Another Nightmare!

Maria Del Mar Gonzalez

26 June 2010 -

We get back to the Sea Shell Cove and we went to Tavarua to get a boat and go surf to Cloudbreak. Again! It was bigger than the first day we surf it. I surfed for a couple of hours and in one wave another nightmare happened to me! The tide was getting low. I cut a wave all the way to the inside, I tried to hit it and I didn’t land it. I hit the reef with my knee and under the water I was feeling the pain. Then, I tried to do a duck dive and I was literally between the reef and rocks trying to do a duck dive. At that moment, I realized that I was over the reef, it was so dry. I walked the entire reef to get out of there. I have too many cuts. When I was walking I was trying to get to the Jet Ski thinking that I was almost there, but I wasn’t. A wave was coming over me again and dragging me more back to the reef. After three tries I said to myself: “Oook! At the next chance I will run over the reef and get out of here!” And I did it! There were a lot of coral’s hands trying to get me, but I got out of there. It was bad! After this, I finally got on the Jet Ski and the guy gave me a ride back to the wave. I wait a while and I got another wave and you know what happened? A contact lens came out from my eye! I am so blind so I went to the boat to get another contact lens, but we left because other boat was coming! What didn’t happen to me in this trip?! Everything!! But thank God, I survived again!

Crazy!

Maria Del Mar Gonzalez

25 June 2010 -

It is a new day! That is what I was thinking to get ready for the shark dive. We went to the shark dive. I was scared and little worried from the day before. So we went under the water and we were at the bottom of the ocean with bull sharks in everywhere. I was so close to some of them. Once you are there it wasn’t that scary. We came to the surface and we wait a while to go back. This time, there were more crazy sharks. We were shooting pictures and video and three sharks almost eat Cheyne. They went so close to him. That was insane! This was a great life experience for me. It is the best dive by far. I am so glad that I did it. I am not that scared to dive and see a shark, not anymore. It is a great experience! After this we went back to the resort.

At 4:30 pm we saw the Fire Walking, where some designed Fijians walk over burning rocks. There are two rules to be able to do it. First, don’t drink coconut milk for four days. Second, sleep alone for four days. These Fijians are crazy! They were hanging over the burning rocks while they were saying “Bula”, hello in Fijian language. These guys have their feet so black! Of course! They get burned. I couldn’t believe they do this!

