Rancho Santana

The first place we decided to surf was Rancho Santana.  It was a 20 minute walk so we decided to take the car.  We were with some other guys and they said there was this "little" swampy area we had to get through.  No big deal we thought.  On our way to the beach we saw this "swamp" and they were like, "Go ahead it is shallow."  So we barrelled through it.  Apparently it had rained since the time they had been there because water came up all the way over our hood in one spot!  It was a little scary. 

So, on our way back this is Tyson trying to see if he hugged the fence if we would be alright.  We ended up asking this little kid (Kevin) if there was another way.  We did not want to chance it!  He said sure and he ended up taking us through this field.  We had to drive over some barbed wire fences, but we did not have to go through that place again!  Needless to say we found another way around.  Here are a few of my favorite from Rancho Santana:

Those are American homes in the background.  There is a huge private community on the hillside.

 I didn't get a lot of surf pictures!  I took my camera but then we had all these issues with batteries.  Mine is not rechargeable, so we had to buy batteries.  We got them and they were expensive and then they would last for one day!  I tried to use the GoPro waterproof camera, but it doesn't zoom, so the pictures are worthless.  We will have a surf movie we will put together.  Anyway, Tyson really liked this place (especially the first week).  The second week the waves got huge.  None of the locals were even at this place the second week because the waves just closed out.  I was seriously scared for Tyson one of the days because they were so big!  He actually ended up getting a little hurt here.  He pulled some muscles in his legs while he was getting tumbled around in a wave. It was scary.  I would say the second week they were more like 15 feet tall.   

Tyson doing the "Smith Flex."

We walked over to these rocks that the waves were breaking on.  It was so pretty. 

Oh, another story from here.  K, Tyson's biggest fear about this trip was leaving me on the beach.  The FIRST day I happily sat down to read my book.  This guy walked up to me.  I could tell he was drunk right from the start (keep in mind it was 8 a.m.).  He sat down really close to me (totally in my personal space).  He kept asking me questions and I had no idea what he was saying.  At the very end though, he said in English, "give me a kiss."  I said what?  and he said it again.  I grabbed all my things and walked away.  Luckily he didn't follow me.  I just went over by these houses that were by the beach.  After I walked away though, he took all this clothes off except his underwear and got in the water!  It was gross.  We didn't have any other problems after that day, luckily!