Mexico Surfing Trip
Summer 2008

Every year for the last four years my dad and I have taken a trip to Mainland Mexico. We have always had someone to join us on our trip, but this year it was just me and my dad. I have to admit that I was a little disappointed and nervous that no one else would be joining us, but I have come to the conclusion that this was the best trip to Mexico so far.

We pulled away from the Guadalajara airport in our bright red rental car and started a four hour drive to the coast. Since the swell was looking small we headed to a place called La Ticla(this place is safe to start out the trip at because it is very consistent most of the time) that we thought would hold some decent size waves due to the small swell. Unfortunately we had made a wrong decision not realizing how tiny the swell really was so we made a mad dash to a place we knew for sure would have some BIG waves, Casualties! We stayed the night at Pasqualies and when I woke up in the morning it was double over my head. I was a little scared to go out at this place due to all my dad's horror stories of guys dyeing there, and even though I have surfed places much bigger than that I didn't surf to great. After awhile of catching a couple waves and getting beat going over the falls on a couple more waves I decided I'd had enough.

The swell was starting to pick up by then so we drove back to La Ticla where we were pleased to find that it was breaking much better and looked extremely fun. We stayed there for almost the rest of the trip catching as many waves a day that we desired. Our routine was to wake up early in the morning, go out for about a two hour or more session, come in and have some huevos y papas(eggs and potatoes), then go back out to get the rest of the offshore winds for the morning. After this we proceeded to take a siesta(nap) until the winds turned back offshore in the late evening. Dad and I did this every day for a week and a half before trying out another surf spot. We had been enjoying consistent 4-6ft. lefts and then the swell got pretty big. It wasn't that the swell got too big, but La Ticla was just not holding the big waves very well. It went from fun glassy peelers to big choppy closeouts. Now back home in Cocoa Beach we would have been super excited to surf these waves, but we weren't looking for waves like back home, we look for more quality when we go on surf trips. We packed up in a hurry and headed to a place around 7 hours north that we have always wanted to catch on the right swell. We knew we were taking a chance going to Santa Cruz and finding no waves at all, but there was a good chance that the swell would be just the right angle to produce perfect(and I mean perfect) left barrels and ripable open faces.

We arrived late Friday night and stayed in a hotel were we found air conditioning for the first time in awhile. When we pulled up to the surf spot in the morning we immediately regretted going there. the surf was maybe 1ft. on the sets! We drove around and finally found a little right hand point to play around on for the day. After surfing for a couple hours we had our first good meal in what seemed like a decade(spaghetti and chocolate milk). Might sound weird but it was a change from tacos, enchiladas, and tacos.

We woke up for our last day and session in Mexico, before leaving on a plane early the next morning, to the sound of roaring waves behind our hotel. Excitedly we put the boards on the car knowing in our minds that if it was a solid 3ft. behind the hotel it had to be going off on the point. This is what we had been waiting for. We pulled up to the break thinking we had made the best decision of our lives coming here. The swell had finally arrived and we looked out at the surf to see solid 4ft. sets coming through for hundreds of yards. When we paddled out it didn't take long for us to realize that the surf was rapidly growing. For about four hours I caught enough waves to last me for a month. I even pulled into the biggest barrel of my life so far. My dad saw it and said a normal size car could have fit in it. I stayed in it for a gook while until something weird happen and I was pitched over the falls into the flats. It took everything I had to keep my bathing suit from coming clear over my head, and when I popped up my dad was uncontrollably laughing his head off. It was without a doubt the best session of the trip and maybe even my life so far. I didn't want to get out of the water, but still I was ready to come home to my mom and sister. By the time we got out of the water there were consistent 12ft. faces coming through, and they were the most playful 12ft. barrels I've ever seen.

The entire trip was absolutely incredible from the cultural environment, the people, and sometimes the food(I ate some bad chicken and it had me throwing up for a day). I personally think that it would be a fun trip for anyone, even if you can't surf, just to experience something different and probably something that would take most people out of their comfort zone.

I really want to thank my mom and dad for making this trip possible every year and my little sister for keeping my room clean and baking up some good tasting treats for our return home. I can't wait to see what next years trip has in store.

Florida East Coast Surfing Photographs

East Coast and Central Florida Surfing Photographs (mostly) of Sebastian Inlet, RC's, Cocoa Beach Pier, 2nd light, New Smyrna, South Florida's Reef Road, Jupiter some of Central America and various other areas.

We hope you enjoy watching Savannah and her surfing friends grow up together and encourage parents and competitors to send us photographs with your stories to include on the site.

Here are some surfing pictures to look at now:

2009
Ron Jon's Photo Shoot
Sebastian Inlet Pro
Juno Pier NSSA
Sixteenth Birthday
Satellite Beach NSSA
Roxy, Ron Jon, ESA Allstars & Regionals
Spring Break 2009
Start of Summer
Mexico Trip

Hawaii Surfing 2007
Hawaii North Shore
Hawaii Part 2
Hawaii Part 3
Hawaii Part 4
Hawaii Part 5
Hawaii Part 6

Mexico Surfing 2009
The Black Sand Beach
The Perfect Wave (Las Olas Perfecion)
A Great End
Mexico Surfing 2008
This Years Trip
La Ticla
Santa Cruiz
Mexico Surfing 2007
Surfing Mexico 2007
Big Mexican Waves
Point Breaks in Mexico
Surfing Blahs of Mexico
Mexico Surfing 2006
Mexico Mainland Surfing
Mexico Surfing 2006
Mexico Surfing Adventures
Mexico Surfing Pictures
Mexican Girls Surfing
Tube Riding Mexico
Mexico Surf Sequence

Rip Curl Grom Search
2008 at New Smyrna

SIMA Surfing America
2008 USA Championships & Team Trials

2006 NSSA Nationals - South California
Point Mugu TubeQuest 2006 ESA Championships - Cape Hatteras
Cape Hatteras, NC, Surfing
Cape Hatteras 2008

More Photos and story on Wet Magazine's website of Savannah's Cape Hatteras Trip.