Surfing Frigate's Pass

Holly Beck
June 24, 2010 -

I like to get barreled. In fact lately, improving my tube-riding skills has been my main focus in surfing. There’s nothing better than positioning yourself inside of a wave and then coming out unscathed. I don’t even mind crash tubes where you get a short view before the inevitable pounding. But that’s over sand. Pulling into big tubes over shallow sharp reef is an entirely different thing. It’s scary.
I had surfed Frigate’s Pass before and it was thick and sketchy. I was a little nervous about surfing it again, especially since Bede had checked the swell models and said it would be pumping. Motoring out to the break the wind made whitecaps on the surface of the sea and I figured it would be blown out and no good. Once we turned the final corner around one of several small islands, we could see that the wind was actually offshore. The reef was still far off but we could see a succession of waves peel along and spit powerfully, indicating big hollow waves. I was instantly really nervous.
We scrambled over each other to pull out boards, put in fins, and apply sunscreen as the boat rocked in the rolling sea, then hopped from the big boat to a dingy to jet out to the surf. The boys were frothing and screaming but Maria and I were nervous. We took our time getting out there. I was still psyching myself up when Maria spun and went on a mid-size wave. The boys on the inside were hooting and she pulled out with a smile. “It’s not that bad,” I thought to myself. I stroked into the next one and tried to stall for a tube that didn’t materialize then nearly spun out on my bottom turn. I flipped my board over and saw I was riding a twin-fin. Oops! In my haste to get out there I must not have screwed my middle fin in all the way and it had fallen out.
I switched boards and caught another wave that didn’t tube, but helped my confidence a bit. Maria and I nervously paddled around looking for smaller “cute” ones while dodging the gnarly sets that the boys tackled fearlessly. They were laughing and high fiving. It was awesome to watch and I started getting frustrated with myself. I wanted to laugh and high-five after pulling out of a big bomb. “Screw it, I’m going!” A set approached and Alex and Bede each took one, but there was one more coming and only Maria and I still in the lineup.
“You going, Maria?”
“No, you go!”
I turned and started paddling. It was big, but it had a nice tapering shoulder and I was determined. I paddled and paddled and right before I started to think about standing up, there was so much water moving up the face of the wave, the only way to get into it would have been to throw myself over the ledge. I hesitated for an instant, saw Cheyne spinning around on the inside, and pulled back to let him have it. The wave barreled down the reef and he ended up getting pounded. I felt really happy about my decision not to go and then even more timid.
Maria and I were sitting a bit further in from the boys and Scott Smith our water filmer suggested we try to take off on some of the inside ones. Just then we saw a set approaching, one of the biggest of the afternoon. “Shoot!” I started paddling frantically straight towards the horizon while Maria took an angled path more towards the channel. I yelled at her to go straight ahead as we both duck-dove the first wave. The next one was bigger and already starting to break so that it was clear we wouldn’t have time to get under it. I was only about ten feet further out than Maria but that made all the difference. We both bailed our boards and swam for the bottom, but I popped up outside and she got dragged in. There were three more waves behind that one, all breaking a little further out. Each time I dove for the bottom and looked up to see churning whitewater above me. On the second one I felt my leash pop and break. Without my board dragging behind me I was able to dive deeper and get under the wave cleanly. After I’d made it through, I looked back and couldn’t see Maria anywhere. I was shaken up, without my board, and getting pulled up the reef and out to sea by the strong current, but I was ok. The dingy came and picked me up.
On our way to the other side of the reef to look for my board I saw Maria climbing into the other dingy where the photographers were sitting and I was relieved to see that she seemed ok. The boat guy took me inside of the reef and we waited a few minutes for my board to wash in. We spotted it, collected it, and then started heading back to the big boat. On our way I noticed a big brownish white object floating on the inside. It looked like a big tree at first, then the back of a whale. Finally I realized that it was a boat upside down. “That’s weird,” I thought.

(***I’ll leave it at that since I’m sure everyone else will tell the same story. I’ll let the people more involved in the boat part to tell that part****)

Mother Nature Won

Alex Gray

24 June 2010-

Hello world. Planes, trains and automobiles today. After 18 hours of exhausting travelling, we were greeted by 8 foot freight training lefts at Frigates. I couldn’t believe my eyes when we rocked up to the wave and it was offshore, “teahupoo like slabs”, and nobody out!!!!!! Bede was screaming like a baby. It seemed as mother nature was showing off for us with a conveyer belt of non stop, below sea-level tubes. After kicking out of each wave, I would see Cheyne, Bede or Maria pulling into to another flawless shack. This was the reason we had come to Fiji to surf. Or so we thought….. I knew something was wrong when an open pelican case came floating by me in the lineup. Then, I really knew something was wrong when I saw the dinghy was upside down on the inside of the reef. I thought Greg was just having a cackle, so I told him to stop playing with his dinghy!!!! Turns out the worst had happened, and the media crew had been caught by a 6 footer. Everybody but Greg had bailed when they saw the wave about to annihilate them. Greg, being the lion tamer he is, thought he would just try and ride it out. Mother nature won, and he now is littered with cuts like Zangief from Street Fighter II (the best video game in the world). Even though camera gear was trashed, I would like to thank little 5lb, 10 oz baby jesus for keeping my friends alive.1 P2,5000 dollars………1 dinghy, 20000 fijian dollars…….. Greg living through it to have the best story ever for the rest of his life, priceless!!!!!!!!!

