CSC x RDA Day 8

Sorry not sorry for the extra long video. I swear I tried to cut down the "less than awesome" rides on this day, but I had to keep so many in just to commemorate the awesomeness of this day. We started with a low tide spelunking adventure to Playa Ventanas, just south of Uvita. Then we spent the remainder of the day surfing a reeling left reef break to ourselves. Andrew got the float tube "bar" going in the channel again so that we could rest and rehydrate without having to go through the hassle of scrambling over rocks multiple times. Like many great things in life, this spot comes with a fair amount of obstacles: razor sharp, hot rocks, a long paddle, theft-prone parking spot, sea urchins, a dumpy, shallow inside section, and occasional clean up sets. Andrew and I work together to mitigate most of them, but the students also have to put in their own mind over matter approach. And that they did. It was a banner day for all of the retreaters. It was especially special for Christina, who we did not allow to surf it last January because she was too new to surfing. That certainly lit a fire under her to surf it again, and she definitely won the hard charging award this day. You can also see that Johan, Mariza, and Christina all worked on getting back to the power source at different points in the session. Their turns may seem quite small to the experienced surfer but to us, them, and to most beginning surfers these are HUGE strides for people who have been at it for under 2 years. Anya struggled to find the right place to take off but almost nails a ride. She has been at surfing for half the time of the others so I'm sure she'll nail this spot on her next trip with us, especially after you see her progress in the last few videos. You may also notice our focus on whole foods in any of the food related clips in these vids. For surf sessions we relied on mangoes, coconuts, watermelon, and avocados. I love the way that Johan savors the pipa water like he's been trekking through the desert for 2 weeks. I think the hat adds to that image.