Popoyo Day 2
Just got back from an all day surf session, chillin’ in the surf cabina at the Popoyo Lodge, freshly showered, and have tended to all the rashes and scrapes from a full day of battle in the surf line up. Listening to some Jack Johnson, living the full on—life is good.
We awoke early to the sound of the roosters which are roaming every yard in Central America. It was supposed to be 5 am, however, I didn’t realize that there is no “spring forward” in Nicaragua. That allowed a relaxing start to our morning as we waited for Chris, our surf guide for the week to get our group moving, a very easy task with our crew of motivated surfers. Plus, this place is hard corp, their motto, seeming to be “surf them til they drop!” And they succeeded today.
Breakfast was waiting when we went up to the main Popoyo lodge, lots of fruit, cereal, and peanut butter and jelly on toast. Lastly, as always, some strong coffee to jump start the day.
Today was our boat day, so we loaded up the Land Cruiser to go to the panga launch. Our lodge hosts are running a first class operation, they’re feeding us, hydrating us, loading our bags, and guiding us to world class surf spots. The panga launch was at a beach up the dirt road from the lodge. It is always curious to see how they beach those boats, and using logs roll the 20+ feet boats up the beach by rolling, then bringing the back log to the front, then repeat the process.
Once we got the boat loaded, we eagerly embarked on our first day of surf excellence. The first stop was a spot to the East of Popoyo. We had the choice of two breaks, a beach break named Colorado’s, and a reef break called Panga Drop. Undoubtedly, the second spot was named after a boat crew who did not have the best of fate befall them, their panga, and crew. And, were in a panga.
Colorado’s was looking smaller, so we decided on Panga drop. How was it? Well my first takeoff and long left was more fun than all of yesterday’s waves—put together!! And the fun didn’t end. The constant wind was blowing mostly sideshore, but with an offshore slant. That made the takeoffs choppy, however, after the first drop, the faces were silky clean.
We surfed PD for about 3 hours, and had lunch aboard the boat. That rejuvenated my sore muscles, and allowed for another paddle out down the beach at Colorado’s, which was a shorter session. It was a beachbreak, which Dave and Rick were tearing up, however, I was not getting any shoulders, so was getting crunched by some closeout sets.
After we reboarded our boat, Chris, our guide took us up and down the pristine and beautiful Nicaraguan coastline searching for our next surf spot. We checked a couple of spots, and finally happened on a spot named Playgrounds. The origin of that name was unkown to us, however, after about 3 hours there, we determined that although the playground lacked swings and see saws, there was plenty of ramps and water slides!! I had my best session there, catching left after left which started out as choppy A frames, and shot towards the beach and then had a steeper reform on the inside. A great session, which was superbly surfed by Dave, Rick, and Tom and Kevin.
After many hours of surf we climbed back aboard our panga and with great big smiles, headed back towards the beach to stow the panga, eagerly awaiting another great dinner, and a full night of restful recuperation to repeat the process tomorrow.
Just got back from an all day surf session, chillin’ in the surf cabina at the Popoyo Lodge, freshly showered, and have tended to all the rashes and scrapes from a full day of battle in the surf line up. Listening to some Jack Johnson, living the full on—life is good.
We awoke early to the sound of the roosters which are roaming every yard in Central America. It was supposed to be 5 am, however, I didn’t realize that there is no “spring forward” in Nicaragua. That allowed a relaxing start to our morning as we waited for Chris, our surf guide for the week to get our group moving, a very easy task with our crew of motivated surfers. Plus, this place is hard corp, their motto, seeming to be “surf them til they drop!” And they succeeded today.
Breakfast was waiting when we went up to the main Popoyo lodge, lots of fruit, cereal, and peanut butter and jelly on toast. Lastly, as always, some strong coffee to jump start the day.
Today was our boat day, so we loaded up the Land Cruiser to go to the panga launch. Our lodge hosts are running a first class operation, they’re feeding us, hydrating us, loading our bags, and guiding us to world class surf spots. The panga launch was at a beach up the dirt road from the lodge. It is always curious to see how they beach those boats, and using logs roll the 20+ feet boats up the beach by rolling, then bringing the back log to the front, then repeat the process.
Once we got the boat loaded, we eagerly embarked on our first day of surf excellence. The first stop was a spot to the East of Popoyo. We had the choice of two breaks, a beach break named Colorado’s, and a reef break called Panga Drop. Undoubtedly, the second spot was named after a boat crew who did not have the best of fate befall them, their panga, and crew. And, were in a panga.
Colorado’s was looking smaller, so we decided on Panga drop. How was it? Well my first takeoff and long left was more fun than all of yesterday’s waves—put together!! And the fun didn’t end. The constant wind was blowing mostly sideshore, but with an offshore slant. That made the takeoffs choppy, however, after the first drop, the faces were silky clean.
We surfed PD for about 3 hours, and had lunch aboard the boat. That rejuvenated my sore muscles, and allowed for another paddle out down the beach at Colorado’s, which was a shorter session. It was a beachbreak, which Dave and Rick were tearing up, however, I was not getting any shoulders, so was getting crunched by some closeout sets.
After we reboarded our boat, Chris, our guide took us up and down the pristine and beautiful Nicaraguan coastline searching for our next surf spot. We checked a couple of spots, and finally happened on a spot named Playgrounds. The origin of that name was unkown to us, however, after about 3 hours there, we determined that although the playground lacked swings and see saws, there was plenty of ramps and water slides!! I had my best session there, catching left after left which started out as choppy A frames, and shot towards the beach and then had a steeper reform on the inside. A great session, which was superbly surfed by Dave, Rick, and Tom and Kevin.
After many hours of surf we climbed back aboard our panga and with great big smiles, headed back towards the beach to stow the panga, eagerly awaiting another great dinner, and a full night of restful recuperation to repeat the process tomorrow.
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