Surfing Dudes in Cabo San Lucas ~ July 2006

My husband and two step-daughters spent our official summer vacation in July of 2006 in Cabo San Lucas which is located at the end of the Baja Peninsula in Mexico.  It was incredibly HOT there, but as long as we were (a) in the pool, (b) in the ocean swimming, (c) scuba diving, or (d) in our hotel room, we managed to deal with the extreme heat!

Later in the evenings, it cooled down a bit, enough so that I was willing to venture outside and take a walk down the gorgeous beach with its high cliffs to take some photos.  One particular evening, there were four young guys who were crazy and wild surfer dudes, surfing on the Pacific side of Cabo - where you're not even supposed to SWIM, let alone surf.  There were signs posted everywhere to stay out of the water - no swimming- etc. - because of the extremely strong riptides and gigantic waves.  People have died attempting to swim here, because they were pulled under by the strong currents.  Although our hotel was on the Pacific side, our scuba diving and swimming was only on the Sea of Cortez side (east of the Baja).

However, you know how crazy surfers can be, right?  Always looking for that perfect wave, always looking to ride it out, and living to tell the story afterwards...

So, when I came upon these four crazy guys, I asked them if they'd be ok with my taking pictures of them surfing and promised that I would email them some of the pictures if they wanted.  They wanted...  Names and emails written down on slips of paper and promises to send and acknowledge being received...

So I got my trusty Canon Rebel XT ready and set it for the "sports" setting, which is kind of a "freeze action" setting, so they wouldn't all be a big blur. 

Here we go!

Making a big splash!

   Get a Grip! ;-D

   Great Two-Fer!

   Looks kind of like an insect, doesn't he?

Another Two-fer...

  Don'tcha just love the color of that wave?

       Nice water spray, Dude!

Now, this one completely cracks me up! Can you see how he's falling face & belly first off of his surfboard?  I had to laugh out loud at that one!

           Great Catch (the surfer, that is!)

Maybe I'm not a very subtle person, but again, I laughed right out loud at this guy's "positioning" as well. He looks like a little UFO hovering over the wave. Good thing the waves were so loud so they couldn't hear me guffawing while I photographed them.  I also broke out with many "ooohs" and "aaahs" at the really great runs!

       The end of a great day

This was one of the highlights of our stay in Cabo for me.  These guys, although somewhat wreckless, in my opinion, we just incredibly exciting to watch.  They told me they've been in various surfing magazines, and I completely believe it.

This was my own "Endless Summer"...