Beaut Birthday

I had a great day today! It started off in Santa Barbara at our sweet little Mexican Inn.

From there we drove south to Rincon, which was "small" but actually breaking. A quick trip back to Carpinteria to hire boards before paddling out!

I scored the long wetsuit this time.

Oil platforms off in the distance.

I think James felt the cold keenly in his springy, hence all the photos! My men's wetsuit was practically new, super warm, with some extra pouches that trapped in the water ;l

More hardcore than me... The peak packed a punch when a decent one came through. Guys were even getting little barrels today!

I got to surf with a seal, a dolphin and an oil rig!

The peaks were pretty fat and hard to catch on the softboards we were able to hire. The 7' one was almost as wide as it was long and paddled like a frisbee. The 7'6 was slightly better, but just didn't have the rails for attempting the main peak.

Of course Jimmy found a little friend. :D

The tide was on the way out exposing the rocks and some healthy sized boulders to dodge!
Although this isn't Rincon at its classic best, I'm so stoked I got to surf it! It is always so perfect in the movies and often you go to these places and it's too big or completely flat. So it was nice to get amongst it. Surfing when travelling is pretty different to surfing your local. You don't know the break, the current, the tides, or the reef and so I always feel a little more conservative than at home. Plus I don't want to add the Santa Barbara State Hospital to my list of tourist sights. I'd have to find it on the GPS first.

After a quick lunch in Carpinteria, which is really laid back and nice, we blasted along the N101 before heading up into Los Padres National Forest. The GPS told us to go this way, which proved to be spectacular. I don't actually think the machine programmes in the most scenic route, but it was a nice bonus!
We rose really quickly along the cliffs and into the mountains. Home to the Chumash people, the vista was breathtaking, especially over Lake Cachuma.
Arriving in Pismo Beach, just south of San Luis Obispo, we were upgraded to a King Room. Nice!! All these coastal towns are centred around the pier and yet they're all different. From the wooden pier we watched some local kids surfing, got some ideas for where to hire boards and surf tomorrow, and checked out the strip. Pocho's surf shop has the biggest collection of retro skateboards I've ever seen. There would have been 50 old decks as well as a number of single fin mals all mounted on the roof.

This little town wasn't initially on our radar, but we needed somewhere to break up the trip to Santa Cruz. We're really glad we found it, even if they do sell chocolate covered crickets on main street...