Hawaiian Champion

This is another post with me gushing about meeting a celebrity that no one else cares about... We arrived in LAX and were waiting around, only to run into former UFC Lightweight Champion BJ "The Prodigy" Penn, who is Hawaiian. He had lost his fight the night before, but he still agreed to pose for my daggy fan photograph, which I really appreciated.

Hangin' loose with The Prodigy

I was fully pumped for the rest of the day...2 UFC fighters on one holiday!! Such nice approachable guys, considering what they do for a living. It's not every day you meet the greatest lightweight fighter in history. Mahalo, BJ! So excitement!!!

Cold San Franciscan Nights

A quick journey back in time... to foggy San Francisco. I learned that locals never call it San Fran, or Frisco. That's a big no no. It's 'the City'.

So we spent an expensive couple of days here. The Fairmont took the gratuities to the next level and things were quite disgustingly expensive. But enough about that.

One of the highlights was the Tonga restaurant where the centre of the floor is occupied by a big, rectangular pool, into which it periodically rains! Complete with thunder and lightning! The band plays - on a little board in the middle of the water!

We went out to Alcatraz which was a great trip. The audio guide was really interesting with speaking from past guards and inmates. There was a lot more to the Island than I thought. The movies always depict it as a barren rock with a prison on it. Turns out that there was a whole community living on it. All the guards, their wives and families. The kids used to catch the ferry across the bay to go to school. What's more there were gardens, happily tended by the inmates all around the grounds. Whoda thunk it? It sure was windy though!

A little windy on the ferry.

The island was originally used by the military.

Harsh weather here

Its now also a bird sactuary

There had buildings for manufacture, power supply and a morgue during military years.

Inside the prison block

These cells that got sunlit were sort after

.

Recreation area

Golden Gate Bridge

Santa Cruizin

 

Our very excellent accommodation overlooks the pier, Cowell's Cove and is walking distance to the boardwalk. Score! Above is the view from our terrace.

NAICE!

This is our retro kitchen. The pictures are for you, Jess, as I'm thinking you'll love it. 

Before the mist/fog rolled in!

With our room we managed to score free passes to the boardwalk which proved to be terrific fun. We went on the bumper cars, a few zany rides with lots of lights... I went on the Giant Dipper, a rollercoaster built around 1911. I screamed my lungs out the whole ride.

Bumper cars

Looking like a tourist from... San Clemente??

What's a night at the boardwalk without fairyfloss?

OM NOM NOM NOM NOM!

The highlight of the night was most definitely the Buccaneer Bay Mini Golf!! 18 holes of hilarity! The course had canons going off periodically, pirate animatronics, moving obstacles to get the ball through and even some blacklit, fluorescent holes. Sadly, we both came in around 20 over par. :S

One too many rides on the Tsunami?

 

The next day we checked out the wharf and found some sleek friends.

They are smelly and noisy but very cute. They are very sociable and spent most of the time barking and growling while they all got comfortable lying on each other in the sun.

We found our way over to steamer lane which was pretty serious. I didn't think it was breaking because you can't really see it from our side of the bay. It wraps around the northern point of the bay. With the current swell direction, the guys were taking off into the cliff, so a bit of a critical take off and some agro going around.

 

There was even a kneeboarder out! Serious wavage. A steep take off, a few barrels and a lot of kelp.

 

Young guys timing the cliff jump in between sets.

After finding such serious waves we needed some serious food. We found: pizza the size of my head. So good!

 We then checked out some of the other breaks, south of the main drag. What we found was a lot more chilled out and conducive to a relaxing surf. The Hook, so called because of all the kelp that gets caught in leg ropes and on fins, and Pleasure Point. I'd read about this place in Caught Inside, but didn't know what to expect. It looked pretty nice. Loooong rolling waves. There were even three peaks scattered across the bay the spread people out.

Pleasure Point

Before heading up to Santa Cruz I shot out here for an hour or so. The waves picked up with the incoming tide and the sets were really fun. A nice vibe out in the water and a seal to boot.

The stairs ...

Scored a 9'4 McTavish epoxy for this break and a wetsuit which was 5x4x3mm! That's serious neoprene! Although I think the water was pretty balmy compared to Morro Bay.

The fog which rolled in about 4pm the day before lifted while I was out to reveal the blue sky :) The previous evening, people simply surfed in the fog!

Next stop, San Francisco!!

Big Sur-fing at the Rock

Pismo Beach was a cute, if slightly bogan town. We left bright and early, armed with directions from our hotel dude, in search of some local waves. We checked out Shell Beach, which wasn't happening, but the next stop up the road, Morro Bay was the payload!

Plus, check out the view!

Morro Rock

Tadashi Suzuki Board!

James with a Robert August board

We literally surfed straight out next to THE rock.

The water was freeeeeeezing! Apparently around 15C. Hands and feet were burning the whole time we were in the water. The swell picked up with the outgoing tide and it was super fun. I'm now able to control where I sit in the wave a lot more and we've been enjoying surfing on mals!

Eventually we had to tear ourselves away, return the boards and get underway! The drive was spectacular! It took about 4 hours through winding, cliff top roads.

The countdown

 

We stopped briefly in Big Sur proper which was a dappled collection of shopsv hidden amongst the trees next to a little creek. Camping here would be magical. The visitors pictured below had an interesting way of getting amongst nature.

It was great to see this rugged coastline. California has been really diverse, and we've only scratched the surface, keeping to the coast.

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...