to rest. Tomorrow the wind should be stronger and I'll check out other spots.
I'll post more soon. You guys keep the count of the waves for me, ok?

7 comments:

nico said...

grande giampaaaaaaaaaaaaaa
sono qui con un bel piatto di pennette al pomodoro fresco a legger di te e di meglio c'è solo esser lì CON te!
alla grande

cammar said...

Ciao Nico,
pasta with fresh tomatoes sounds extremely tasty too, but if you think about it pasta is not available in nature either. It's made out of flour that is something we do out of grains, but in the process we throw away most of the nutrients (specially white flour)...
Don't get me wrong, I still eat it, but I'm having one of those only natural foods (best if uncooked) moments... let's see how long it lasts.
Thanks for reading!
PS. 5.45am and ready to go surf...

Sharon said...

I was listening to a prog just yesterday on the BBC and they were saying that many people think cooking from scratch, is opening a jar and a packet! Good man eating your greens.

Mongoose might look like he's a native but he's an impostor too. Sugar cane dudes imported them to help with rat problems in the fields. Meanwhile not only did they feast on rates but they tucked in and destroyed many native species. Bummer, coz they're kinda cute.

Anonymous said...

You haven't taken pics of girls yet.
Weird :D

Anonymous said...

the local (homo sapiens) is mike dale.

as for the surfers - no need to go upwind (that shitty break is called mansion's) - just mix with them, it's different than at ho'o.

hope you enjoy that other spot.

ho'o report - 4.0 maxed out, gusty and flat...

Anonymous said...

Your plate of "salad" looks more like my dish of vegetables that I would eat with my Sunday roast.

Thanks Sharon for clearing up my query as to what sort of animal that was roaming in the under-growth.

Anne

thomas said...

hey cammar,
you might be interested to know that if your plastic vegetable box has the number 3, 6 or 7 on it (mostly in a triangle made of arrows), the plastic is really really toxic. wouldn't use it over and over again.

wouldn't buy it either...