SURFING SOAPBOX:Finding paradise in new places

CANARY ISLANDS

The waves have been unbelievable, to say the least. Surfing a perfect breaking right wave, over a shallow jagged sharp reef, was the highlight of my day today and reminded me of just how special surfing is to the traveling surfer.

Today’s waves were about 6 to 8 feet, with some not very friendly locals who took a while to warm up to me. Nothing like good old fashioned localism in the form of scowling faces.

I’m staying out of the main tourist sector of Tenerife, which is wonderful since the downtown tourist area is about as ugly a place as one can imagine “” Coney Island meets Las Vegas.

However, once outside of this area, the island itself is simply amazing and last night’s sunset was nothing short of the most amazing display of orange blinding sky that I have ever experienced.

The scenic drives up into the mountains “” which do have snow on the top of them “” is like a scene out of a National Geographic magazine.

Most days have been cool with patchy sun and the water ranging at about 64-65 degrees, with an increase in swell expected.

Tomorrow, we will be packing up the car and heading up to the northern coast to do some more surf exploring with high expectations.

The food is good here and my time is nearly up on this computer, so I’ll say cheers to you and check in with you next week.

Peace.