El Zonte

Saturday. Awoke in the fuzzy state of not knowing the time, and unable to comprehend my roommate's answer. The watch has glow in the dark dots on its hour and minute analog pointers, but without my reading glasses they don't tell me much. Within 15 minutes I was ready to go, and four of us plus Julio headed north. El Zonte looked a bit worse than yesterday, so we continued to K-59. We weren't quite sure how to get there, but after spying it from the highway above, we knew that was the spot we wanted to get to. After a u-turn and a phone call, we headed down a dirt road that could have passed for a driveway, went about 100 yards and stopped at a locked gate.

The walk from there was short but unpaved, partially paved with broken pieces of rock and brick, not the best conditions for leaving everything in the van including shoes. I ended up putting my fins on when I got to the gravel section. There were already a dozen people in the water at 6:30 am at the point. I watched a couple lefts roll in the inside and thought I'd try for those. As I was paddling out a large set came through and I was getting a bit worked, so I pushed outward. Then the current got me and I was almost at the peak. Mike said I should move over and just take the rights. "But I like lefts." "you should get some of these before it gets too crowded." "But I like going left." "There's some really good waves over here." "But I told you, I like going left." There was no getting through.

Eventually I caught a couple, but the majority I was dropped in on and even Mike took off on me on one. One wave I shared, he seemed careful to avoid me but it was hard to enjoy the massive wave with the spray of the shoulder-hopper hitting me in the face. I kept up though, just to prove I wasn't intimidated.

After a couple hours the crowd thinned and I started catching more waves. One wave barrelled over me and I sort of pushed out the bottom and kept going. I positioned myself for another cover up but it was less forgiving and took me for an underwater spin.

Goggles and Ryan walked down the coast for some waves to themselves and got really good barrels. He said it was gnarly and there were a lot of rocks inside.

After returning to the van, which was parked along the highway, and waiting for Goggles and Ryan in a mosquito-heavy area, we came home, ate, and crashed hard. Chad was up but still sick, had been throwing up the last two nights. I took a nap on the top bunk in the boys room. The bed I have I just put the mattress on the floor because the box is realy just wooden slats with a few springs, and I could feel my body slipping down between the slats. This resulted in more neck and back pain. It's wrecking me. I slept fitfully but had some dreams, so I know I did sleep. In one dream we were back in LA and the trip was over and I didn't make the CD of my photos for John. Maybe it means I don't feel like I'm pulling my weight and I want to go home.

About 3:30 we headed out again to K-59. The tide was very low and the waves not nearly as good as earlier, but it was still fun. There was a sandbar that was making the paddle out a lot of work if you had the pleasure to be caught inside. More than once I had to take the whitewater back in to catch the outgoing current and not get thumped. After trying to duck the wave and getting completely held down and twisted underwater, I said to myself "I give up" and thought I'd let the next ball of whitewater take me in. Only instead of taking me in, it just took me, overran me and held me under for what seemed like too long. The next wave was a little nicer to me, and I made it closer to shore.

Yesterday after surfing El Zonte a little smaller than the day before, I went down to the surf shop and internet cafe in Trunco, and paid to use the internet for 1/2 hour. I wish we were closer to Punta Roca. The restaurant there has wireless. Maybe tomorrow I can get a ride there or take the bus.