I didn’t have any really weird Chilean red wine-induced dreams last night.  I do remember a dream where I was showing Kelly Runkle, my sister’s best friends from way back in high school and before, around Northern High School.

I woke up at some point in the very early morning and heard the howler monkeys in the distance.  I’d really like to see some.

We were up and lathering ourselves with SPF 50 and 60 sunblock this morning and were on the way out to hit the waves by 7:00.  It was a bit odd out- the waves were big but a little mushy.  I had a hard time getting myself in the right spot to catch them very well.  Michael caught a few good ones though.  My best one was the one I rode in when we were getting out.

We’ve had a few close calls today and yesterday.  Yesterday Michael and I both took off on the same wave at about the same point with the intention of going in opposite directions, but we both wiped out at about the same place.  As I was coming up I felt something soft to my left and started pushing it away from me before I realized it was my brother-in-law’s back.

I had three close ones today.  For two of them, I was paddling back out when a largish wave came up and sent Michael at me.  I tossed my board and ducked both times, but he said on the first one his board came really close to hitting me right in the head.  We hadn’t lined ourselves up for it- we both tried to stay out of each other’s path, but it just happened.

Another time there was a guy who caught a wave (again while I was paddling out).  He was zigging and zagging up it in my direction and I tried to get out of the way but just wasn’t sure where to go, so again I tossed my board and ducked under.  When I came back up he asked if I was okay and I told him I was fine, I was just trying to stay out of his way and not mess him up.  He apologized and told me he’d gone over my board.  After I got back on I saw some minor scrapes where that had happened.  They were about where my neck would have been.

Oh, and we all got stung by jellyfish this morning.  We’d all been feeling itchy where we were either being stung or bit by something, but then we all definitely got stung.

After we came in we ate a breakfast of fruits and a sort of pancake (everyone else had beans and rice as well) while we discussed our Chocolate Starfish ideas.

Zach Dotsey