Holy Week in La Union

This year I went up to LU for Holy Week. The weekend before, I rode up with Aya, Philip, JP and Miko. They were there to pick up their longboards, I was there to drop off my Holy Week supplies. There were super baby waves that we kinda surfed but mostly, we were in the water just to keep cool. Until Miko smelled, then spotted, the dead rat floating nearby. Next thing you know, we're all getting showered and clean and heading to CSI for lunch and aircon.

I was back in Manila (and work) for two days, leaving to return to LU with Buji, Nikki, Earl, Migs, Tweet, Heart and Jing late on Tuesday night. Buji drove their refurbished VW Combi. Super cute. Unfortunately it broke down and we were delayed by almost three hours. We finally made it to LU at 9 in the morning.

Mid-week swell led to baby waves followed by the fear of a total flat spell for the weekend. My mom followed on Good Friday with a couple of her friends. I was thinking we'd get her on a board since the waves were super small. But no! She didn't want to try it just yet. Maybe next time daw. She met up with a friend there who took her around and invited her to their beach house. So, at least she wasnt bored di ba?

Easter Sunday we were blessed with 2-3 foot solid waves at The Point! So...

1. nagka-alon and
2. a lot of us had gone home na the night before so
3. I actually surfed The Point
4. with maybe 10-12 other people lang!

First I was using Doc's magic longboard and then after a few rides, I swapped with Joncy and he let me borrow his wonderful fish. (Thankies muchly to Doc and Joncy for the use of the boards). My boards (Pandora, Alex and even the newly named S9 Sage had gone home na ahead of me. Hehe).

In between the surfing: naps in the kubo, episodes of Heroes and Prison Break, nasty jellyfish stings, watching 300 again, cooking at the ancestral apartment of Viva and Doc, adopting Jam in the Yeah, Yeah house, having Mama spend the weekend in LU, the difference between sunblock and suntan, karaoke and jamming with Atty Ely, sushi ala Takahashi and a very steady ride home with Moro, Beej and Perez.

Back in Baler for a weekend of pure stoke

March 10-11. Back in, you guessed it, Baler for another weekend of stoke. The waves may not have been epic but the stoke sure was. Saturday was a bit windy come 10am so we surfed til about then (got super fun rides) and then everybody crashed 'til just past lunch. (Surfers, today we will dine at Gerry Shan's!).

In the afternoon at Cemento was hella low tide so Dom, Aya and I strung up the hammock and enjoyed watching the tide pools for reef fish, octopus and herons. Woot, woot. The boys, by the way, had a good sesh.

Sunday morning and it was all sunshine, waist to head high glassy waves at the beach break. Moro surfed with the big boys down near the lifeguard tower. The girls had our own patch of ocean that we to ourselves (after Okoy left, that is) in between Bay's Inn and Surfer's Inn. The band of brothers and Del staked out their own portion a little bit away. But not too far that we couldnt clearly see the fun waves they were getting.

Speaking of fun, Aya and I party waved once and it was so long we were able to actually have a conversation while we rode it. Haha. Love it. But that was only one of many super fun waves that morning. I kept waiting to the wind to pick up, as it normally does come mid-morning. But it didn't appear until nearly 11am. Good deal.

We all finally came out only when it was obvious that we had to come up for food and water. Lunch at Bay's Inn.

Packed up and loaded the cars afterwards. A scenic ride back down past the two mountains. Three stops for snacks, pre-dinner and actual dinner. We were back home by 9pm. Good weekend.

There are almost no photos of waves or people one them because we were in the water like... all the time. But if you'd still like to see what we got up to you can click this link .