You stay naked……….WORLD

Deep at the Break

Maria Del Mar Gonzalez

24 June 2010 -

I almost die twice today! We woke up at 5:45 am to leave the Tui Tai boat and drive more than three hours to go to the airport and get our flight to a different island. The flight had a delay and we wait one hour for it. We got the flight and we drove more than half hour to get a boat to go surf Frigates. We were in the boat for one more hour to get to the point. Finally, we get to Frigates and it was great. There were awesome waves. We start surfing it. But Holly and I were worried to don’t get too deep, because it had size. Here is when my story about die starts.

Holly and I got a couple of good waves, but in once we realized that we were deep at the break. A huge set came to us. We did the duck dive to the first wave, but the next one was so much bigger. I didn’t make the duck dive so the wave drags me all the way to the inside. I was without breath and other wave came to me and keeps dragging me. At least I got a breath and other wave came to me. I release my leash, because I thought it was better to dive without it. So other wave came to me and I was giving up. That wave has so much water. I use contact lens, but I opened my eyes between my nightmares. I finally got out and I started to paddle to the channel were the boat was. I got into the boat and I thought I was safe. But I wasn’t! When I was on the boat a wave came to us and I said that we should move out of here. At that moment another wave came to us and flipped the boat. I saw one of the photographers jumping out of the boat and I followed him. The videographer stayed at the boat hoping that the boat will pass the wave, but it didn’t happen. When I was out of the boat I saw the driver swimming behind me. I think that he jumped out of the boat before everyone. The boat was riding the wave backwards. Thousands of dollars in video camera gear are lost. Our great footage is lost. Bede getting sick waves at Frigates is lost!

I was thinking to go back to the point, but after the next experience I said: “Ok, it is enough for today! Are we sure that should we go dive with the bull sharks?” At that moment Holly came with my board and she realized that the boat that she just saw at the inside was our boat. Well, we made the check in at the Resort and we went to sleep to wait for the shark dive. At least I survived twice this day!

Swimming with Mantas

Holly Beck
23 June 2010 -

I like sea critters, particularly large toothy sea creatures that let you swim with them. Manta Rays don’t have teeth but still easily fall into the large sea creature category. Yesterday afternoon we loaded into boats and set off towards the reef hoping to find a few mantas to swim with. The choppy seas made us less than sure we’d get our chance, but Cheyne, Alex, and Bede back-rolled overboard armed with weight belts, spear guns, and a hunger for sashimi. Maria and I stayed dry with our eyes peeled to the water around us looking for shadows below. Surprisingly, Bede and Alex came up cheering and pointing. “There’s heaps of mantas right here!”

We motored over but by the time Maria and I jumped in with the boys, the mantas were gone. Back in the boat, shivering in the wind under a cloudy sky, I was ready to head back to the Tui Tai for a hot shower. Kristin Valette the optimist suggested one more pass along the reef and just then our dive guide spotted a manta not too far away. I jumped in eagerly with Justin our still photographer and Scott the video guy. Soon a big black shape emerged from the darkness below me and I was surprised by the size of it. I’ve seen a manta before in the Maldives, but this guy was much bigger, easily 6ft wide from wingtip to tip and our guide called it a small one. He was cruising just above the sea floor about 40 feet below me, and after all the kicking to keep up, I was winded. Justin was at my shoulder, camera ready, pointing down and motioning me to dive down alongside but I just nodded and waited. Up ahead the reef grew a little closer to the surface and as the ray swam up over it, I swam down for a quick moment of synchronized swimming. The ray looked over at me for a moment and then swam off. We found it again and I got one more chance, this time lasting a little longer. It was just enough for Justin to snap a few frames of the Manta and I side by side, swimming together. I spread my arms out to the side in my best effort to imitate its graceful wing-flapping swim. Finally I pulled myself back onto the boat incredibly grateful that we’d taken the chance on one more pass. It was definitely worthwhile.

