Surfin Safari

Surfing = confirmed hard. Much different than my attempt on the west coast. Lotta surfers and it's hard to not feel in the way when struggling with one of the long 10 footers they recommend for beginners. That thing had some heft to it. I went twice, once in the morning for an hour and a half when it was busier. Headed back out again around noon during the heat when I felt like there would be less people.

Luckily there were a lot less surfers then but it was an arduous attempt to say the least. The waves were bigger and I was getting bounced around out there on a windy day. Felt like I went through a tumble dry session with the dryer on high. Humbling experience not that I came in too confident. Probably could've used a lesson but I like to make things hard on myself. I still had fun and was completely exhausted by the end of it. If anybody has any surf tips let me know.......

I stayed on the beach a while during the heat of the day when it’s emptiest and read to try to get my skin acclimatized to this sun. I could do about an hour and a half before I could feel myself burning even with sunscreen lathered. This northeast pale skin is not built for the heat. Ran into some wildlife already too with this huge iguana that I first thought was a mini crocodile when I almost stepped on it in the jungle. Looks like a dinosaur.

These dudes are howling and hanging on the awning of my outside patio but I haven’t caught a pic of one yet. 

Getting a smoothie I met a nice family from north Jersey and the dad and mom were talking about how they wished they traveled more when they were young. They were telling their college-aged kids that they need to find a way to do it early after school. He was giving me some tips on things to see around here that I’ll be looking into and they were all surfers since they live close enough to Manasquan. Outside the smoothie truck a little red squirrel came up and ate a banana right out of the son’s hand. 

More sun in the forecast today, and more coffee shops for me. I’ll make another surf attempt in a couple days cause i need a little less sun today. Also still on the search for the under-explored activities of this lovely place. Peace, I'll check back in when i feel like it.

p.s. papaya may be my new favorite fruit.