Namotu day 1

What a place this is.

Here's how day 1 went.

After a 6am breakfast, we decided that the waves were too small at Namotu and got on one of the many resort's boats to go surf Cloudbreak.

"You got to be kidding me", I thought... the very first wave I'm going to surf here is going to be the world famous Cloudbreak, offshore of Tavarua...

Even though it wasn't big (head high sets) I got in the water quite intimidated just by the fame of the spot. Knowing it was quite shallow, I put the shoes on and that definitely didn't help my confidence.

After a couple of closeout rides, I had to duck dive one that offered a quite heavy lip. I thought I was in the perfect spot for it, but I got sucked back and slammed with my butt on the reef. A big gash in the shorts and a little cut in the cheek were Cloudbreak's personal welcome to GP.

But that finally woke me up.

I went like:"come on man, this place might be tough, but you can do this!"

I dropped the shoes back on the boat, I studied the different sections of the wave and I found myself catching more and more waves. After a couple of hours all the other surfer mates were back on the boat ready to go back. I hated that.

The waves were getting better, I was getting better and these guys want to go back? That's one thing I don't like about surfing with a boat. You're not independent.

Anyway, after breakfast number 2, at 11am I was back on a boat for Cloudbreak.

Two more hours of great fun. The most beautiful waves I've ever ridden. Average number of people in the water: 10. All spread along a quite wide area. In other words, no paddle battles whatsover.

Surfing is great and when it's like this it's a whole different level.

The day before leaving, a coworker kindly calculated for me the cost per wave of a one week trip to Namotu. No matter how many waves we were imagining I would catch in a day, the cost was still outragesly expensive. But now that I've see and ridden these waves, I know that the experience is priceless.

After session number 2, we went back for a late lunch. After that I crashed into a lovely nap and after that I managed to squeeze a sunset session on the standup on the left right in front of the island (no damn boat needed). It was a bit bumpy, but still fun. Beautiful sunset. Alone.

Paddle back in, shower on the beach, beers with the rest of the guests at the beach shack hanging out waiting for another delicious meal.

Not a bad first day.

All I can suggest is stay tuned... you won't be disappointed!