Wow - Wild Waves!!

As has been the case with virtually everything here, we have encountered yet another learning experience. Steve and Richard decided that the surf forecast looked good last Friday - calling for 10-11 foot waves. Up until now, the biggest they had surfed on were more like 5-6 foot and one day, hardly any waves - so obviously bigger is better, right? Take a look at these two pictures. They were taken from almost the same vantage point - one week apart. The first one was the "no wave" Friday; the next one was on "wild wave" Friday. You can see the white water on the crest of the waves out in the distance.

Needless to say, after a couple of hours of getting abused (their words) by wave after wave, they decided that maybe they need to rethink their strategy! Steve's done some more research and now thinks he's pinpointed a better factor - wave energy - to base their "surf/no surf" decision upon. Let's hope it works!!

Max and I again met the guys for lunch after spending the morning up at a villa they've been housesitting (check out this view). We were grooming the little dogs that live there - Simon and Ziggy. Once I get the after pictures from Max, I will post the before/after for you to see my handiwork! But back to the beach....

So we set up our blankets/towels in about the same spot as before. As I was setting up the portable yard, Steve and Max took the three dogs (Sierra, Dusty and Archie) for a walk on the beach near the water. Luckily I had picked up my camera to take the first picture below...and was able to capture the aftermath of a rouge wave that drenched all of them!!


Poor Archie got the brunt of it. He was literally submerged - and since they were all on retractable leads, there was no way for Steve to lift him out of the water since the lead just kept getting longer as he raised his arm up in an attempt to help Archie. Everyone was fine (although Archie may be permanently traumatized!) as you can see from the pictures after the wave receeded.




Archie looked like a drowned rat and Steve and Max were in hysterics.


















We got the dogs settled and had a nice lunch...with a few waves getting teasingly close once or twice - just barely splashing us. Fortunately we had finished lunch and put our things away because a few minutes later, another rogue wave - and this time it drenched us all the way up where we thought we were safe! The blanket and towels were soaked as were we - everyone covered with sand as well. Needless to say, our picnic came to an abrupt end. We rinsed off, packed up, and headed home.

Lessons learned: 1) wave height is not the only factor to consider when picking a good surfing day and 2) on the wild wave days, don't set your picnic up too close to the water or you may have some extra ingredients (sand, water, seaweed?) in your lunch!

Adios for now from the DR. Hope you all are well!