Nervous excitement of the unknown of what may, or may, not lay ahead hung in the air as we drove through the streets of Nadi. The air conditioned minibus had picked us up early and was taking us and a couple of other surfers to their boat at a small marina. We'd been keen to try and surf a wave while we were in Fiji. There is only one beach break down on the south coast; the famous stuff is all off the reefs that surround the various islands, so have to be accessed via boat. Having been assured yesterday, that it wasn't all house sized barreling waves crashing onto ankle deep water, we'd organised some board hire and a boat to take us out to the more friendly spots so that we could experience Fijian surf.
The ride out in the cool (relatively, at 28 degrees) of the morning was both exciting and tense. To start with we just seemed to be heading out to sea, then suddenly some palm trees came into view on the horizon. Eventually they became an island and just beyond the island we caught our first sight of some waves.
We went to all the 'easier' spots, but they weren't really working. Unfortunatley the wind had picked up and it was a mess of small choppy waves. We tried a few other areas, but it soon became clear that the only area that was working was a wave called Cloudbreak. That's right, the world famous barrel wave producing reef that all our research had proclaimed to be the domain of expert surfers only. Not quite what we'd had in mind. While we are both competent and experienced, neither of us had ever surfed on a shallow world class reef break, (or any shallow reef breaks for that matter!) so in that sense felt justifiably like beginners!
To try and get a sense of what the waves were doing, we watched from the boat for a while. Even though the waves were small by Fijian standards, they still rose up quickly as they neared the reef and curled up and over the the heads of surfers. After identifying the best spot to approach from, the boat got up as close as it could, then all we had to do was jump in!
As is the way with surfing - the waves are always bigger once you're in amongst them! What we couldn't tell from the boat and the bit that we were most worried about was the depth of the water. It was crystal clear, but the depth was indeterminable, especially in the white water where the waves were breaking. Tentatively we had a go at catching some waves on the edge of the break to get a feel for it, but it was difficult to stay in the right place. The combination of wind, swell and not having a point of reference on the beach made things hard to catch. Unfortunately, Clare found out the depth by cutting her knee on the coral after catching a fast wave! - We retreated back to the boat for some shade and some detol.
After a brief rest, some food and more sunblock, we jumped back in for round two. Now the tide was lower, and the water even shallower. Even though I wasn't having much luck catching the waves, it was pretty awesome to be up close looking through to daylight at the far end of a breaking barrel wave. The other guys from our boat were 'old timers' and made it all look very easy, seeming not to be the least bit bothered about the odd cut and graze when they occasionally miss timed things! They were friendly though and helped us out as best they could. Eventually the swell dropped off around the same time as our energy levels. Back on the boat, it was actually good to be out of the glaring sunlight and a relief to put our sun glasses back on.
Inland, we could see towering cumulus clouds that were already starting to drop vast, heavy sheets of rain. The captain picked up the pace, and gunned the boat to shore, but alas, it was too late! Just before we encountered the maelstrom, he stopped the boat so we could stash our bags, then we continued at full throttle towards the deluge. We stayed as low as we could as the rain hit like pellets. Thankfully, the other surfers, who were all barrel chested solid looking guys were up front and took the brunt of it while we unashamedly tried to shelter in their lee!
We passed through it, and were amazed to find dry land, back on dry land. Well, we survived the Cloudbreak experience and have the bruises, cuts and grazes to prove it. Didn't exactly catch the ride of my life, but it's been a cool experience all the same.
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