Waterfalls, Rays and Locals

Maria Del Mar Gonzalez

23 June 2010 -

At 7:00 am, we went to a waterfall to go to the natural slides. That waterfall is like a water park. We were like little kids running all around and sliding in the waterfall. Cheyne pants broke. That was so funny. Alex got scars in everywhere. Cheyne and Alex are insane; they slide backwards and with the head first. They make everything look more excited. Holly and I slide together in once, and we hit each other. She hit me with her knee and I don’t know with what I hit her, but that was a little painful. We didn’t care and we keep jumping all around the place like monkeys. Without wants to leave, we left back to the Tui Tai boat to get our breakfast. At 10:00 am we went to dive to the Great White Wall. Holly was my buddy and during our dive we saw two little fish around a coral. I stayed there looking them and they were so friendly. It was so cute. The fish was like Nemo, but yellow and blue lines. After this dive, we returned to the Tui Tai boat to eat our breakfast.

It was our last day at Tui Tai boat, so we decide to visit a village. We played volleyball and we gave them snorkels, masks and finds. They were so happy! Then we got a couple of kids to a ride at the standup paddle board. Kids were excited.

At dinner time, we ate a grouper fish that Owe, one of the guys part of the boat crew, hunted when we were looking for manta ray. I forgot to say that Holly swam with one manta ray. We were snorkeling and we saw this manta ray and Holly got under the water to swim with it. It was amazing; she was so close to the manta ray. She is crazy! It was great!

After dinner Alex, Cheyne and I were dancing and drinking Kava with the boat crew. I show them how to dance reggeaton and they were showing us how to dance like Fijians. They were showing us the car wash, fishing dance and Cheyne show us the worm dance. It was so funny! We had a good time for our last day at the Tui Tai boat.

Pirates, Kava and The Great White Wall

Alex Gray
22 June 2010 -

Hello World. Bam! Straight into diving this morning. The group had a mellow one for Bede’s first dive after his certification. Bede and Maria are so comfortable under water for this being their first dive trip. The food on the boat is amazing. After a quick lunch we jammed on over to “the Great White Wall”. There was a radical swim through that started at 40 feet and ejaculated at 90 feet. Upon exiting the cave I made a sharp left turn and witnessed why it was called the great white wall. Right there in front of my sunburned face was a blanket of rolling white soft coral as wide as a Fijians smile. One of the most beautiful sights I have encountered through diving. Cheyne and I have turned into pirates, and climbed the mast to jump off it before sunset. Night time took over and we had dinner on the beach. The lobster really tickled my taste buds. There was a group of local Fijians drinking kava. I waddled over for a few lip numbing drinks. I had a dream about diving with Jessica Alba.

You stay naked………….World

Sharks and Fire Coral

Maria Del Mar Gonzalez
22 June 2010

Yesterday, we went diving twice. These dives were more exciting than the other ones at the main island. Here, corals are so colorful and there are different sea plants and corals. There are a lot of different kinds of fish too. The current was so strong, but we had fun anyway. I saw a shark on the first dive and it was getting close to me, but when it was almost three feet away, it left. On the second dive I saw another shark, but it was at the end. It was pretty scary. But I am getting some training for the dive we are going to make with the tiger and bull sharks.

On my second dive I hit a fire coral. There are so many that is difficult to avoid them when the current is so strong. So I heard that lime is good for the fire coral cuts. When we returned to the boat, I let Alex to put lime on my cut. The cut was on fire before the lime, but after it was hurting so bad that I almost cried. He put the lime on so rough that it was worse. After a lot of pain, the cut was looking better and feeling better too. I realized that the lime works very well for this kind of cut. If you get a fire coral cut, put some lime on it. It really works!

At night time, we had a dinner at the beach. All the boat crew prepared it for us. It was awesome and different. We ate lobster, fish and rice. The food was amazing! Before and after the food, Alex, Cheyne and I drank some Kava to relax. After the great dinner, we all returned to the boat to sleep and wait for another amazing day in Fiji.

A Long Drive to Luxury...

Maria Del Mar Gonzalez
21 June 2010 -

After more than four hour driving, we finally got on to the boat. We were a little desperate at the car, but once we were at the boat we were looking so relaxed. I was like: “thank God that I am here out of the car and out of Alex’s farts!” his farts were suffocating me!

By the way, this boat is incredibly gorgeous. It looks like a pirate ship. You name an activity and they take you to enjoy it. You can go dive, surf, fish, mountain bike, kayak, etc. Well, just name it and you will get it. The boat trip includes a foot massage, which is good. You have good food on it and drinks all the time.

When I got into the boat I was surprised. I can’t believe that I am here. This is amazing! I feel like a millionaire! I can’t wait to see what is next! This trip gets better and better everyday!

Kava and Sharks...

Maria Del Mar Gonzalez
20 June 2010 -

Last night at the Sea Shell Cove, we enjoyed a ceremony of Fijian dance and Kava, an original local drink. The Fijian took everyone at the resort to dance. There was a lot of energy and happiness. We all drank Kava, laughed a lot and had a great time enjoying the Fijian ceremony. When you want more Kava, you just have to say “Taki” and they give you more. Be careful not to drink too much Kava!


The next morning we went to dive at the canyon close to Sea Shell Cove. We did two dives. We didn’t see that much on the first dive, just fish and colorful coral reefs. When I came up to the boat I heard Alex and Cheyne saying that they saw three sharks. I was like: “what?! I didn’t see any! And I really want to see one”. So we decided to dive again. This time I saw two sharks. One came to just five feet away from me and I stayed behind a rock watching it moving around. It was a great experience for my first time and a good warm up for our next dives. The shark was not even three feet long, but it was still a shark and scary!

Tomorrow, we are going to a boat to dive and surf. It will be a great experience! It will be my first trip in a boat to surf and, of course, to dive. I can’t wait to be there. The best part is I will enjoy the trip with a nice group of surfers (Holly, Cheyne and Alex). I would love to see what is going to happen next!

My First Drop Zone Experience

Maria Del Mar Gonzalez
19 June 2010 -

I am super excited to be part of the group going to dive and surf in Fiji. It is like a dream made into a reality. Being on a trip with three other people that surf and dive with good vibes is amazing. I have been surfing for many years and I just started to dive, but doing these two things on the same trip is one of the best experiences of my life.

Fiji is a tropical island with warm water, colorful reefs and beautiful sunsets. Our first day at Fiji, it was not looking that tropical. It was cloudy, raining and not warm enough. Second day, we went surf to Wilks and it was too windy and a little cloudy. Between all, it was fun and nice because I was with cool friends and, of course, I need to have fun. I am in Fiji! After our surf session we went diving. Diving in Fiji is super excited because the colorful reefs and its sea life are in abundance.

Third day, we went to surf one of the best waves of the world, Cloudbreak. It is an incredible wave, where you can have the best surf session of your life. It was a sunny day and we were just four people at the break point. Surfing Cloudbreak with Holly, Cheyne and Alex really pushed me to go for the best waves. After this session we went to Tavarua, one of the most beautiful islands in the world. It’s not easy to get to this island - we are super lucky to have this great opportunity. Once we were there, none of us want to leave. This island has white sand, a lot of palm trees and clear water. I come from an island, but Tavarua has all my admiration. It is for sure an amazing place. If you have the opportunity to come to Fiji, don’t think about it twice, just go, enjoy it and have a lot of fun!

Tavarua!

Alex Gray
19 June 2010 -

Hello world. Tavarua. That’s right, I said it! Normally if you aren’t staying on Tavarua, it is forbidden to go on the island or surf the world class reefs surrounding it. But, thanks to Bob Para from Air Tahiti, we got the hall pass! Poseidon was on our side and granted us with 4 foot glassy, cloud break. Oh, and we were the only people out! I tried to tell Cheyne to go to school and he said “no brah, I’m in the tube!” I was really impressed with how confident Maria was over the shallow reef. Holly had a nic turn. After surfing, the generous people of Tavarua were nice enough to bring us on their island for lunch. We finished the day off with a bitchin dive. Ultra bitchin!

You stay naked………….WORLD